Newly installed Marsh & McLennan (MMC) CEO Brian Duperrault has targeted the company's broking and technology subsidiaries for remedial work in the wake of a 46% slide in fourth-quarter net income from continuing operations to $US90 million ($99 million).

"Our immediate focus is to improve profitability at Marsh and Kroll," Mr Duperrault said.

A strong performance by MMC's consulting division was insufficient to offset poor results elsewhere as income from continuing operations for the full year fell 15% to $US538 million ($596 million).

The world's largest broking group's consolidated revenue jumped 8% for both the quarter - $US2.9 billion ($3.2 billion) - and the full year - $US11.4 billion ($12.6 billion).

MMC's risk and insurance services enjoyed mixed fortunes, with operating income down 54% to $US58 million ($64 million) but revenue unchanged at $US1.4 billion ($1.6 billion). Marsh's revenue was up 6% to $US1.2 billion ($1.3 billion), while reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter's revenue was down 2% to $US167 million ($185 million) as reinsurance rates continued to suffer in the soft market. For the full year, the division's overall revenue was up 2% to $US5.6 billion ($6.2 billion).

MMC's risk consulting and technology arm Kroll fared similarly badly. While revenue was up 3% for the quarter to $US249 million ($276 million), operating income slumped 62% to $US17 million ($19 million) on the back of weak demand.

MMC's consulting division bucked the downward trend for the quarter, with Mercer enjoying a 14% spike in revenue to $US882 million ($977 million) and Oliver Wyman up 28% to $US437 million ($484 million). Overall, consulting revenue for the quarter was up 19% to $US1.3 billion ($1.4 billion), with profitability up 38%.