NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world?s largest insurance broker, yesterday said third-quarter profit tripled, the first increase since New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer last year accused the company of bid-rigging.

Results fell short of analysts? estimates, sending Marsh shares down as much as 4.4 percent.

Net income for New York-based Marsh rose to $65 million, or 12 cents per share, from $21 million, or four cents a share a year earlier when the company set aside $232 million for Spitzer?s lawsuit.

Excluding legal costs, restructuring charges and employee retention awards, profit fell 16 percent to $189 million, or 35 cents per share, from $225 million, or 42 cents.

On that basis, analysts polled by Reuters Estimates on average forecast 38 cents per share.

?If you?re losing market share you?re losing relationships, and relationships in the insurance brokerage business are everything,? said Gerald Bollman at Great Companies LLC in Clearwater, Florida.

Marsh in January agreed to pay $850 million to settle a lawsuit by Spitzer accusing it of rigging bids, fixing prices and steering business to insurers that paid fees that clients did not know about.