大都會人壽保險 (MET) 2017 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hi, I'm John Hele, and I'm joining you from MetLife's Global Headquarters in New York City to discuss our second quarter 2017 results.

Before I walk you through our results, I'd like to provide you with an update on the spinoff of Brighthouse Financial. On Friday, August 4, at least 80.1% of the shares of Brighthouse Financial's common stock will be distributed to MetLife shareholders. MetLife will own the remainder and will reduce its holding over time.

Also, as we announced on July 7, MetLife agreed to acquire Logan Circle Partners L.P., Fortress Investment Group's traditional fixed income asset-management business. This acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter, adds meaningful scale to MetLife Investment Management, our asset management business.

In addition to the approximately $80 billion we manage for Brighthouse Financial, MetLife Investment Management will have approximately $60 billion of additional third-party assets under management after the transaction closes.

Now I'll turn to our second quarter results. It was a good second quarter of 2017 for MetLife and our performance was solid across all markets. We reported net income of $838 million compared to net income of $64 million in the prior year period. Net income includes the impact of the variable annuity actuarial assumption review in the second quarter of 2016.

Second quarter operating earnings were $1.4 billion, up 52% from the second quarter of 2016. On a per-share basis, operating earnings were $1.30, up 57%.

We saw operating earnings growth in most segments, The U.S., Asia and Latin America benefited from volume growth, among other factors. In the U.S., Group Benefits had strong Non-Medical Health underwriting and volume growth. EMEA results were up, driven by favorable expense margins and underwriting.

Operating earnings for MetLife Holdings were $235 million, up 1% when adjusting for notable items in the second quarter of 2016 and 2017.

Brighthouse Financial's operating earnings were down 5%. Specific details regarding the key factors impacting our business segments performance are outlined in our second quarter 2017 earnings news release dated August 2.

MetLife's second quarter 2017 operating return on equity was 10.3%.

Book value per common share was up to $51.03 from $50.52 in the first quarter of 2017.

During the second quarter, we repurchased $952 million of our common shares. Combined with our common dividend, we returned roughly $1.4 billion of capital to shareholders. We remain on track with our plan to return approximately $4.5 billion to shareholders this year in dividends and share repurchases. We are proud of the progress we continue to make in implementing our refresh strategy and are excited about what the future holds for both Brighthouse and the new MetLife. We wish Brighthouse all the best as it becomes an independent company and look forward to this new chapter in MetLife's history. Thank you for watching.