S. Hughes Declining Quotations

We don't see rates declining much further or a significant firming in the near future, partly because ample capital is flowing into the market after the 2005 hurricane season. At the same time, we are encouraged by the ongoing development of our internal sales culture and by our ability to complete and integrate acquisitions. We anticipate further improvement in both areas in 2006. We also anticipate that contingent commissions could decline this year due to loss experience for insurers in 2005.

Two thousand five was a great year. Our investment in Hub's sales culture and the commitment of our people enabled us to post organic growth in the face of declining insurance rates. Our acquisition team continued to excel in identifying and closing attractive opportunities. In addition, we achieved our goal of increasing operating margins, recording a one-percentage-point improvement for the quarter and the year.