Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) reported first-quarter 2026 results that featured modest organic revenue growth but improved profitability, as management pointed to a more volatile global environment and highlighted ongoing investments in artificial intelligence and automation.
Chief Executive Officer Carl Hess said WTW delivered 3% organic growth in the quarter with an adjusted operating margin of 22.3% and adjusted diluted EPS of $3.72. While revenue came in at the low end of the company’s plan, Hess said efficiency initiatives helped generate operating leverage, contributing to 70 basis points of year-over-year margin expansion.
Companywide results and capital return
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Krasner reiterated the quarter’s headline figures, noting that adjusted diluted EPS increased 19% compared with the first quarter of 2025. Krasner said foreign exchange provided a meaningful benefit, creating a $0.25 tailwind to adjusted EPS in the quarter; based on spot rates, he said the company expects an additional $0.10 tailwind across the remaining three quarters for a $0.35 full-year tailwind.
WTW generated free cash flow of -$65 million in the first quarter, which Krasner said was a $21 million improvement from the prior year, driven mainly by operating margin expansion and reduced transformation program cash outflows, partially offset by higher transaction and integration expenses. During the quarter, the company returned $388 million to shareholders through $300 million of share repurchases and $88 million of dividends. Krasner said WTW’s share repurchase expectation remains at least $1 billion for the year, subject to market conditions and other capital allocation opportunities.
Health, Wealth & Career: Health and Wealth offset weaker Career
In Health, Wealth & Career (HWC), Krasner said organic revenue increased 3%, driven by continued strength in Health and Wealth, partially offset by softer results in career and benefits delivery and outsourcing.
Health was the strongest performer, with revenue up 6%. Krasner said all geographies delivered growth, led by international and Europe, supported by solid retention and new business wins. He said WTW continues to expect high single-digit growth in Health for 2026, citing demand tied to high healthcare costs and specialty solutions.
Wealth revenue rose 4%, driven by higher retirement work across regions and growth in the investments business. Krasner cited demand for project work, recurring actuarial services and expanded “global life site” offerings, as well as new business wins and increased OCIO activity within investments. WTW maintained its view that Wealth should grow at the high end of the low single-digit range in 2026.
Career declined 3%, which Krasner attributed primarily to geopolitical disruption in the Middle East that led to a pullback in projects. He said Europe and Asia posted strong growth, while North America experienced slower pipeline conversion. In response to the uncertainty, Krasner said WTW expanded its full-year Career guidance range to low to mid-single-digit growth.
Julie Gebauer, President of Health, Wealth & Career, said she expects the Middle East and discretionary spending headwinds to have less impact later in the year, pointing to several potential tailwinds not reflected in first-quarter results. Gebauer cited:
- Expected strength in product revenues, supported by compensation survey participation as a leading indicator for benchmarking growth later in the year, and a positive outlook for Embark portal implementation.
- Healthy pipelines in Europe and Asia tied to work such as the EU Pay Transparency Directive, M&A transactions and total rewards.
- Emerging demand for AI-related work design and workforce transformation, including WTW’s WorkVue agent, which evaluates automation potential across roles.
Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing declined 1%, reflecting an “expected contraction” in the individual marketplace business that was partially offset by continued outsourcing growth. Krasner emphasized the seasonality of the individual marketplace business, which generates about 80% of its revenue in the fourth quarter, and said WTW continues to expect low single-digit growth for BD&O for the full year.
HWC’s operating margin was 27.3%, up 60 basis points year over year (or 40 basis points excluding foreign currency tailwinds), which Krasner said extended the segment’s margin expansion track record.
Risk & Broking: new business timing and competitive pricing weigh on Q1
Risk & Broking (R&B) posted 2% first-quarter revenue growth, down from 7% in the prior-year quarter. In Corporate Risk & Broking (CRB), WTW reported 2% organic growth (or 1% excluding book-of-business settlement activity and interest income), compared with 9% growth on the same basis in the first quarter of 2025.
Krasner said CRB’s first quarter tracked toward the low end of the planning range, driven primarily by a miss in new business targets, with some activity timing into future quarters. He also cited a more competitive pricing environment as a lesser factor, while noting strong client retention and contributions from specialty lines such as surety, credit risk solutions, and M&A specialties. Construction delivered a solid quarter, supported by continued momentum in data center programs.
Lucy Clarke, President of Risk & Broking, said management had expected the first quarter to be CRB’s lowest growth quarter of the year due to tough comparables. She added that North America performed best while international trailed, citing both the difficult prior-year comparison and “the most new business exposure to geopolitical headwinds.” Clarke said the company’s “early view is that we’ve returned to normalized growth in April,” and later characterized April as “mid-single-digit better.”
Clarke also said the company saw “continued deterioration in pricing during Q1,” particularly in large and complex segments. On geopolitical exposure, she told analysts the Middle East is “one of our smallest geographies,” and while it was important to flag, the company did not expect it to have a major impact on results.
Given the slower start, WTW narrowed its full-year outlook for CRB organic growth to mid-single digits, which Krasner said does not change the company’s long-term expectations. WTW also narrowed its full-year 2026 growth outlook for R&B to mid-single digits.
R&B’s operating margin was 22.6%, up from 22% in the first quarter of 2025. Excluding foreign currency, book-of-business activity and acquisitions, Krasner said margin improved about 10 basis points. Management reiterated its commitment to deliver 100 basis points of average annual adjusted operating margin expansion over the next two years in the segment.
AI and automation: Newfront integration and efficiency initiatives
Hess and management repeatedly pointed to AI as a driver of both productivity and growth. Hess highlighted internal tools and initiatives, including Rewards AI for compensation benchmarking (serving more than 2,500 client users) and an HR AI assistant called Expert, which he said was named a 2026 Lighthouse Tech Award winner in “Practical AI.” He also discussed WTW’s enterprise delivery organization, WeDo, and cited operational examples such as Call Note Assist, which has summarized more than 1.6 million calls in the outsourcing contact center and enabled a 33% reduction in post-call wrap-up time.
WTW also introduced Spike Lipkin, the co-founder of Newfront, as Chief AI Officer. Lipkin said Newfront’s experience showed that “colleagues who use our technology sell about 50% more than those who do not,” and that “our client attrition rate drops by half when clients use our tools.” Lipkin said WTW’s scale, proprietary data, and integrated operating model were key reasons Newfront chose to join WTW.
Lipkin said integration efforts are starting in North America, with tools described as “implementation-ready,” including Coverage Gap Analysis, Navigator (to centralize clients’ insurance programs), and Partner Management (an AI-driven third-party insurance compliance tool). He also cited early combined wins where WTW expertise and Newfront technology were used together, including selection by a multi-state mid-size healthcare provider for health and benefits brokerage work and selection by a rapidly growing energy client.
On the margin impact of AI, Krasner said the company is already capturing AI-driven efficiencies and expects benefits across different time horizons, while also noting that WTW intends to reinvest a portion of savings into growth, talent and technology rather than having all efficiencies immediately flow to margins.
About Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW)
Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ: WTW) is a global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps organizations manage risk, optimize benefits and cultivate talent. The firm combines insurance brokerage and risk management capabilities with human capital and benefits consulting, actuarial and analytics services, and technology-enabled solutions. Willis Towers Watson serves a broad client base that includes multinational and mid-sized corporations, public sector organizations, insurers and investment managers.
The company’s core activities encompass commercial and reinsurance brokerage, risk transfer and risk-financing advice, and claims advocacy, alongside employee benefits and retirement consulting.
