Report & Accounts - JLT

Operational ReviewOperational ReviewTurnover - Employee BenefitsUSA£17.1mUK/Ireland£70.6m14Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc Annual Report & Accounts 2005Employee BenefitsTurnover for the combined Employee Benefits groupincreased by 6% to £87.7 million against £82.9 millionin 2004. Trading profit was £13.5 million, an increase of13%, producing a trading margin of 15%.The Employee Benefits group has operations in both theUK and the USA and employs more than 1,200 people.The UK business had another successful year with stronggrowth in turnover and profitability and the businessexceeded our long-term margin goal of 15% for the firsttime. In the USA we continued to reposition the businessand this included the sale of a substantial trading divisionthat was no longer central to the future of the business.UK Employee BenefitsToday JLT has a successful and growing position in theUK and Ireland employee benefits marketplace thatencompasses consulting and scheme administrationservices together with in house software developmentand implementation capabilities. Following the successfulintegration of Profund, a leading pensions software houseacquired in August 2004, JLT is now able to provide avirtually unique range of products and services for:Occupational pension schemes• actuarial consulting• scheme administrationLife assurance companies• actuarial services and third party administrationCorporates• a range of employee benefit products and servicesfrom healthcare to SIPPs.In the UK and Ireland, our Employee Benefits turnoverincreased 19% to £70.6 million. Excluding the full yeareffect of the Profund acquisition, turnover increased 10%.The trading margin at 16% increased from 14% in 2004and now exceeds the 15% margin that has been ourstated target since the formation of the UK EmployeeBenefits group in 2001.The principal focus in 2005 was to reinforce our presencein those areas of the UK Employee Benefits market wherewe rank amongst the market leaders, includingoutsourced pensions administration and advice.Whilst we have particular expertise in the provision of afull suite of services to mid-sized schemes, we continueto expand our position at the larger end of the market.This entails the provision of administration and otherservices to very large individual schemes and as aspecialist service provider of 'outsourced’ services to lifeassurers in relation to their occupational pension offerings.During 2005 we won substantial new business fromRoyal & SunAlliance and Scottish Life and we alsoundertook the administration of Invesco’s book ofcorporate ‘individual money purchase’ schemes, animportant development for us, representing JLT's firstmove into the Fund Management sector.Profund’s business flourished increasingly as the yearprogressed. Its authoritative position in the software andrelated services market has reinforced our already highstanding in the marketplace. Profund's systems servicingand development capability has added to the portfolio ofservices we can provide and also enabled JLT to offer atruly integrated solution to clients.