Aon's Third-Quarter Organic Revenue Grows 6% and Adjusted EPS Rises 10% to $3.36, With the USI Acquisition Expected to Close in the Fourth Quarter

Aon, the professional services and insurance brokerage group, has published its results for the third quarter of 2026. The figures below come from the company's results release as carried by the financial data site Finviz. The Securities and Exchange Commission filing itself could not be retrieved, so the numbers are those reproduced in the release text. Aon reports several non-GAAP measures that it defines itself, and this article keeps them separate from the GAAP figures wherever the release does. Percentage changes marked as arithmetic are calculated here, not quoted.

The headline numbers

Total revenue for the quarter was $4,101 million, compared with $3,997 million a year earlier, an increase of 3%. Organic revenue growth, which removes the effect of currency, acquisitions and divestitures and certain fiduciary investment income, was 6%. By solution line it was 7% in Commercial Risk Solutions, 7% in Reinsurance Solutions, 6% in Health Solutions and 4% in Wealth Solutions. The gap between 3% reported growth and 6% organic growth shows that non-organic items, such as currency and the sale of businesses, reduced reported revenue growth. The release does not break the difference down in the portion reviewed.

GAAP net income attributable to Aon shareholders was $476 million, up from $458 million, or 4%. Diluted earnings per share under GAAP were $2.23, against $2.11, up 6%. Adjusted net income attributable to shareholders was $715 million against $660 million, up 8%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $3.36 against $3.05, up 10%. The adjusted figures are higher than the GAAP figures because Aon excludes items such as amortization and impairment of intangible assets, expenses of its Accelerating Aon United Program, changes in contingent consideration, integration costs related to the NFP acquisition and transaction costs for USI.

Margins

Operating income was $809 million against $816 million, a fall of 1%, and the GAAP operating margin was 19.7% against 20.4%, a decline of 70 basis points. A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. On an adjusted basis, operating income was $1,106 million against $1,051 million, up 5%, and the adjusted operating margin was 27.0% against 26.3%, up 70 basis points. The two margins moved in opposite directions, which means that the costs Aon excludes from its adjusted measure grew in the quarter. Readers should therefore treat the improved adjusted margin as management's preferred view and the GAAP margin as the unadjusted one.

Cash and capital

Operating cash flow was $1,191 million against $1,148 million. The release defines free cash flow as cash flow from operating activities less capital expenditures, and reports $1,097 million against $1,079 million, up 2%. Aon repurchased no shares in the third quarter, and about $7.7 billion of its repurchase authorization remained available at September 30, 2026. The absence of buybacks is consistent with the company's stated priority, described below, of repaying debt after the USI deal.

Nine months

For the first nine months of 2026, revenue was $13,381 million against $12,881 million, up 4%, with organic growth of 5%. Operating income was $3,439 million against $3,136 million, up 10%, and the operating margin was 25.7% against 24.3%. Adjusted operating income was $4,299 million against $4,038 million, up 6%, with an adjusted margin of 32.1% against 31.3%. Diluted EPS was $10.46 against $9.21, up 14%, and adjusted diluted EPS was $13.66 against $12.22, up 12%. Free cash flow for the period was $1,943 million against $1,895 million, up 3%. Over the nine months, then, the GAAP margin improved, unlike in the third quarter alone.

The USI acquisition and outlook

The release says the acquisition of USI is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Management's priority afterwards is to repay debt, with a path to bring leverage down to its 2.8x to 3.0x objective in about 24 months. The release defines leverage as total debt divided by trailing 12-month EBITDA. It gives no numeric guidance for revenue or earnings per share. On currency, it says that if exchange rates hold, there would be a de minimis effect on fourth-quarter adjusted EPS and a favorable effect of about $0.42 per share on full-year 2026 adjusted EPS. Chief executive Greg Case is quoted as saying that the impact of the company's strategy is further demonstrated by its strong third-quarter results, and management says it enters the fourth quarter with significant momentum, which it believes reinforces confidence in its full-year performance. These are the company's own characterizations.

A comparison with other brokers

Organic growth of 6% sits above the 4% to 5% reported by Gallagher and well above the 1.2% reported by Brown & Brown for the same quarter, according to those companies' releases. Comparisons between brokers should be made with care, because each defines organic growth slightly differently and the businesses differ in mix: Aon has large reinsurance, health and wealth operations, while the others are weighted to retail and wholesale brokerage.

What to watch

Three points follow. First, the closing of USI and the pace of debt reduction, since buybacks were paused in the quarter. Second, whether organic growth holds at the current level as commercial insurance prices fall, because lower premiums reduce commission bases. Third, the gap between GAAP and adjusted margins, which depends on integration and restructuring spending that the release excludes from its adjusted figures.

Limits

This article summarizes a company results release as reproduced by a data site. The last part of that page was not read, so some footnotes may be missing. It is general information, not investment advice.