London, Friday 2 December 2005 – Aon UK has completed the review of its regional property portfolio that was announced on 5 October as part of the company’s major restructuring drive to realign its business more efficiently around its clients’ needs. Aon’s new property strategy is designed to support the changes the company is making to realign its business segments, consolidate its client services activities and employ new ways of working to service clients. Aon will maintain its presence in the great majority of its current locations, in some cases consolidating the number of buildings it occupies in a city. However, Aon has decided that in a limited number of locations it can continue to service its clients without the need for a dedicated office in the immediate area and, as a result, over the next year the company will be closing premises in Canterbury, Cardiff, Liverpool, Norwich, Plymouth and Shrewsbury.
Aon is committed to providing its clients with a first class service wherever they are based. Over the coming year the company will be deploying its people in a number of ways, including home working and the use of convenient alternative locations to accommodate the needs of clients who are currently serviced from the premises marked for closure. Aon will be managing these changes carefully and will communicate fully with its clients in advance of and throughout the process.
Aon is consulting with its employees on the management of these changes and redeployment options. Relatively few job losses are expected as a direct result of the premises closures and any that do arise will form part of the proposed 750 employee number reduction announced on 5 October 2005.
In 2006 Aon will also be reducing its premises costs by relocating part of its Private Clients operations from its current Woking location to nearby Farnborough, where the company has existing available office accommodation that gives this growing business unit the required space for expansion. The Private Clients operating model remains the same and there are no changes to jobs and the work carried out by the team planned as part of this move.
Philip Gore-Randall, a main Board Director of Aon Limited, said: “These changes in our property portfolio support our new operating model, which is aligned more closely to our clients’ needs. This isn’t about withdrawing from any markets. In fact it’s quite the opposite - we want to have new ways of working in place so that we can expand our activities into new locations and not be restricted by needing to have a physical presence. Aon is a leading national broker and we are committed to maintaining our national presence and we will be working closely with our clients to ensure that they continue to be happy with the way we service their accounts. Some of the premises closures will not take place until the end of 2006, but we have decided to announce them now to give us enough time to ensure that we can thoroughly engage our clients and our people in the process.”
About Aon
Aon Corporation (www.aon.com ) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. The company employs approximately 53,000 professionals in its 600 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.
This press release contains certain statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results, depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include the general economic conditions in different countries around the world, fluctuations in global equity and fixed income markets, exchange rates, rating agency actions, pension funding, ultimate paid claims may be different from actuarial estimates and actuarial estimates may change over time, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates, the competitive environment, the actual costs of resolution of contingent liabilities and other loss contingencies, the heightened level of potential errors and omissions liability arising from placements of complex policies and sophisticated reinsurance arrangements in an insurance market in which insurer reserves are under pressure, and the timing and resolution of related insurance and reinsurance issues relating to the events of September 11, 2001. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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