"When it comes to acquisition and strategic opportunities, Mystic Capital has become our valued adviser," says Karen Trudel, GMI-ARIA's chief operating officer. "We focus our energies on running our business, and we rely on their expertise and experience to navigate us through acquisition opportunities. Mystic Capital's industry knowledge, experience and attention to detail are unparalleled."

With offices in New York City, Dallas, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbus, Ohio, Mystic Capital provides a broad range of financial consulting services to the insurance and financial services industries. These services include:

* Merger and acquisition advice

* Business valuation

* Perpetuation and succession planning

* Due diligence

* Industry benchmarking

* Independent analyst coverage

* Other financial consulting services

Clients include program administrators, wholesalers, MGAs, insurance companies, retail brokerages, agencies, banks and venture capital firms.

Advising clients who operate in the program administration, wholesale brokerage and MGA segments of the insurance industry is one of Mystic Capital's strengths. Nearly half its revenue is generated from advising clients in this market segment.

"We've carved out a strong niche among wholesalers, MGAs and program administrators," says Kevin Donoghue, managing director. "These specialists in the insurance distribution chain are battling day in and day out for business. But when it comes to getting solid consulting advice, they can't always rely on retail insurance consultants or insurance company advisers, who often lack the detailed expertise and experience to know how these industry middlemen operate."

Mystic Capital partnered with the Target Markets Program Administrators Association to publish the first-ever Program Administrators' Benchmarking Survey. This biannual survey gives insurance program specialists, wholesalers and MGAs the opportunity to compare their operations with those of their peers in several key areas, including (1) income and expense, (2) risk management, (3) programs and specialties, (4) policy administration, (5) technology, systems and automation, (6) marketing and advertising and (7) personnel and compensation.

"One of the most important functions of the Target Markets Program Administrators Association is to assist members in doing business more efficiently," says Glenn Clark, the association's board chairman. "Our goal is to provide every member of the group the opportunity to achieve excellence in program administration. The first step in any process of this nature is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your current program operation. The Benchmarking Survey administered by Mystic Capital is an essential tool for achieving this goal. The survey is unique in that it is wholly focused on the program marketplace."

To what years do these results apply?

Among the survey's key results, net pre-tax profitability (as a percentage of revenue) for program administrators was 12.9%, down 1.6% from the previous year. Conversely, owners' reward (net pre-tax profit plus executive compensation including salary and bonus) increased 0.9% from the previous year to 27.7%. Not surprisingly, program administrators with strong risk management practices (those who performed actuarial analysis) and better automation and technology were more profitable than firms with weaker risk management and automation.