Willis Towers Watson delivered first-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of $2.98 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.99. However, the bottom line improved about 10% year over year.
The quarter witnessed strong organic revenue growth, reflecting solid demand for solutions and services across all core businesses and margin expansion.
Operational Update
Willis Towers Watson posted adjusted consolidated revenues of $2.31 billion, up 1% year over year, on a reported basis. The metric grew 5% on an organic basis. The top line however missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.37 billion.
Total cost of providing services decreased 3.9% year over year to $1.95 billion.
Adjusted operating income was $492 million. Margin increased 200 basis points (bps) to 21.3% driven by better margin at the Human Capital and Benefits (HCB) segment, the Corporate Risk and Broking (CRB) segment, and the Benefits Delivery and Administration (BDA) segment, partially offset by a decrease in Investment Risk and Reinsurance (IRR) segment.
Adjusted EBITDA was $601 million, up 7.9% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 26%, up 170 bps.