Michael G. Cherkasky, president and chief executive officer of MMC, said: "Two thousand five was a challenging year for MMC. We did what we critically needed to do. We stabilized MMC; we preserved our great brands--Marsh, Mercer, Putnam, Kroll, and Guy Carpenter; and we overwhelmingly retained our clients and employees. MMC is a much stronger company today than it was a year ago. Marsh had better client and staff retention and better profitability in the fourth quarter than in the previous quarters of 2005. We expect those trends to continue in 2006. Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Mercer Specialty Consulting, and Kroll grew revenues and are positioned for increased profitability in 2006, as is Guy Carpenter. Putnam continues to reduce its net outflows as it slowly but steadily completes its turnaround. MMC is headed in the right direction." MMC is a global professional services firm with annual revenues of approximately $12 billion. It is the parent company of Marsh, the world's leading risk and insurance services firm; Guy Carpenter, the world's leading risk and reinsurance specialist; Kroll, the world's leading risk consulting company; [Mercer], a major global provider of human resource and specialty consulting services; and Putnam Investments, one of the largest investment management companies in the United States. Approximately 55,000 employees provide analysis, advice, and transactional capabilities to clients in over 100 countries. Its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) is listed on the New York, Chicago, Pacific, and London stock exchanges. MMC's website address is www.mmc.com. MMC and its operating companies use their websites to convey meaningful information about their businesses, including the anticipated release of quarterly financial results and the posting of updates of assets under management at Putnam. Monthly updates of total assets under management at Putnam will be posted to the MMC website the first bus...

MMC Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results