Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Please note that remarks made today may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and a variety of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. For more detailed discussion of those factors, please refer to our earnings release for this quarter and to our most recent SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-K, all of which are available on the Marsh website. During the call today, we may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For a reconciliation of these measures to the most closely comparable GAAP measures, please refer to the schedule in today's earnings release. If you have a question, please press star one one on your touchstone phone. If you wish to be removed from the queue, please press star one one again. If you're using a speakerphone, you may need to pick up the handset before pressing the numbers. Once again, if you have a question, please press star one one on your touchstone phone.

I'll now turn this over to John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh. Thank you, Andrew.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss our fourth quarter results, which we reported earlier today. I'm John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh. Joining me on the call are Mark McGivney, our CFO, and the CEOs of our businesses, Martin South, Dean Klasura, Pat Tomlinson, and Nick Studer. Also with us this morning is Jay Gelb, head of investor relations. 2025 was another good year for Marsh. We executed well against our strategic objectives and delivered solid financial results. Total revenue grew 10% to $27 billion with underlying revenue growth of 4%. Adjusted operating income increased 11% to $7.3 billion. This is on top of 11% growth in 2024. Our adjusted operating margin improved 30 basis points, marking our 18th consecutive year of reported margin expansion, and adjusted EPS grew 9%. We generated 25% growth in free cash flow and achieved our capital deployment objectives. We invested approximately $850 million in acquisitions and returned significant capital to our shareholders. This included a 10% increase in our quarterly dividend and a $2 billion in share repurchases, the largest annual amount in our history. We also successfully completed the integration of McGriff, our largest acquisition ever, launched our new brand, and announced the Thrive program, all of which improve our growth profile in the years ahead. I want to take a moment to talk about our strategy and the opportunities we see. Marsh is a market leader with a proven track record of growth and exceptional performance. Our success is driven by the unique strengths of our businesses, market leading positions, a data and analytics advantage, and most importantly, the talent and dedication of our colleagues. Looking ahead, we see an opportunity to deliver even greater value to our stakeholders. Our vision is to be the most impactful professional services firm in the world, not just in insurance, but across risk, reinsurance and capital, health and talent strategies, investments, and management consulting. Our clients face increasingly complex challenges and new opportunities. They rely on our expertise across critical areas where we are market leaders and where our scale, and specialization are a distinct advantage. Last quarter, we introduced Thrive, a growth program aligned with our vision and core principles. We expect it to provide greater financial flexibility and organizational agility over the next three years. Thrive is already unlocking the capacity to invest in emerging areas with meaningful economic opportunity, such as digital infrastructure, healthcare, private capital, insurance capital strategies, and energy. It's also enabling us to increase investment in frontline talent and integrated solutions across our businesses. With Thrive, we can more powerfully and efficiently invest in one brand. Two weeks ago, we officially launched the new Marsh, ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange and introducing our new ticker symbol MRSH. Our new expanded Marsh brand better supports our business strategy and simplifies our value proposition for clients. This was highlighted at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos last week, where Marsh colleagues met with government and business leaders. Together, we discussed geoeconomic confrontation, AI and digital infrastructure, health and longevity, investment strategies, and resilience and transformation in an uncertain environment. The client and even societal impact that we can have when we bring our full capabilities together under the Marsh brand is a sustainable advantage. Another important part of Thrive is the formation of business and client services. Through BCS, we're building a data and technology ecosystem that harnesses AI and advanced analytics to improve client outcomes and drive operational excellence. While we've improved efficiency through technology and moving workflow to cost-effective locations over the years, BCS is a fundamental change in our operating model, and it accelerates expense savings and investment in AI and automation. BCS has introduced dozens of AI-driven productivity tools, and we're ramping up adoption to give our colleagues an edge. We're also focused on launching one-of-a-kind technologies, client-facing technologies such as Centrisk and Ada, which I've mentioned on prior calls. We see strong growth potential in client-facing technology, virtual agents, and chatbots. I look forward to continuing to share our progress on Thrive in the quarters ahead. Turning to market conditions, we continue to see a competitive insurance and reinsurance environment. According to the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index, primary commercial insurance rates decreased 4% in Q4, driven largely by property. This follows a 4% decline in the third quarter of 2025. As a reminder, our index skews to large account business. Rates in the U.S. were flat. U.K., Canada, and Latin America were all down 7%. Europe and Asia declined mid-single digits. and the Pacific region had double-digit decreases. Global property rates decreased 9% year over year, compared with an 8% decline in the prior quarter. Global financial and professional liability rates were down 4%, while cyber decreased 7%. Global casualty rates increased 4%, with U.S. excess casualty up 19%, reflecting ongoing pressure in the liability environment, and workers' compensation decreased 1%. In reinsurance, the property cap market continued to soften, as reinsurers pursued growth by deploying more capital. Price decreases accelerated at January 1. Seedins achieved double-digit rate reductions for non-loss-impacted cap placements. Demand increased 5% to 10%, depending on region and segment, with buyers seeking better risk sharing, such as aggregate and other covers. In casualty, we continue to see price increases driven by rising rates in the primary market, which has made it an attractive growth opportunity for reinsurers. The cap bond market had another record year. with 86 new bonds issued totaling more than $24 billion in limits. Dedicated reinsurance capital is projected to increase 9% to $660 billion at the end of 2025, driven by growth in traditional and alternative capital. With ample capacity, including new casualty sidecars, reinsurers are seeking profitable ways to deploy capital. Turning to health trends, our surveys indicate medical costs are expected to continue to rise in 2026. In the U.S., we are estimating a 7% increase, while other regions of the world will experience high single to low double-digit increases. We continue to help clients balance cost reduction measures with their need to maintain high-quality benefit plans. As always, our focus remains on helping all of our clients navigate these dynamic market conditions. Now let me turn to our fourth quarter financial performance and outlook, which Mark will cover in more detail. Consolidated revenue increased 9% to $6.6 billion, growing 4% on an underlying basis with 2% growth in RIS and 5% in consulting. Marsh risk was up 3%. Guy Carpenter grew 5%, Mercer increased 4%, and Marsh Management Consulting, which was formerly reported as Oliver Wyman Group, grew 8%. Adjusted operating income grew 12%, and adjusted EPS for the quarter was $2.12, up 10% year over year. We also repurchased $1 billion of our stock in the quarter. Looking ahead, Despite headwinds from lower interest rates and decreasing insurance and reinsurance pricing, we are well positioned for another solid year. We expect underlying revenue growth in 2026 to be similar to last year. We also anticipate continued margin expansion and solid adjusted EPS growth. Of course, this outlook is based on current conditions, and the economic environment could change materially from our assumptions. In summary, we're pleased with our 2025 performance. We executed on our strategic objectives and continued our track record of strong results. The Thrive program will drive growth through investments in talent and AI, strengthen our brand, and generate greater efficiency. I would add that this is my 40th year in the business world, and I've never seen such a complex environment for our clients. While we are not facing one global crisis, We are in an era of poly-crises. Ground wars, trade wars, culture wars, social unrest, AI disruption, and extreme weather are all creating enormous challenges for businesses. But there is also opportunity in the complexity if clients can anticipate the environment, seize the potential of AI while managing the risks, and have the right advisors to guide them. It's why I'm so optimistic about Marsh's future. Our perspective, shaped by 155 years of helping clients build the confidence to thrive, sets us apart. Our ability to see the risks and opportunities and support clients with advice and solutions will benefit them and make our relationship invaluable. With that, I'll turn the discussion to Mark for a more detailed review of our results. Thank you, Johnny.