PORTLAND, Maine–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At the annual meeting of shareholders here today, Unum Group (NYSE: UNM)
President and CEO Richard P. (Rick) McKenney offered perspective on a
year of good operating results, profitable growth, and the expansion of
both the company’s geographic footprint and portfolio of products and
services.
“We excelled at serving our customers who rely on us during some of
life’s most challenging times, and we continued to invest in creating a
world-class customer experience,” McKenney said. “We also continued our
focus on social responsibility, principled governance and environmental
stewardship. And, despite industry headwinds, we stayed the course on
our capital plans.”
In 2018, Unum had record revenues of $11.6 billion and paid more than $7
billion in benefits. The company delivered earnings per share growth of
more than 21% and reported after-tax operating income of more than $1.1
billion, among other measures.
“We help protect more than 38 million workers and their families in the
event of illness or injury through our disability, life, accident and
critical illness coverage,” McKenney said. “In addition, we have seen
the benefits of disciplined growth in new dental products and dental
insurance networks; launched easy-to-use digital tools that help
customers easily access and manage their leave benefits and seamlessly
integrate with existing HR platforms; introduced a new voluntary
benefits offering in the U.K.; and expanded our geographic reach with
the acquisition of Pramerica Życie, a financial protection provider in
Poland.
“With these opportunities in front of us, I am excited about where we
are headed in 2019.”
Separately today, Unum’s board of directors authorized the repurchase of
up to $750 million of the company’s outstanding common stock through
Nov. 23, 2020. This new authorization replaces the previous
authorization of $750 million that was scheduled to expire on Nov. 24,
2019.
The board of directors also authorized an increase of 9.6 percent in the
quarterly dividend paid on its common stock. The new rate of 28.5 cents
per common share, or $1.14 per share on an annual basis, will be
effective with the dividend expected to be paid in the third quarter of
2019.
Also at today’s meeting, McKenney acknowledged the outstanding
contributions of Chief Financial Officer Jack McGarry, who earlier this
week announced he is retiring from the company in October. Steve Zabel,
currently president of Unum’s closed block of business, will succeed
McGarry as CFO.
Among other voting items, Unum shareholders re-elected 11 directors for
terms expiring in 2020: Theodore Bunting, retired group president of
utility operations at Entergy Corporation; Susan Cross, former executive
vice president and chief actuary of XL Group, Ltd.; Susan DeVore,
president and CEO of Premier, Inc.; Joseph Echevarria, retired CEO of
Deloitte LLP; Cynthia Egan, retired president of T. Rowe Price
Retirement Plan Services; Kevin Kabat, chairman of the board of Unum
Group and retired president and CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp; Timothy
Keaney, former vice chairman of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation;
Gloria Larson, president of Bentley University; Rick McKenney, president
and CEO of Unum Group; Ronald O’Hanley, president and COO of State
Street Corporation; and Francis Shammo, retired CFO of Verizon
Communications. Michael Caulfield, former president of Mercer Human
Resource Consulting, retired from the board today.
ABOUT UNUM GROUP
Unum
Group is a leading provider of financial protection benefits in the
United States and the United Kingdom and the largest provider of
disability income protection in the world. Its businesses are Unum US,
Colonial Life, Unum UK, and Unum Poland. Unum’s portfolio includes
disability, life, accident and critical illness, dental and vision
coverage, which help protect millions of working people and their
families in the event of an illness or injury. Unum also provides
stop-loss coverage to help self-insured employers protect against
unanticipated medical costs. The company reported revenues of $11.6
billion in 2018, and provided $7.2 billion in benefits.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
Certain information in this news release constitutes “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are those not based on
historical information, but rather relate to our outlook, future
operations, strategies, financial results, or other developments and
speak only as of the date made. These forward-looking statements,
including statements about potential growth opportunity, are subject to
numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, many of which are beyond
our control. The following factors, in addition to other factors
mentioned from time to time, may cause actual results to differ
materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements:
(1) sustained periods of low interest rates; (2) fluctuation in
insurance reserve liabilities and claim payments due to changes in claim
incidence, recovery rates, mortality and morbidity rates, and policy
benefit offsets due to, among other factors, the rate of unemployment
and consumer confidence, the emergence of new diseases, epidemics, or
pandemics, new trends and developments in medical treatments, the
effectiveness of our claims operational processes, and changes in
governmental programs; (3) unfavorable economic or business conditions,
both domestic and foreign, that may result in decreases in sales,
premiums, or persistency, as well as unfavorable claims activity; (4)
legislative, regulatory, or tax changes, both domestic and foreign,
including the effect of potential legislation and increased regulation
in the current political environment; (5) investment results, including,
but not limited to, changes in interest rates, defaults, changes in
credit spreads, impairments, and the lack of appropriate investments in
the market which can be acquired to match our liabilities; (6) a cyber
attack or other security breach could result in the unauthorized
acquisition of confidential data; (7) the failure of our business
recovery and incident management processes to resume our business
operations in the event of a natural catastrophe, cyber attack, or other
event; (8) execution risk related to our technology needs; (9) increased
competition from other insurers and financial services companies due to
industry consolidation, new entrants to our markets, or other factors;
(10) changes in our financial strength and credit ratings; (11) damage
to our reputation due to, among other factors, regulatory
investigations, legal proceedings, external events, and/or inadequate or
failed internal controls and procedures; (12) actual experience in the
broad array of our products that deviates from our assumptions used in
pricing, underwriting, and reserving; (13) changes in accounting
standards, practices, or policies; (14) effectiveness of our risk
management program; (15) contingencies and the level and results of
litigation; (16) availability of reinsurance in the market and the
ability of our reinsurers to meet their obligations to us; (17)
ineffectiveness of our derivatives hedging programs due to changes in
the economic environment, counterparty risk, ratings downgrades, capital
market volatility, changes in interest rates, and/or regulation; (18)
fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates; (19) ability to generate
sufficient internal liquidity and/or obtain external financing; (20)
recoverability and/or realization of the carrying value of our
intangible assets, long-lived assets, and deferred tax assets; and (21)
terrorism, both within the U.S. and abroad, ongoing military actions,
and heightened security measures in response to these types of threats.
For further discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause
actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements, see Part 1, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our annual report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. The forward-looking
statements in this news release are being made as of the date of this
news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statement contained herein, even if
made available on our website or otherwise.
Contacts
INVESTORS
Tom White 423 294 8996
MEDIA
Jim Sabourin 866 750 8686
