Brown & Brown Pays Dividend

Jul 24, 2008

National Underwriter--July 24, 2008

Daytona Beach, Fla., insurance broker Brown & Brown Inc. has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 7 cents a share payable on Aug. 20 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 6.

The broker reported last week that its net income declined 22 percent, or $12 million, to $40 million. That translated to an 8 cent loss in earnings per share to 29 cents a share, missing analyst’s consensus estimates by 1 cent. Revenues in the quarter declined 2 percent, or $5 million, to $242 million.

For the six months, net income fell close to 18 percent, or $20 million, to $92 million, translating into a 14 cent drop in earnings per share to 65 cents a share. Revenues on a year-to-year basis dropped more than 1 percent, or $7 million, to $498 million.

Brown & Brown reported it made 13 acquisitions in the second quarter representing $47.5 million in estimated annualized revenues. For the six months, the firm said it closed 25 transactions with estimated annualized revenues of $79 million.