Report & Accounts - JLT

Chief Executive’s StatementChief Executive’s Statement6Dominic BurkeChief ExecutiveJardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc Annual Report & Accounts 2005I am pleased to make my first statement asChief Executive following my appointment last December.I joined the Group when JLT acquired Burke Ford in May2000. Since 2002 I have been responsible for the Group’sUK Insurance Broking and Employee Benefits businesses.I joined the Group Executive Committee in 2004, wasappointed to the board at the start of 2005 and mostrecently also appointed Chief Operating Officer. As aconsequence, on my appointment as Chief ExecutiveOfficer, I already had a good understanding of the Group.JLT is a Group with tremendous strengths. Perhaps chiefamong these is our distinctive style – proactive, energeticand customer-focused, committed to working with clientsto resolve their issues. Around the world and across ourvarious activities we have first rate people, expert andenthusiastic in their roles. One consistent characteristic isthe commitment that extends from the most junior tothose at the very top.JLT’s approach is to focus on those segments of theinsurance and employee benefits markets where, by virtueof our market position and specialist expertise, we rankamongst the leaders. We are justly proud of our strengths.They include, for example, advising and broking risks on amultinational basis in industries such as energy,construction and telecommunications to managingmunicipal insurance programmes in Australia andadministering pension portfolios for UK life assurers.Our network of retail insurance brokers constitutes thestrongest grouping outside the three global insurancebrokers. Our wholesale broking capabilities into Londonand Bermuda are unequalled.The positioning of the ‘largest smaller participant’ in aservices sector offers great advantages. JLT has theresources to serve large multinational companies and toadvise on and handle very complex and substantialinsurance programmes.At the same time however, we are small enough forour staff to collaborate across disciplines and acrosscontinents without the need for obstructive bureaucracy.Our financial performance over the last two years hasnot reflected our undoubted strengths. This is partlyexplained by factors outside our control: the competitiveinsurance market, the impact of currency transactions,the loss of the majority of our PSA revenue and theintense fee competition that has followed the Spitzerinvestigation. However, being external in nature does notmake them acceptable excuses for our recent financialperformance. We will manage our businesses takingaccount of the current and future environmentin which we operate.The 2005 financial performance also reflected theconsiderable scale of the investments we have recentlymade in recruiting highly talented professionals who havechosen to join JLT.The expansion of our reinsurance broking capabilitythrough JLT Re has been an important feature of 2005and will continue into 2006. Some of these investmentsare already bearing fruit, others are still at the stagewhere the initial cost outweighs the returns sought.It is important that we ensure that we achieve a properreturn on our investments made in individuals, teams orcompanies both in the UK and overseas.In the year ahead one of my first tasks is to ensure thatour resources and cost structure are both better alignedto our revenues. Furthermore it is essential that we makeoptimum use of our assets and capabilities.