London-headquartered insurance broker Aon plc. saysfourth-quarter net income was up 10 percent, primarily due to thestrength of its insurance-brokerage business, where revenues grewby 15 percent.

The firm says net income in the quarter climbed by $28 millionto $305 million. Revenues were up 4 percent, or $121 million, to$3.12 billion.

The increase was fueled by the insurance brokerage segment,where retail-brokerage and reinsurance revenues combined rose 3percent, or $55 million, to $2.04 billion.

Organic revenues increased 3 percent in both Aon's Americas andinternational business. Americas organic revenue was up 4 percent,Aon says, thanks to a “record quarter of new business for U.S.retail.” On the international side, Aon says organic revenues rose2 percent with strong growth in Asia and emerging markets, andmodest growth in continental Europe. The increase was offset bydecline in Australia.

Revenues in the firm's human-resource-solutions segment rose 7percent, or $75 million, to $1.08 billion. Part of that increasewas due to strong growth in healthcare exchanges and newclients.

As part of its restructuring efforts, Aon says it spent $311million on workforce reduction in both its human-resource andreinsurance divisions for 2012.

“We finished 2012 having made significant investments in GRIP(Global Risk Insight Platform, a global-risk database) and inhealthcare exchanges, took significant steps to increase ourstrategic position and financial flexibility with the re-domicileto London, delivered record cash flow from operations of $1.4billion and created significant value for shareholders through therepurchase of more than $1.1 billion of ordinary shares,” says GregCase, president and CEO of Aon in a statement. “As we look ahead to2013, we have positioned our industry-leading platform for solidlong-term growth, improved operational performance, strong freecash flow growth and effective capital management.”

During a conference call with financial analysts, Case andChrista Davies, Aon's chief financial officer, say they expect 2013to see continued growth based on the groundwork that was laid in2012 with overall growth in the business.

Case focused on the success of the firm's health-exchangesolution for businesses, which now has over 100,000 enrolledemployees.

For the year, net income was up 1 percent, or $14 million, to$993 million, or $2.99 a share. Revenues rose 2 percent, or $227million, to $11.5 billion.