Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending September 30, 2022

October 27, 2022 9:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the WTW Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Please refer to wtwco.com for the press release and supplemental information that was issued earlier today. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for the next three months on WTW's website.

Some of the comments in today's call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed today and the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements unless required by law.

For more detailed discussions of these and other risk factors, investors should review the forward-looking statements section of the earnings press release issued this morning as well as other disclosures in the most recent Form 10-K and in other Willis Towers Watson SEC filings.

During the call, certain non-GAAP financial measures may be discussed. For a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures as well as other information regarding these measures, please refer to the most recent earnings release and other materials in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.

I will now turn the call over to Carl Hess, WTW's Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Carl Hess

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining for WTW's third quarter 2022 earnings call. Joining me today is Andrew Krasner, our Chief Financial Officer.

Our third quarter performance reflects the increasing momentum we see in the business and our intense focus on delivering on our commitments. As projected, our organic revenue growth accelerated, reaching 6% this quarter, fueled by the great efforts of our colleagues and the strength of our global client model and further augmented by the investments we have made in talent and technology.

We generated adjusted diluted earnings of $2.20 per share and drove 110 basis points of adjusted operating margin expansion. Thanks to our transformation program, continued expense discipline and operating leverage from new business. We also continue to execute against our capital allocation strategy, completing $369 million in share repurchases in the third quarter. That brings our year-to-date total to $3.1 billion.

We are pleased with our third quarter performance and our progress executing our strategy to grow, simplify and transform gives us confidence in our ability to deliver against our guidance for 2022 and to drive growth and value creation over the long-term. A year-ago at our Investor Day, we laid out our strategy for how we take WTW forward and deliver robust shareholder returns.