Arthur Gallagher tumbles on drop in profits

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the world's fourth-largest insurance broker, fell the most in more than two decades after fourth-quarter profit dropped 80 percent.

The broker plunged $3.93, or 17 percent, to $19.83 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 10:15 a.m.

Net income was $4.7 million, compared with $23.4 million in the same period a year earlier, the Itasca-based brokerage said in a statement late yesterday.