Brown & Brown beats despite sluggish retail organic growth

Brown & Brown opened the first quarter reporting season with
a narrow earnings beat as better-than-expected margin offset
sluggish organic growth in its core retail business.
The US broker reported revenues up 4.9 percent to $424.2mn for
the period, as its top line demonstrated overall organic growth of
1.3 percent.
There was strong organic growth of 3.4 percent in Brown &
Brown's smaller wholesale business, with 1.6 percent in
programs.
But revenues in retail increased organically by on