News Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., April 17, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) (the "Company") today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2017. 

Revenues for the first quarter of 2017 under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) were $465.1 million, increasing $40.9 million, or 9.6%, as compared to the first quarter of the prior year, with Commissions and fees increasing by 5.3% and Organic Revenue (as defined below) increasing by 3.5%. Net income was $70.1 million, increasing $8.0 million, or 12.9%, and diluted earnings per share were $0.49, increasing by 11.4%, as compared to the first quarter of the prior year. Excluding the beneficial impact of the $20.0 million legal settlement with AssuredPartners, Inc. (the "Legal Settlement") and the associated legal costs, the change in acquisition earn-out payables and the impact of adopting FASB Accounting Standards Update 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting ("ASU 2016-09"), our Total revenues - adjusted increased by $20.9 million, or 4.9%, and our Diluted earnings per share - adjusted (as defined below) decreased by 4.4% to $0.43.

J. Powell Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company noted, "We are pleased with the performance of our four divisions. As a Company we continued to deliver improved organic growth and furthered the investment in our businesses to position us for future growth and increased profitability."

In addition, the Company’s Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.1350 per share, to be paid on May 17, 2017, to shareholders of record on May 8, 2017.

In order to arrive at results that are more comparable to the prior year, we excluded the Legal Settlement and associated legal costs, the change in estimated acquisition earn-out payables and the impact of adopting ASU 2016-09 to arrive at our Diluted earnings per share - adjusted (as defined below) which were $0.43 for the three months ended March 31, 2017, a decrease of 4.4% over the first quarter of the prior year. We believe that Diluted earnings per share - adjusted provides a meaningful representation of our operating performance and is also presented to improve the comparability of our results between periods by eliminating the impact of certain items that have a high degree of variability.

Income before income taxes for the first quarter was $111.0 million, an increase of $8.4 million or 8.2% and the Income before income taxes margin decreased from 24.2% to 23.9%. In order to provide a better understanding of our business, we evaluate EBITDAC (as defined below) performance. EBITDAC for the first quarter of 2017 was $152.4 million, an increase of $13.8 million or 10.0%, compared to the first quarter of the prior year.   The EBITDAC Margin (as defined below) increased from 32.7% in the first quarter of 2016 to 32.8% in the first quarter of 2017. Excluding the effect of the Legal Settlement net of associated legal costs, our EBITDAC Margin - adjusted decreased from 32.7% in the first quarter of 2016 to 30.0% in the first quarter of 2017. We view EBITDAC, EBITDAC Margin and our EBITDAC Margin - adjusted (as defined below) as important indicators when assessing and evaluating our performance because they allow us to determine comparable, but non-GAAP, measurements of our operating margins in a meaningful and consistent manner.

Conference call, webcast and slide presentation
A conference call to discuss the results of the first quarter of 2017 will be held on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 8:00 AM (EDT).  The Company may refer to a slide presentation during its conference call. You can access the webcast and the slides from the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website at www.bbinsurance.com.

About Brown & Brown
Brown & Brown, Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers a broad range of insurance products and services.  Additionally, certain Brown & Brown subsidiaries offer a variety of risk management, third-party administration, and other services. Serving business, public entity, individual, trade and professional association clients nationwide, the Company is ranked by Business Insurance magazine as the United States’ sixth largest independent insurance intermediary. The Company’s Web address is www.bbinsurance.com.

Forward-looking statements
This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results which are forward-looking statements, including those relating to the Company's anticipated financial results for the first quarter of 2017. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company’s current belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company’s control. It is possible that the Company’s actual results, financial condition and achievements may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results, financial condition and achievements contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the Company's determination as it finalizes its financial results for the first quarter of 2017 that its financial results differ from the current preliminary unaudited numbers set forth herein; the impact of any regional, national or global political, economic, business, competitive, market, environmental or regulatory conditions on our business operations; the impact of current market conditions on our results of operations and financial condition; any insolvencies of, or other difficulties experienced by our clients, insurance carriers or financial institutions; volatility or declines in insurance markets and premiums on which our commissions are based, but which we do not control; our ability to continue to manage our indebtedness; our ability to compete effectively in our industry, material changes in commercial property and casualty markets generally or the availability of insurance products or changes in premiums resulting from a catastrophic event, such as a hurricane; our ability to retain key employees and clients and attract new business; risks that could negatively affect the success of our acquisition strategy, including continuing consolidation in our industry, which could make it more difficult to identify targets and could make them more expensive, execution risks, integration risks, the risk of post-acquisition deterioration leading to intangible asset impairment charges, and the risk we could incur or assume unanticipated regulatory liabilities such as those relating to violations of anti-corruption and sanctions laws; the timing or ability to carry out share repurchases; the timing or ability to carry out refinancing or take other steps to manage our capital and the limitations in our long-term debt agreements that may restrict our ability to take these actions; fluctuations in our earnings as a result of potential changes to our valuation allowance(s) on our deferred taxes; any fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could affect expenses and revenue; the potential costs and difficulties in complying with a wide variety of laws and regulations and any related changes; changes in the tax or accounting policies or treatment of our operations and fluctuations in our tax rate; any potential impact of US healthcare or Federal Income Tax reform, reform or National Flood Insurance Program legislation; exposure to potential liabilities arising from errors and omissions and other potential claims against us; and the interruption or loss of our information processing systems or failure to maintain secure information systems and other factors that the Company may not have currently identified or quantified, and other risks, relevant factors and uncertainties identified in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which the Company hereafter becomes aware. 

Non-GAAP supplemental financial information
This press release contains references to the following non-GAAP financial measures as defined in Regulation G of SEC rules: Organic Revenue, Total Revenues - Adjusted, Diluted Earnings Per Share - Adjusted, EBITDAC, EBITDAC - Adjusted,  EBITDAC Margin, and EBITDAC Margin - Adjusted.

Reconciliations of these supplemental non-GAAP financial information to the Company's GAAP information is contained in this earnings release. These measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative to the GAAP information provided in condensed consolidated financial statements.  We present such non-GAAP supplemental financial information because we believe such information is of interest to the investment community and because we believe they provide additional meaningful methods of evaluating certain aspects of the Company’s operating performance from period to period on a basis that may not be otherwise apparent on a GAAP basis. We believe these non-GAAP measures improve the comparability of results between periods by eliminating the impact of certain items that have a high degree of variability.  We believe that Organic Revenue provides a meaningful representation of the Company’s operating performance; the Company has historically viewed Organic Revenue growth as an important indicator when assessing and evaluating the performance of its four segments.  As disclosed in our most recent proxy statement, we use Organic Revenue and EBITDAC Margin for incentive compensation determinations for executive officers and other key employees.

Our industry peers may provide similar supplemental non-GAAP information with respect to one or more of these measures, although they may not use the same or comparable terminology and may not make identical adjustments.  This supplemental financial information should be considered in addition to, not in lieu of, the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements.

R. Andrew Watts
Chief Financial Officer
(386) 239-5770