CONTENTS Financial Highlights 1 Chairman’s Statement 2 CEO’s Statement 4 Our Resilient Clients: 9 Stories of Triumph Over Risk Around the World 6 Annual Report on Form 10-K 17 Management’s Discussion and Analysis 44 Audit Report 85 Financial Statements 86 Controls and Procedures 179 Board of Directors and Executive Officers 196 Shareholder Information 197 A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to our GAAP results can be found in the Five-Year Summary of Operations on Pages 192 and 193 of the Annual Report. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Five Years Ended December 31 (in millions, except per share data and percentages) 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 REVENUES $3,480 $3,447 $3,332 $3,253 $2,827 GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES $3,056 $2,743 $2,432 $2,412 $2,241 OPERATING (LOSS) INCOME $(209) $566 $753 $690 $503 OPERATING MARGIN (6.0)% 16.4% 22.6% 21.2% 17.8% ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME $752 $775 $767 $708 $600 ADJUSTED OPERATING MARGIN 21.6% 22.5% 23.0% 21.8% 21.2% NET (LOSS) INCOME $(446) $203 $455 $434 $302 NET (LOSS) INCOME PER DILUTED SHARE $(2.58) $1.15 $2.66 $2.57 $2.04 ADJUSTED NET INCOME $454 $482 $470 $450 $378 ADJUSTED NET INCOME PER DILUTED SHARE $2.58 $2.74 $2.75 $2.66 $2.55 TOTAL DEBT $2,353 $2,369 $2,267 $2,374 $2,650 STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY $1,699 $2,486 $2,577 $2,180 $1,845 CAPITALIZATION RATIO 58% 49% 47% 52% 59%
REVENUES ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME ADJUSTED NET INCOME (in USD Millions) (in USD Millions) (in USD Millions) 3500 800 500 3,480 752 3000 700 454 400 600 2500 500 2000 300 400 1500 300 200 1000 200 100 500 100 0 0 0 20082009 2010 2011 2012 20082009 2010 2011 2012 20082009 2010 2011 2012
Willis Annual Report 2012 | 1 A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIRMAN
Dear Shareholders,
As I sit down to write this, the last Chairman’s Letter of my 12-year tenure at Willis, I am full of gratitude. The gratitude goes three ways. It goes to my fellow Associates, who have worked so tirelessly these past dozen years. It goes to our tens of thousands of loyal clients, who have stayed with us year after year. And it goes to you, our investors, who have put your faith and trust in us and, for that faith, earned a very healthy return.
What a diff erence from 2000, when I arrived in London for the fi rst time at Henry Kravis’s request. Willis was in a diff erent and diffi cult place back then. There were murmurings about how an American CEO, the fi rst in Willis’s history, might fare amid a traditionally British company. But, together – as a team – we persevered, and grew, forging our own unique path to the position of strength we fi nd ourselves in today.
To get to their destination, some companies operate in a disciplined manner. Others operate with a close-knit sense of family. Seldom do they do both. But the growth in our market capitalization from approximately $2 billion in June 2001 to $6.4 billion on February 14, 2013, the day after we posted our full-year 2012 earnings, is testament to my old refrain that Anything is Possible.
And obviously, the road to success is rarely paved smooth the entire way. The last few years were, in many ways, the hardest. The sluggish economy in many parts of the globe, especially the crisis in the Eurozone countries, dragged on our earnings.
Within the company, too, we had to overcome a variety of challenges in all of our business segments – in Willis North America, Willis International and Willis Global. In some of our units, comparison with prior year results dimmed the perception of our performance. In other areas, signifi cant overhaul was required.
In response, we took a number of important actions. We changed our sales process. We expanded our pipelines. We installed new leaders into key roles. We moved past issues stemming from our $2.1 billion acquisition of Hilb Rogal and Hobbs in 2008. And at the end of 2012, to pave the way forward, we changed our cash retention awards program and took a goodwill impairment charge.
And yet, as you back out those issues and track the underlying result quarter-by-quarter, the performance of all three of our business segments shows cause for optimism ahead. That was my message as we discussed our results with investors at the end of the third quarter.
In our fourth quarter 2012 results, this optimism was reinforced when our Group-wide organic growth in commissions and fees was the best result we had achieved in over six years. All three of our segments delivered, driven by an increase of 11.6% for Willis Global, 7.4% for Willis International and 3.1% for Willis North America. Particularly gratifying was the new business growth we saw emerge at the end of the year, a sign that the improved sales process and expanding pipelines were having an eff ect. There are undoubtedly more hills to climb as we build a better Willis, and the ascent won’t be without setbacks, but we believe we’re on solid footing for the future.
As my many mementos of my 12 years at Willis were moved to my new offi ces in Midtown Manhattan, I found myself thinking back not only to the period between 2000 and today, but stretching far back, and far forward, to the company that Dominic Casserley, our new CEO, will guide to new heights.
2 | Willis Annual Report 2012 It was 184 years ago, in 1828, at the Baltic Coff ee In Dominic Casserley, our Board of Directors has made an inspired choice House in London, where Henry Willis fi rst got his to lead Willis from here. He has spent three decades as a global leader in start in business as a commission merchant. From management consulting, much of that time devoted to helping companies those humble roots, Willis Group Holdings plc now in the insurance and fi nancial services sector achieve their full potential and has annual 2012 revenues in excess of $3.4 billion, provide the best possible return to investors. So, while he is new to Willis, he earned through the hard work of our roughly 17,000 is very familiar with the challenges we face and believes strongly, as I do, that Associates around the world. we have the team and the tools to make good on our expectations.
Among other notable events in 1828, when Our last 12 years have been marked by the values and culture instilled within Willis was founded, the Treaty of Commerce our walls, the tradition of integrity within our industry, and the value and Navigation was signed between Brazil and we’ve delivered to shareholders. That’s a fi ne legacy, but I have no doubt Denmark, establishing a link between continents. that Dominic, Steve and the entire management team will improve further In North America, Andrew Jackson was elected the on what we’ve done, taking Willis to the next level in the years ahead. seventh U.S. President. And in Asia, a typhoon killed approximately 10,000 people in Kyūshū, Japan.