<p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>I mean as lark and how we're exhibiting at Beaver as we always do. A because we love Beaver. We think it's the event of the year for every insurance broker to come to and B, we've got lots of schemes that we sell via brokers up and down the land. So we've got schemes like renovation plan that ensures buildings undergoing renovation. We've got Road Runner, which is the leading scheme for road risks for motor traders. We've got in sector who are high risk property and casualty placing facility for brokers.</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>We have Brunel professions who specialise in professional indemnity for insurance brokers. Who else have we got magenta, which is for non standard property insurance. So you name it. We've got a whole host of schemes that we look to promote and we bring them all together into one stand so that they can keep each other company and hopefully the theory is that we can Then if one broker is coming to see us about one of our schemes, they might not know about one of our other schemes and we can cross pollinate between For all of our broker community.</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>We will absolutely still we will always be focusing on the UK, but also looking abroad. So roughly a third of our revenues in Howden are generated in the UK and the UK is still. It's our home market. It's where we're based. It's where we're headquarters and we've got a pretty unrivalled platform in the UK now with approaching 200 branches across the UK and Ireland. So we are the perfect acquirer for brokers up and down the land</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>Overseas expansion Howden is a global specialty broker. So we have capability in construction, in financial lines, in aviation, in marine renewable energy. And so all around the world, we're looking to buy brokers that will then feed those specialties in London. So we're looking for boots on the ground in practically every country of relevance. So all of the major economies we've got big presence already in Europe,</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>in Germany, in Spain, in Portugal, in Italy and we're now looking to take that further a field. We've got operations in the Middle East in South Africa, in South America, in Australia, Asia Pacific. So we've got operations already in 45 countries, and so part of my role is to actually help us build out those existing operations and then also look for new territories that are going to be of interest to us in the future.</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>Away from M and a I mean I mean M and A is only one tiny, tiny part of our growth plan because Howden is all about organic growth. I mean, last year we grew by over 19% organically. The year before, it was 19% organically, absolutely market leading.</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>And from my perspective, organic growth is always the lifeblood of the business and for us, and A is just supplementing what should be our core practise of being a fantastic insurance broker that grows organically. So we grow organically. And then we buy brokers that help to supplement that organic growth</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>in the UK and Ireland. There's still amazingly lots of brokers left to buy. There are around 700 brokers left with more than 10 staff, but there's a further 1000 or so brokers with fewer than 10 staff. And with our platform of offices up and down the land, we can acquire the very, very smallest brokers and bring them into one of our existing offices or, if they've got more than 10 staff. Then we can build a new stand alone office for them.</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>So there's still plenty to buy because the demographic challenge hasn't changed. You know, the average age of the principles of brokers in the UK is late fifties, and it's getting older funny enough by one year every year. So the average age, I think, now is 58 or 59 years of principles of brokers. So everyone, when they get to 60 they kind of think</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>about success and challenges. And the other point is, of course, lots of small brokers really struggle to grow because once they get to a certain size where the principles have fulfilled, if they've maxed out their own capability of selling insurance themselves personally, they then have to take on account executives. That's not cheap. And if they don't take on account executives to grow, they also have to find a specialism. They have to market it. That's not cheap.</span></p> <p><strong>Speaker 0</strong>: <span>And if they want to make acquisitions, they've got to raise funding for it. And that's not cheap either. So investment is how these small brokers can grow, and we are uniquely positioned to be able to actually invest in small brokers and help them to deliver their ambition</span></p>