普登 (UNM) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Mandeep, and I'll be your operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Unum Group second-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。我叫 Mandeep，今天我將擔任您的接線生。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Unum Group 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Matt Royal, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. You may begin.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係高級副總裁馬特·羅亞爾 (Matt Royal)。你可以開始了。

Great. Thank you, Mandeep, and good morning to everybody. Welcome to Unum Group's second-quarter 2024 earnings call. Please note that today's call may include forward-looking statements and actual results, which are subject to risks and uncertainties, may differ materially and we are not obligated to update any of these statements. Please refer to our earnings release and periodic filings with the SEC for a description of factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected results.

偉大的。謝謝你，曼迪普，祝大家早安。歡迎參加 Unum Group 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。請注意，今天的電話會議可能包括前瞻性陳述和實際結果，這些陳述和實際結果受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能存在重大差異，我們沒有義務更新任何這些陳述。請參閱我們的收益發布和向 SEC 定期提交的文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與預期結果不同的因素的描述。

Yesterday afternoon, Unum released our second-quarter earnings press release and financial supplement. Those materials may be found on the Investors section of our website, along with a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP measures and reconciliations of any non-GAAP financial measures included in today's presentation. References made today to core operation, sales, and premiums, which includes Unum International, are presented on a constant currency basis.

昨天下午，Unum 發布了我們的第二季財報新聞稿和財務補充報告。這些資料可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到，同時還提供了最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準的演示以及今天演示中包含的任何非 GAAP 財務衡量標準的調整表。今天提到的核心營運、銷售額和溢價（包括 Unum International）均以固定匯率計算。

Participating in this morning's conference call are Unum's President and CEO, Rick McKenney; Chief Financial Officer, Steve Zabel; Tim Arnold, who heads our Colonial Life and Voluntary Benefits lines; Chris Pyne for Group Benefits; and Mark Till, CEO of Unum International.

參加今天早上的電話會議的有 Unum 總裁兼執行長 Rick McKenney；財務長 Steve Zabel；阿諾德 (Tim Arnold)，我們的殖民地生活和自願福利部門負責人；克里斯·派恩 (Chris Pyne) 負責團體福利；和 Unum International 執行長 Mark Till。

Now let me turn it to Rick for his comments.

現在讓我請瑞克徵求他的意見。

Thank you, Matt. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We're excited to discuss our second-quarter results, the robust performance in the first half of the year, and trends we see carrying us into the back half of 2024 and into 2025. Our purpose-driven team has done an excellent job navigating the change in the environment and our market over the last several years, and we are most appreciative of their efforts.

謝謝你，馬特。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們。我們很高興討論我們的第二季業績、上半年的強勁表現，以及我們看到的引領我們進入 2024 年下半年和 2025 年的趨勢。過去幾年，我們以目標為導向的團隊在應對環境和市場變化方面做得非常出色，我們非常感謝他們的努力。

This quarter, we saw the continuation of some favorable trends and notable improvements in multiple areas of performance, leading us to increase our earnings per share outlook for 2024. Our results thus far in 2024 evidence the way we approach the employee benefits markets, and growth orientation is really paying off. We are actively engaging with new and existing customers in growing our top line while maintaining healthy industry-leading margins. As we move forward, we are poised to continue on a growth trajectory in the second half of the year.

本季度，我們看到一些有利趨勢的延續以及多個領域業績的顯著改善，導致我們上調了 2024 年的每股收益預期。2024 年迄今的業績證明了我們對待員工福利市場的方式，而成長導向確實得到了回報。我們積極與新舊客戶合作，以增加我們的收入，同時保持業界領先的健康利潤率。隨著我們的前進，我們準備在今年下半年繼續保持成長軌跡。

Our strategic initiatives and diligent execution have set a strong foundation, and we are confident in our ability to sustain this momentum. We're excited to see our outlook for opportunities for the next year, building and reflecting the prospects for continued success. As we stand here today, our team is supported by distinctive technologies and remains fully committed to delivering for our clients each and every day.

我們的策略舉措和勤奮的執行奠定了堅實的基礎，我們對維持這一勢頭充滿信心。我們很高興看到明年的機會展望，建構並反映持續成功的前景。當我們今天站在這裡時，我們的團隊得到了獨特技術的支持，並且仍然完全致力於每天為我們的客戶提供服務。

Focusing on our second quarter, it reflects sustained broad-based performance. We saw statutory earnings surpassing $350 million and earnings per share reaching $2.16 per share, marking yet another record level of earnings for the company. Our top line was healthy, with a 5.4% increase in core operations premium growth, and capital metrics significantly exceeded our targets. Given our robust results and positive outlook, we're adjusting our full-year earnings per share growth outlook from the previous 7% to 9% to double-digit growth of 10% to 15%.

重點關注我們的第二季度，它反映了持續的廣泛表現。我們看到法定收益超過 3.5 億美元，每股收益達到 2.16 美元，創下該公司收益的另一個紀錄水平。我們的收入維持健康，核心營運溢價成長 5.4%，資本指標顯著超出我們的目標。鑑於我們強勁的業績和積極的前景，我們將全年每股收益成長預期從先前的 7% 至 9% 調整為 10% 至 15% 的兩位數成長。

Our exclusive focus on the group benefits markets continues to offer a promising landscape for client growth and expansion. This is further bolstered by the inherent tailwinds in our business, stemming from what we consider natural growth factors such as an increasing covered employee base and wage levels. Consequently, we are well positioned to enhance our top line growth through various cycles, a trend we have consistently observed over this past decade.

我們對團體福利市場的獨家關注繼續為客戶的成長和擴張提供充滿希望的前景。我們業務固有的有利因素進一步支撐了這一點，這些因素源自於我們認為的自然成長因素，例如不斷增加的員工基礎和薪資水準。因此，我們處於有利位置，可以在各個週期中提高我們的營收成長，這是我們在過去十年中觀察到的趨勢。

The second quarter was consistent with this view and the outlook for the economy, with job growth continuing and wage increases more than the norm. We see this reflected in our existing client base, where we witnessed sustained natural growth that contributed to our trajectory. In addition to the labor market, we continue to be happy with where rates are for the 10- and 30-year treasury at levels similar to those during our prior call. Current rate levels are beneficial as we continue to invest new money above our portfolio yields.

第二季與此觀點和經濟前景一致，就業持續成長，薪資增幅超過正常水準。我們在現有的客戶群中看到了這一點，我們見證了持續的自然成長，這為我們的發展軌跡做出了貢獻。除了勞動市場之外，我們仍然對 10 年期和 30 年期公債利率與我們先前電話會議期間類似的水平感到滿意。目前的利率水準是有利的，因為我們繼續投資高於投資組合收益率的新資金。

While we were able to adjust our core businesses based on longer-term movements in rates, we continue to take steps to derisk our exposure within the Closed Block, which we've now done for the last 10 consecutive quarters through both our hedging program and asset repositioning. Altogether, the macro backdrop aids us in steadily and consistently building on our solid foundation and delivering profitable growth and strong returns across all of our businesses.

雖然我們能夠根據利率的長期變動調整我們的核心業務，但我們繼續採取措施降低我們在封閉區塊內的風險，我們現在已經連續 10 個季度透過我們的對沖計劃和資產重新定位。總而言之，宏觀背景幫助我們穩步、持續地建立堅實的基礎，並在我們的所有業務中實現盈利增長和強勁回報。

Looking across the franchise, results in Unum US were highlighted by a 5.5% top-line premium growth and strong persistency levels. The opportunistic nature of large-case sales drove the lighter headline result for our group products. However, we were pleased with the underlying results, including nearly 12% sales growth in our less than 2,000 employee group segment, and remain confident in achieving our full-year growth expectations from a margin perspective.

縱觀整個特許經營業務，Unum US 的業績突出表現在 5.5% 的頂線保費增長和強勁的持續水平。大宗銷售的機會主義性質導致我們集團產品的整體業績較淡。然而，我們對基本業績感到滿意，包括員工人數不足 2,000 人的細分市場銷售額增長近 12%，並且從利潤角度來看，我們對實現全年增長預期仍然充滿信心。

Group disability experienced another strong quarter, where recoveries drove low historical benefit levels, and we expect similar experience trends to persist. The group life and AD&D segment had another standout quarter, with both strong top line premium as well as favorable benefits experienced in the quarter. In our Colonial Life franchise, margins continued to be excellent with an ROE of 20%. Premiums grew nearly 4% through the first six months of the year with strong persistency and sales, which rebounded nicely compared to the first quarter.

團體殘疾經歷了又一個強勁的季度，復甦導致歷史福利水平較低，我們預計類似的體驗趨勢將持續存在。團體壽險和 AD&D 部門又一個表現出色的季度，本季收入強勁，收益也不錯。在我們的 Colonial Life 特許經營業務中，利潤率持續保持出色，淨資產收益率 (ROE) 為 20%。今年前六個月保費成長近 4%，持續性強勁，銷售額較第一季強勁反彈。

Rounding out our core segments, our International business had another quarter operating at full strength, with robust premium growth of nearly 9% and UK underlying earnings in excess of GBP 30 million. We continue to see excellent growth momentum in our growing Poland business and in the UK continue to redefine the broker experience, setting a market-leading standard that is distinctively Unum and enhancing our relationship management model.

完善我們的核心業務，我們的國際業務又一個季度全力運營，保費強勁增長近 9%，英國基本收入超過 3000 萬英鎊。我們在不斷成長的波蘭業務中繼續看到出色的成長勢頭，在英國繼續重新定義經紀商體驗，制定了獨特的 Unum 市場領先標準，並增強了我們的關係管理模式。

From an overall return perspective, our commitment to innovation, prudent capital management, and shareholder returns remains unwavering. As anticipated, our long-term care's capital buffer is in a healthy position, so substantial free cash flow generation of our core businesses flows straight to a capital position of strength and deployment flexibility.

從整體回報來看，我們對創新、審慎資本管理和股東回報的承諾依然堅定不移。正如預期的那樣，我們的長期照護資本緩衝處於健康的狀態，因此我們核心業務產生的大量自由現金流直接流入具有實力和部署靈活性的資本狀況。

Statutory earnings through the first half of the year totaled over $700 million, putting us on pace to reach the top end of our outlook range for the year for capital generation. This adds to a balance sheet that is strong with ample levels of cash and RBC at 470%. Considering these factors, we're pleased with our new Board authorization of $1 billion for share repurchase as it illustrates the level of confidence we have in the sustainability of our business results.

今年上半年的法定收益總計超過 7 億美元，這使我們預計將達到今年資本生成預期範圍的上限。這使得資產負債表更加強勁，擁有充足的現金和 470% 的 RBC。考慮到這些因素，我們對董事會新授權 10 億美元用於股票回購感到高興，因為這表明我們對業務成果的可持續性充滿信心。

Our capital priorities remain intact, that is investing in our businesses organically and inorganically and then returning capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. As such, we will be prudent with the pace at which we exhaust the authorization, but plan to increase our pace in the back half of the year. This is significant as entering the year, we plan to repurchase $500 million of stock, which represents a doubling of the amount we repurchased in 2023. This increased authorization is a testament to the robust position of the business as well as the immense value we see in our shares, with book value per share, excluding AOCI, crossing the $70 mark.

我們的資本優先事項保持不變，即對我們的業務進行有機和無機投資，然後透過股息和股票回購將資本返還給股東。因此，我們將謹慎對待用盡授權的步伐，但計劃在下半年加快步伐。進入今年，這一點意義重大，我們計劃回購 5 億美元的股票，相當於 2023 年回購金額的兩倍。此次授權的增加證明了該業務的穩健地位以及我們在股票中看到的巨大價值，每股帳面價值（不包括 AOCI）已突破 70 美元大關。

In summary, we're pleased by the positive trends across our operations and the supportive macro environment. The second quarter marked another period of strength for the company and served as an important milestone for the year. We remain forward-looking, ensuring we are well positioned to execute our strategy and achieve our revised outlook of 10% to 15% earnings per share growth.

總之，我們對我們業務的正面趨勢和有利的宏觀環境感到高興。第二季度標誌著公司的另一個強勁時期，也是今年的一個重要里程碑。我們保持前瞻性，確保我們有能力執行我們的策略並實現我們修訂後的每股收益成長 10% 至 15% 的前景。

Thank you once again for joining us, and let me turn it over to Steve for some of the details.

再次感謝您加入我們，讓我將其轉交給史蒂夫以了解一些詳細資訊。

Great. Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. As Rick described, the second quarter was another very good quarter for the company, with adjusted after-tax operating income per share of $2.16 as we benefited from strong operating performance across our businesses.

偉大的。謝謝你，瑞克，大家早安。正如 Rick 所描述的，第二季度對公司來說又是一個非常好的季度，調整後的每股稅後營業收入為 2.16 美元，因為我們受益於整個業務的強勁營運業績。

Based on this performance, the performance that we've achieved through the first half of the year compared to our expectations presented in January, and our view that improved margins will continue, we are increasing our 2024 after-tax adjusted operating earnings per share growth outlook from 7% to 9% to 10% to 15%. I will provide additional context to where we see the sustainability of the margins as we get into the segment financial results.

基於此業績、我們上半年所取得的業績與 1 月份提出的預期相比，以及我們對利潤率將持續改善的看法，我們正在提高 2024 年稅後調整後每股營業收益的增長前景從7 % 到9% 到10% 到15%。當我們進入該部門的財務業績時，我將提供更多背景信息，說明我們如何看待利潤率的可持續性。

In addition to the great margins we're seeing, our growth momentum has also continued into the second quarter, with core operations premium growing 5.4%, putting us well on pace to achieve our full-year outlook of premium growth in the 5% to 7% range. Aiding this growth were a combination of strong levels of persistency, continued benefits from natural growth, and in-line new sales. Although sales growth was muted this quarter, we remain optimistic that we'll receive our growth goals for the year as we enter into the second half of 2024.

除了我們看到的巨大利潤之外，我們的成長動能也持續到了第二季度，核心營運保費成長了 5.4%，這使我們有望實現全年保費成長 5% 至 5% 的目標。強勁的持續性、自然成長帶來的持續收益以及持續的新銷售共同推動了這一成長。儘管本季銷售成長乏力，但我們仍然樂觀地認為，隨著進入 2024 年下半年，我們將實現今年的成長目標。

As Rick mentioned in his opening, our high-performing teams and industry-leading technology are a differentiator for us in the market and are a reason why we are seeing the healthy levels of growth and strong margins today. While we continue to expect expense ratios to decline over time, we continue to invest heavily in these areas and see that reflected through increased expense ratios across the company this quarter. We are happy with our investments and are confident in the payoff they will provide, driving future growth and profitability.

正如里克在開幕式中提到的那樣，我們的高績效團隊和行業領先的技術是我們在市場上的差異化因素，也是我們今天看到健康成長水平和強勁利潤的原因。雖然我們仍然預計費用比率會隨著時間的推移而下降，但我們將繼續在這些領域進行大量投資，並透過本季整個公司的費用比率的上升反映出這一點。我們對我們的投資感到滿意，並對它們將提供的回報充滿信心，從而推動未來的成長和獲利能力。

So now let's dive into our quarterly operating results across the segments, beginning with Unum US. Adjusted operating income in the Unum US segment increased 4.2% to $357.5 million in the second quarter of 2024, compared to $343.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. Results finished above prior year, primarily due to favorable benefits experience across multiple lines.

現在，讓我們從 Unum US 開始，深入了解各部門的季度營運表現。2024 年第二季 Unum 美國部門調整後營業收入成長 4.2%，達到 3.575 億美元，而 2023 年第二季為 3.431 億美元。業績高於去年同期，主要是由於多條線的良好福利體驗。

The group disability line reported another robust quarter with a benefit ratio of 59.1%, driving adjusted operating income of $153.2 million. Although this result was lower than the second quarter of 2023's result of $159.8 million due to higher expenses, we do continue to be very pleased with the sustained margins in this business as the strong claim recovery performance has continued.

團體傷殘險險報告又一個強勁的季度，賠付率為 59.1%，帶動調整後營業收入達到 1.532 億美元。儘管由於費用增加，這一結果低於 2023 年第二季 1.598 億美元的結果，但我們仍然對該業務的持續利潤率感到非常滿意，因為索賠追償表現持續強勁。

Results for Unum US group life and AD&D increased significantly compared to the second quarter of last year, with adjusted operating income of $89.1 million for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $51.6 million in the same period a year ago. The benefit ratio decreased to 65.4% compared to 73% in the second quarter of 2023. This improvement was driven by lower incidence levels in group life. We believe the favorable experience in this segment will continue for the next several quarters, and therefore we are now expecting a benefit ratio range around 70% for the remainder of the year.

Unum US group life 和 AD&D 的業績較去年第二季大幅成長，2024 年第二季調整後營業收入為 8,910 萬美元，去年同期為 5,160 萬美元。福利比率從 2023 年第二季的 73% 下降至 65.4%。這種改善是由於群體生活中發生率較低而推動的。我們相信，該領域的良好經驗將在未來幾季持續下去，因此我們目前預計今年剩餘時間內的福利比率將在 70% 左右。

Adjusted operating earnings for the Unum US supplemental and voluntary lines in the second quarter were $115.2 million, a decrease from $131.7 million in the second quarter of 2023. The decrease is driven by underlying benefits experienced and voluntary benefits and higher expenses in the segment. The voluntary benefits benefit ratio of 45.1% was higher than the prior year's result of 39.2%, due primarily to less favorable experience in disability, critical illness, and hospital indemnity product lines. This was partially offset by an improvement in the individual disability benefit ratio to 39% compared to 42.1% a year ago, driven by favorable recoveries.

Unum 美國補充和自願險種第二季度調整後營業利潤為 1.152 億美元，較 2023 年第二季度的 1.317 億美元有所下降。這一下降是由於該部門的基本福利和自願福利以及較高的費用造成的。自願福利福利比率為 45.1%，高於上年的 39.2%，主要是由於殘疾、重大疾病和醫院賠償產品線的體驗較差。由於經濟復甦良好，個人殘障福利比率從一年前的 42.1% 提高至 39%，部分抵消了這一影響。

So then turning to premium trends and drivers, Unum US premium grew 5.5% with support from natural growth and a strong level of persistency. Unum US quarterly sales were $313.2 million compared to $314.6 million in the second quarter of 2023. Total group persistency of 92.4% maintained a sequentially strong level and was significantly above the same period a year-ago result of 89.8%, which is more in line with historical norms.

那麼，轉向保費趨勢和驅動因素，在自然增長和強勁持續性的支持下，Unum 美國保費增長了 5.5%。Unum 美國季度銷售額為 3.132 億美元，而 2023 年第二季為 3.146 億美元。92.4%的集團總持續率保持了連續強勁的水平，顯著高於去年同期的89.8%，更符合歷史正常水平。

Moving to Unum International, the segment experienced exceptional results. Adjusted operating income for the second quarter of $42.5 million was down from $43.5 million in the second quarter of 2023 as inflation benefits in the UK did decline approximately $10 million compared to the year-ago period and to the lowest levels we have seen since the pandemic. Adjusted operating income for the Unum UK business was GBP32.5 million in the second quarter compared to GBP34.3 million in the second quarter of 2023 When removing the inflationary benefits referred to earlier, adjusted operating income increased nearly 30% and was in excess of GBP30 million. These strong results reflect strong underlying performance, including an improved benefit ratio of 69.5% compared to 72.3% a year ago.

轉移到 Unum International 後，該部門取得了非凡的成果。第二季調整後營業收入為 4,250 萬美元，低於 2023 年第二季的 4,350 萬美元，因為英國的通膨福利與去年同期相比確實下降了約 1,000 萬美元，降至大流行以來的最低水平。Unum 英國業務第二季調整後營業收入為 3,250 萬英鎊，而 2023 年第二季為 3,430 萬英鎊。 。這些強勁的業績反映了強勁的基本業績，包括福利比率從一年前的 72.3% 提高到 69.5%。

International premiums continue to show strong growth, supported by solid sales trends and increasing persistency. Unum UK generated premium growth of 6.1% on a year-over-year basis in the second quarter, while our Poland operation grew 24.6%. The international businesses continued to generate year-over-year sales growth, up 4.8%, driven primarily by Unum UK growth of 5.7%.

在穩固的銷售趨勢和不斷增長的持續性的支持下，國際保費繼續呈現強勁增長。Unum UK 第二季度的保費較去年同期成長 6.1%，而我們的波蘭業務則成長了 24.6%。國際業務的銷售額繼續實現同比增長，增長 4.8%，這主要是受到 Unum UK 增長 5.7% 的推動。

Next, adjusted operating income for the Colonial Life segment was $116.9 million in the second quarter compared to $115.5 million in the second quarter of 2023, with the increase driven by premium growth and favorable benefits experience. The benefit ratio of 47.8% improved from 48.3% in the year-ago period and was within our expectations.

其次，Colonial Life 部門第二季調整後營業收入為 1.169 億美元，而 2023 年第二季為 1.155 億美元，成長是由保費成長和良好的福利體驗推動的。47.8%的福利比率較去年同期的48.3%有所改善，符合我們的預期。

Colonial premium income of $446.2 million grew 3.6% compared to $430.6 million in the second quarter of 2023, driven by higher levels of persistency and the growing trends we've seen in sales momentum. Premium income growth of 3.8% for the first half of 2024 compares favorably to the full-year growth outlook of 2% to 4%, which we communicated in January. Sales in the second quarter of $122.9 million increased just under 1% from prior year, primarily driven by new account sales.

殖民地保費收入為 4.462 億美元，較 2023 年第二季的 4.306 億美元增長 3.6%，這得益於較高的持續性和我們看到的銷售勢頭不斷增長的趨勢。2024 年上半年保費收入成長 3.8%，優於我們在一月份傳達的 2% 至 4% 的全年成長前景。第二季銷售額為 1.229 億美元，比去年同期成長近 1%，這主要是由新客戶銷售推動的。

In the Closed Block segment, adjusted operating income of $51.6 million was higher than last quarter's result of $24.3 million. The increase was due primarily to improved alternative asset income and higher earnings from other products within the Closed Block. Annualized yield on the alternative asset portfolio of 9.9% was at the top end of our long-term expectation of 8% to 10% returns.

在封閉區塊部門，調整後營業收入為 5,160 萬美元，高於上季的 2,430 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於另類資產收入的增加以及封閉區塊內其他產品的收入增加。另類資產組合的年化報酬率為 9.9%，位於我們 8% 至 10% 報酬率長期預期的上限。

The LTC net premium ratio was 93.7% at the end of second quarter of 2024, which is higher than the reported 86.1% in the same year-ago period due primarily to the assumption update in the third quarter of 2023. Sequentially, the NPR decreased 10 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2024, driven by the impacts of favorable experience in non-capped cohorts.

截至 2024 年第二季末，LTC 淨保費率為 93.7%，高於去年同期報告的 86.1%，這主要是由於 2023 年第三季的假設更新。隨後，由於無上限群體的良好經驗的影響，NPR 與 2024 年第一季相比下降了 10 個基點。

Let me also provide an update on the underlying LTC claims experience. As we have discussed on prior calls, the LTC claim inventory is in a period of normalization as we continue to return to pre-pandemic claim patterns in this block. Similar to last quarter, recent trends continue to support these expectations as incidents experienced in the second quarter, while still elevated compared to our long-term expectations, improved compared to the first quarter of 2024.

我還提供了有關 LTC 索賠經驗的最新資訊。正如我們在先前的電話會議中所討論的那樣，隨著我們繼續恢復到該區塊大流行前的索賠模式，LTC 索賠清單正處於正常化時期。與上季類似，近期趨勢持續支持這些預期，因為第二季發生的事件雖然仍高於我們的長期預期，但與 2024 年第一季相比有所改善。

Finally, we continue to advance our Closed Block strategy through actions such as pursuing rate increases and expanding our hedging program. This active management contributes to our goals of creating value, reducing the footprint and increasing predictability of outcomes for the block.

最後，我們繼續透過提高利率和擴大對沖計劃等行動來推進我們的封閉區塊策略。這種積極的管理有助於實現我們創造價值、減少足跡和提高區塊結果的可預測性的目標。

I'll now highlight the specific actions we took in the second quarter to progress these goals. First, we continue to see success in the execution of our rate increase program. Since the rate increase program refresh in the third quarter of 2023, we have achieved approximately 25% of our target and continue to feel confident in achieving our best estimate assumption.

現在我將重點介紹我們在第二季為實現這些目標所採取的具體行動。首先，我們繼續看到升息計畫的執行成功。自 2023 年第三季更新升息計畫以來，我們已經實現了約 25% 的目標，並繼續對實現我們的最佳估計假設充滿信心。

Next, we took the opportunity to continue the expansion of our interest rate hedging program, which reduces interest rate risk in the LTC product line by locking in this favorable macro environment for years to come. During the quarter, we entered into $458 million of treasury forwards and the value of open notional hedges was approximately $2.4 billion at the end of the second quarter.

接下來，我們藉此機會繼續擴大利率對沖計劃，透過鎖定未來幾年有利的宏觀環境來降低LTC產品線的利率風險。本季度，我們簽訂了 4.58 億美元的國債遠期合約，截至第二季末，開放式名義對沖的價值約為 24 億美元。

So then wrapping up my commentary on the segment's financial results, the adjusted operating loss in the corporate segment was $45.3 million compared to a $34.9 million loss in the second quarter of 2023, primarily driven by lower allocated net investment income. As discussed last quarter, we expect losses in the corporate segment will stay relatively consistent in the mid-$40 million range for the remainder of the year.

因此，在結束我對該部門財務表現的評論時，企業部門調整後的營運虧損為4,530 萬美元，而2023 年第二季的虧損為3,490 萬美元，這主要是由於分配的淨投資收入較低所致。正如上季所討論的，我們預計今年剩餘時間內企業部門的虧損將相對穩定地維持在 4,000 萬美元左右。

Moving now to investments, we continue to see a good environment for new money yields, with purchases made in the quarter once again at levels above our earned portfolio yield. Overall, miscellaneous investment income increased to $35.4 million compared to $21.1 million a year ago as both alternative investment income and, to a lesser extent, traditional bond call premiums increased. Income from our alternative invested assets was $32.7 million in the quarter. We continue to be pleased with and benefit from the composition of the portfolio.

現在轉向投資，我們繼續看到新貨幣收益率的良好環境，本季的購買再次高於我們賺取的投資組合收益率的水平。總體而言，由於另類投資收入和傳統債券贖回溢價的增加，雜項投資收入從一年前的 2,110 萬美元增加到 3,540 萬美元。本季我們的另類投資資產收入為 3,270 萬美元。我們仍然對投資組合的組成感到滿意並從中受益。

As of the end of the second quarter, our total alternative invested assets were valued at just over $1.4 billion, with 42% in private equity partnerships, 36% in real asset partnerships, and 22% in private credit partnerships. This diversified construction helps manage acute volatility that can be experienced in portfolios with asset class concentration. Year-to-date and since inception, our diversified alternative portfolio has achieved returns that meet our long-term expectations.

截至第二季末，我們的另類投資資產總額剛超過 14 億美元，其中 42% 為私募股權合夥企業，36% 為實體資產合夥企業，22% 為私人信貸合夥企業。這種多元化的結構有助於管理資產類別集中的投資組合中可能出現的劇烈波動。年初至今以及自成立以來，我們的多元化另類投資組合已實現了滿足我們長期預期的回報。

So I'll end my commentary with an update on our capital position. As expected, our capital levels remain well in excess of our targets and operational needs, offering tremendous protection and flexibility. The weighted average risk-based capital ratio for our traditional US insurance companies is approximately 470%, and holding company liquidity remains robust at $1.3 billion.

因此，我將透過我們的資本狀況的最新情況來結束我的評論。正如預期的那樣，我們的資本水準仍然遠遠超過我們的目標和營運需求，提供了巨大的保護和靈活性。美國傳統保險公司的加權平均風險資本比率約為 470%，控股公司的流動性仍然強勁，達到 13 億美元。

We are on track to end the year at or above our expected levels with no capital contributions to LTC, as we previously communicated. I will also add that dividends from our insurance subsidiaries are traditionally weighted towards the fourth quarter, which will change the geography of excess capital from risk-based capital to holding company cash as we get into the fourth quarter.

正如我們之前所傳達的，我們預計在年底達到或高於我們的預期水平，而無需向 LTC 提供任何資本捐助。我還要補充一點，我們保險子公司的股利傳統上是在第四季度加權的，這將在我們進入第四季時將過剩資本的分佈從基於風險的資本轉變為控股公司現金。

Capital metrics benefited in the second quarter from strong statutory results, with statutory after-tax operating income of $366.1 million for the second quarter and $716.6 million for the first half of the year. This does put us on pace to generate capital near the top end of our range of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion, which we laid out earlier this year. Our strong cash generation model drives our ability to return capital to shareholders. And in the second quarter, we paid $69 million in common stock dividends and repurchased $179.8 million of shares.

第二季的資本指標受惠於強勁的法定業績，第二季法定稅後營業收入為 3.661 億美元，上半年法定稅後營業收入為 7.166 億美元。這確實使我們的資本籌集速度接近我們今年稍早制定的 14 億至 16 億美元範圍的上限。我們強大的現金產生模式推動了我們向股東返還資本的能力。第二季度，我們支付了 6,900 萬美元的普通股股息，並回購了 1.798 億美元的股票。

As Rick referenced, our Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase authorization of up to $1 billion. This new authorization is effective tomorrow, August 1 and will replace the current authorization. This provides us additional flexibility to dynamically utilize this deployment option as we remain committed to our capital deployment priorities. In the first half of 2024, we returned $300 million of capital through share repurchase, and we now expect that amount to be greater in the second half of the year.

正如 Rick 所提到的，我們的董事會已批准高達 10 億美元的新股票回購授權。這項新授權將於明天 8 月 1 日生效，並將取代目前授權。這為我們提供了額外的靈活性，可以動態地利用此部署選項，因為我們仍然致力於我們的資本部署優先事項。2024 年上半年，我們透過股票回購返還了 3 億美元的資本，現在我們預計下半年這筆金額會更大。

So to close, we're encouraged by the momentum that we have built throughout the first half of 2024 and expect similar operating trends to persist in the second half, which will drive strong sales, premium, and earnings growth across our core businesses. For the past 12 months, group disability results have been a focal point in driving higher earnings power, and we expect this to sustain for the foreseeable future. Coupled with our improved outlook for group life, our expectation for full-year EPS growth is now 10% to 15%.

最後，我們對 2024 年上半年建立的勢頭感到鼓舞，並預計下半年將持續類似的營運趨勢，這將推動我們核心業務的強勁銷售、溢價和獲利成長。在過去 12 個月中，團體殘疾結果一直是推動更高獲利能力的焦點，我們預計這種情況在可預見的未來將持續下去。加上我們對集團生活前景的改善，我們對全年每股收益成長的預期為 10% 至 15%。

Now I'll turn the call back to Rick for his closing comments, and I do look forward to your questions.

現在，我將把電話轉回給 Rick，聽取他的結束語，我非常期待您的提問。

Great. Thank you, Steve, and I'd like to reiterate, we thank everybody for joining us this morning. We are in a great position halfway through the year and the momentum created as we look to execute on our growth strategy. We are here to respond to your questions.

偉大的。謝謝你，史蒂夫，我想重申一下，我們感謝大家今天早上加入我們。今年過半，我們處於有利位置，並且在我們尋求執行成長策略時創造了動力。我們在這裡回答您的問題。

So I'd like to open up the call and turn it over to Mandeep, our operator. Mandeep?

所以我想打開電話並將其轉給我們的接線生 Mandeep。曼迪普？

(Operator Instructions) Ryan Krueger, KBW.

（操作員說明）Ryan Krueger，KBW。

My first question is on the competitive environment in Unum US. Can you discuss how you see the environment today as well as, I guess, maybe anything you distinguish between the core market and large space at this point?

我的第一個問題是關於 Unum US 的競爭環境。您能否討論一下您如何看待當今的環境，以及我想您目前對核心市場和大空間之間的差異？

Great. Thanks, Ryan. It's a good broad question. I'm going to turn it over to Chris. I would say competitive environment-wise, we are in a competitive business and so we look forward to that. But let me get Chris give some details, especially across -- you mentioned different segments, where we see different competitors.

偉大的。謝謝，瑞安。這是一個很好的廣泛問題。我要把它交給克里斯。我想說的是，就競爭環境而言，我們處於競爭激烈的行業，因此我們對此充滿期待。但讓我讓克里斯提供一些細節，特別是你提到的不同細分市場，我們在其中看到不同的競爭對手。

Chris?

克里斯？

Yes, Ryan, thanks for the question. Certainly, it's an exciting time in our market space. I'd start with capabilities that continue to be really important, where we're making our technological investments, solving customer problems. That does make us show up in what is a real competitive environment in a very different way.

是的，瑞安，謝謝你的提問。當然，這是我們市場領域的一個令人興奮的時刻。我將從仍然非常重要的能力開始，我們在這些能力上進行​​技術投資，解決客戶問題。這確實使我們以一種非常不同的方式出現在真正的競爭環境中。

So while having a lot of respect for our traditional competitors who are doing their good work, we show up with reason to talk to customers about things like lead management, things like connecting to their human capital management platforms through HR Connect, and other broker platforms that help serve their markets through our broker connect strategy. And it really does change the game where price is important, and that is a factor in negotiations, but it's not the only thing, and we feel really good about that.

因此，在非常尊重出色工作的傳統競爭對手的同時，我們也有理由與客戶談論潛在客戶管理、透過 HR Connect 連接到他們的人力資本管理平台和其他經紀人平台等問題透過我們的經紀商連接策略幫助服務他們的市場。它確實改變了價格很重要的遊戲規則，這是談判的一個因素，但它不是唯一的因素，我們對此感覺非常好。

I would couple that with the fact that to your point around core market versus large, we're right now working through the one-one large market inventory. We're off to a good start. We feel really good about what we're working through. But there's still work to do to arrive where we believe is going to be a very strong place at the end of the year.

我想將這一事實與您關於核心市場與大型市場的觀點結合起來，我們現在正在研究一對一的大型市場庫存。我們有了一個好的開始。我們對我們正在經歷的事情感覺非常好。但要達到我們認為在今年年底將變得非常強大的水平，仍有許多工作要做。

Mid-market gives us kind of a little bit of an earlier view in terms of what actually happened in the quarter. And our sales in the mid-market are quite strong through the first half of the year, both in terms of new sales premium and the number of customers that we're winning, and we feel like it's a really good indicator of sophisticated buyers who are choosing the capabilities that we're putting in front of them.

中端市場讓我們對本季實際發生的情況有一些早期的看法。今年上半年，我們在中端市場的銷售相當強勁，無論是在新銷售溢價還是我們贏得的客戶數量方面，我們認為這確實是成熟買家的一個很好的指標。的能力。

And last thing I would add is we're doing it with a really strong team. We've got a team of folks who believe in what we're selling, they're showing up in the market really well, and it's all part of a very coordinated strategy. Thanks for the question.

我要補充的最後一件事是，我們正在與一支非常強大的團隊合作。我們有一個團隊，他們相信我們所銷售的產品，他們在市場上的表現非常好，這都是非常協調的策略的一部分。謝謝你的提問。

My follow-up is just when you think about the outperformance in group disability and now group life as well, I know this has been asked a number of times in the past, but just how you think about the pricing environment, how sustainable those benefit ratios are in Unum US, and kind of thinking about the next few years.

我的後續行動是當你考慮群體殘疾和現在群體生活的優異表現時，我知道過去已經多次問過這個問題，但你如何看待定價環境，這些好處的可持續性如何比率位於Unum US，並且是對未來幾年的思考。

Yes. Thanks, Ryan. Chris again. And we continue to work our book of business in terms of what the right pricing levels are for long-term stability. We do it upmarket, we do it on a case-by-case basis. We think, again, when you're tying capabilities in with pricing levels that are fair and with a very transparent approach, we can give people that predictable pricing level that gets the returns that we need and also allows them to kind of feel good about the partnership. Again, competition is real, price negotiations are part of it, but we feel very good that the combination of how we're approaching the market with a capability-based approach has served us really well in terms of that result.

是的。謝謝，瑞安。又是克里斯。我們將繼續根據適合長期穩定的定價水準來制定我們的業務手冊。我們做高端市場，我們根據具體情況做。我們再次認為，當你將能力與公平且非常透明的定價水平聯繫起來時，我們可以為人們提供可預測的定價水平，以獲得我們需要的回報，同時也讓他們感覺良好夥伴關係。再說一次，競爭是真實存在的，價格談判是其中的一部分，但我們感覺非常好，我們進入市場的方式與基於能力的方法的結合對我們的結果非常有利。

Suneet Kamath, Jefferies.

蘇尼特·卡馬斯，杰弗里斯。

I just want to follow up a little bit on what Ryan's line of questioning was, but maybe focusing on persistency. It seems like, I think the number you quoted in Unum US was [92.4], and it seems like that number continues to just be very strong. Is this just the outcome of some of those additional services that you provide, HR Connect and lead management? And should we just expect a higher level of persistency going forward relative to the past when perhaps those strategies were not as big of a part of your story?

我只是想跟進一下 Ryan 的提問路線，但也許重點關注堅持不懈。我認為您在 Unum US 引用的數字是 [92.4]，而且這個數字似乎仍然非常強勁。這只是您提供的一些附加服務、HR Connect 和潛在客戶管理的結果嗎？當這些策略在你的故事中可能不再那麼重要時，我們是否應該期待相對於過去更高層次的堅持？

Yes. Suneet, Chris, thanks for the question. And if I were to step back and just think about persistency in total, right now, we are enjoying exceptional persistency, and that's obviously a good thing. And capabilities, that's a part of the story, but there's a lot more to what comes with keeping our in-force block, renewing that block, expanding that block. And as the capabilities that we're investing in become a bigger part, obviously, that will be a bigger part of future persistency. But for right now, it's a more complex story. And I would say that some of the exceptional results we're seeing right now probably came from a few -- maybe fewer RFPs that were in the historic past.

是的。Suneet、克里斯，謝謝你的提問。如果我退後一步，只考慮總體上的持久性，那麼現在，我們正在享受非凡的持久性，這顯然是一件好事。和能力，這是故事的一部分，但保持我們的有效區塊、更新該區塊、擴展該區塊還有更多內容。顯然，隨著我們投資的能力變得越來越重要，這將成為未來持久性的重要組成部分。但就目前而言，這是一個更複雜的故事。我想說的是，我們現在看到的一些特殊結果可能來自於歷史上的少數幾個——也許更少的 RFP。

And now we're starting to see a pretty robust level of quote activity in the larger end of the market. That's good from a prospect in new sales standpoint, but it also creates some activity on the in-force block going forward. So it's a dynamic body work. Part of that is capabilities, but it's not the whole story.

現在我們開始看到較大市場的報價活動水準相當強勁。從新銷售的角度來看，這很好，但它也為未來的有效區塊創造了一些活動。所以這是一項動態的身體工作。其中一部分是能力，但這並不是全部。

Okay. Got it. And then I guess just on the group life. If I think back to group disability and your confidence in the benefit ratio, I think there were some structural things going on around recoveries that gave you confidence. But I guess I don't quite understand what gives you confidence in group life, just given so much of it is mortality and it bounces around and you don't really have control over that. So what is it that you're looking at that suggests that, that benefit ratio in group life, AD&D can remain kind of in the neighborhood where it is right now?

好的。知道了。然後我想只是關於團體生活。如果我回想一下群體殘疾和您對福利比率的信心，我認為圍繞康復發生的一些結構性事情給了您信心。但我想我不太明白是什麼讓你對群體生活充滿信心，因為其中很大一部分是死亡，而且它會來回跳動，你無法真正控制它。那麼，您所看到的是什麼表明，AD&D 群體生活中的福利比率可以保持在目前的附近水平？

Suneet, this is Steve. I can fill that one. Just first of all, step back, this is a relatively small block of business. It's about $500 million of quarterly premium so it can be volatile, and it is tough to just pick a number and have tremendous confidence that we're going to be able to hit that exact number on a quarter-to-quarter basis. I would say what we've seen is really three quarters of pretty favorable claims experience. We're also seeing a market where pricing right now, for us, is pretty stable.

蘇尼特，這是史蒂夫。我可以填補那個。首先，退一步來說，這是一個相對較小的業務領域。季度保費約為 5 億美元，因此可能會波動，而且很難只選擇一個數字，並且對我們能夠在每個季度達到這個確切數字充滿信心。我想說的是，我們所看到的實際上是四分之三的相當有利的索賠經驗。我們也看到，目前的市場定價對我們來說相當穩定。

So we've targeted the 70% loss ratio just kind of as an expectation for the remainder of the year. We've seen it over the last three quarters now. And so it gives us some confidence that usually it doesn't change tremendously. Maybe quarter to quarter, but over time, it can change and those margins can change. But we feel good for the remainder of the year to use that for us as kind of a planning expectation.

因此，我們將 70% 的損失率作為今年剩餘時間的預期目標。我們在過去三個季度已經看到了這一點。所以它給了我們一些信心，通常它不會發生巨大的變化。也許每季都會發生變化，但隨著時間的推移，情況可能會發生變化，這些利潤也會發生變化。但我們很高興在今年剩餘的時間裡將其用作我們的規劃期望。

Joel Hurwitz, Dowling & Partners.

喬爾‧赫維茲 (Joel Hurwitz)，道林合夥人事務所。

So first question, Steve, can you just provide some more color on the long-term care incidence trends? I guess, how far off are you guys from the assumption? And at this point, given the trend that you're seeing, would you expect to get to that long-term expectation?

那麼第一個問題，史蒂夫，您能否提供一些有關長期護理發病率趨勢的更多資訊？我想，你們離這個假設還有多遠？此時，考慮到您所看到的趨勢，您是否期望達到長期預期？

Yes. I'm not going to predict when we're going to get back to it. We did see elevated levels continue for claims incidence above our longer-term expectations in the second quarter. What I'll say is, sequentially, claims incidents, when we look at our internal operating metrics, it did improve in aggregate in the second quarter. It was interesting, though, as we've discussed in the past, how that played through the cohorts and how that actually impacted earnings in the net premium ratio.

是的。我不會預測我們什麼時候會回到這個話題。我們確實看到第二季索賠發生率持續高於我們的長期預期。我要說的是，當我們查看內部營運指標時，索賠事件在第二季度總體上確實有所改善。不過，正如我們過去所討論的，這很有趣，這如何在群體中發揮作用，以及這實際上如何影響淨保費比率的收益。

And what you would see is we did have favorable experience against our long-term reserve expectations within the uncapped cohorts. And that is what drove the reduction in our net premium ratio. It was reduced by about 10 basis points, so feel good about that. But there did continue to be some unfavorable experience in the capped cohorts, and that would have been reflected just in the current earnings during the period. We do believe that incidents will continue to dissipate in the back half of the year just because of the trends that we are seeing. But obviously, we just need to see how that plays out in the back half of the year.

你會看到的是，與我們在無上限群體中的長期儲備預期相比，我們確實擁有良好的經驗。這就是推動我們淨保費率下降的原因。減少了大約 10 個基點，因此對此感覺良好。但在受限制的群體中，確實仍然存在一些不利的經歷，而這只會反映在該期間的當前收益中。我們確實相信，由於我們所看到的趨勢，事件將在今年下半年繼續消散。但顯然，我們只需要看看今年下半年的情況如何。

I've talked in the past about really the claim inventory on an absolute basis and how that trends back to what our long-term expectation is. And I would just say again for the quarter, we saw that just kind of flatten against what that long-term expectation would be for the overall inventory. So it gives us some confidence, but we'll just have to see how the year plays out.

我過去曾討論過絕對基礎上的索賠庫存以及其趨勢如何回到我們的長期預期。我想再說一遍，就本季而言，我們看到整體庫存的長期預期趨於平緩。所以這給了我們一些信心，但我們只需要看看今年的表現如何。

Okay. That's helpful. And then shifting to Colonial Life, can you just touch on both sales and persistency? So sales will improve a little bit quarter over quarter. Still appear challenged, but the top line was still pretty solid, I think, on strong persistency. So just what are you seeing from those two fronts?

好的。這很有幫助。然後轉向Colonial Life，您能談談銷售和堅持嗎？因此，銷售額將逐季略有改善。看起來仍然面臨挑戰，但我認為，憑藉堅強的毅力，收入仍然相當穩固。那麼您從這兩個方面看到了什麼？

Tim?

提姆？

Yes. Thanks for the question. This is Tim. So from a sales perspective, slightly improved over first quarter with almost 1% sales growth year over year. There were a lot of bright spots. New case sales were up 8.7%. Public sector, our best profitability sector, was up 8.8%. And our other target markets, not including public sector, we were up 14.9% in the quarter.

是的。謝謝你的提問。這是蒂姆。因此，從銷售角度來看，第一季略有改善，銷售額年增近 1%。有很多亮點。新箱銷量成長 8.7%。公共部門是我們獲利能力最好的部門，上漲了 8.8%。我們的其他目標市場（不包括公共部門）在本季成長了 14.9%。

The headwinds came primarily, as they did in the first quarter, on the existing book. And we think there's some evidence that we're finally beginning to see the effect of inflation on consumers. And so we've just got to double down on our enrollment capabilities to ensure that we're reaching so many consumers as possible, so to say. But that's the pressure we're seeing.

正如第一季一樣，不利因素主要來自於現有的書籍。我們認為有一些證據顯示我們終於開始看到通貨膨脹對消費者的影響。因此，我們必須加倍提高我們的註冊能力，以確保我們能夠覆蓋盡可能多的消費者。但這就是我們所看到的壓力。

You mentioned persistency overall is really strong. We feel great about where we ended with persistency in the quarter. We think that our capabilities on the Colonial Life side and the service levels that we have, which are near record levels, are all contributing to that. So we feel good about persistency and the impact it had on earned premium.

你提到整體的持久性非常強。我們對本季的堅持不懈感到滿意。我們認為，我們在 Colonial Life 方面的能力和接近創紀錄水平的服務水平都對此做出了貢獻。因此，我們對持久性及其對賺取保費的影響感到滿意。

We're also continuing to see strong success with our Gather, Agent Assist and cross-brand sales initiatives. Unum Group product sales from Colonial Life agents, which are not reported in the Colonial Life line, were very significantly in the quarter, and we're pleased to see that Colonial Life agents continue to leverage that capability. You didn't ask around the Unum [BB] side, a really strong quarter, sales up 27%, new sales on the Unum side up 31%. So really strong results on the Unum BB side as well.

我們的收集、代理協助和跨品牌銷售計劃也持續取得巨大成功。Colonial Life 代理商的 Unum Group 產品銷售量（未在 Colonial Life 系列中報告）在本季度非常顯著，我們很高興看到 Colonial Life 代理商繼續利用這一能力。你沒有問 Unum [BB] 方面，這是一個非常強勁的季度，銷售額增長了 27%，Unum 方面的新銷售額增長了 31%。Unum BB 方面也取得了非常強勁的成績。

Elyse Greenspan, Wells Fargo.

伊麗絲‧格林斯潘，富國銀行。

My first question is on capital return. You guys guided to the second half of this year being greater than the first half. So that puts '24 at above $600 million. Is that like the baseline expectation for capital return when you think about going into 2025?

我的第一個問題是關於資本回報。你們指導今年下半年比上半年好。這樣一來，《24》的票房收入將超過 6 億美元。這是否與您考慮進入 2025 年時資本回報的基準預期相同？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Elyse. Let me step back a little bit and talk a little bit about the capital deployment. First, let's start with the generation. I mean, I would reiterate that we've seen very strong generation coming out of our statutory entities taking us up to the higher end of our range of the capital generation that we expect to see this year. And so we take that into account as we think about deployment, certainly want to continue to deploy straight back into our business, talk about the capabilities that Chris referenced as we are out there competing and looking to grow the business on a core basis. And as we've said all along, M&A is also on the table to grow a little bit faster.

是的。謝謝你的提問，愛麗絲。讓我退後一步，談談資本部署。首先，我們從一代開始。我的意思是，我要重申，我們已經看到我們的法定實體產生了非常強勁的發電量，使我們達到了我們預計今年會看到的資本發電範圍的高端。因此，當我們考慮部署時，我們會考慮到這一點，當然希望繼續直接部署回我們的業務中，談論克里斯在我們參與競爭並尋求在核心基礎上發展業務時提到的功能。正如我們一直以來所說的，為了實現更快的成長，併購也已擺在桌面上。

And so as we think about all those things, putting good capital to use, we were happy at the beginning of this year, talking about our dividend increase we have out there, very important to us. And then share repurchase, our $500 million we talked about earlier in the year, was double the pace of what we saw previous year. And so all that's good. But what we've seen in the second quarter, you would have seen us actually accelerate a little bit. What we said at the beginning of the year is we're going to be dynamic when we think about share repurchase. We make these decisions quite often.

因此，當我們考慮所有這些事情，利用良好的資本時，我們在今年年初很高興，談論我們的股息增加，這對我們來說非常重要。然後是股票回購，我們今年稍早談到的 5 億美元回購速度是去年的兩倍。所以這一切都很好。但我們在第二季所看到的，你會看到我們實際上加速了一點。我們在今年年初說過，當我們考慮股票回購時，我們將保持活力。我們經常做出這些決定。

And then more specifically to your question, that $300 million, we did say we expect it to be higher in the second half. So when you talked about that as a baseline, it's probably a reasonable way to think about that. But we are going to be continuing to be dynamic and think about putting our capital to use through our share repurchase plan. And I'd just remind you that our Board did authorize up to $1 billion. So we do have the flexibility to put capital to work by buying back our stock.

然後更具體地回答你的問題，即 3 億美元，我們確實說過我們預計下半年會更高。因此，當您將此作為基準時，這可能是合理的思考方式。但我們將繼續保持活力，並考慮透過股票回購計畫來使用我們的資本。我只想提醒您，我們的董事會確實授權了高達 10 億美元的資金。因此，我們確實可以透過回購股票來靈活地運用資本。

And then my second question, going back, I guess, to group life and AD&D, you guys said the benefit ratio should be around 70% for the remainder of the year. When we think about '25, should we think about that kind of going back to where you guys had kind of guided for this year in like the low to mid-70s?

然後我的第二個問題，我想，回到團體生活和 AD&D，你們說今年剩餘時間的福利比率應該在 70% 左右。當我們想到 25 世紀時，我們是否應該考慮回到你們今年在 70 年代中期所指導的地方？

This is Steve. I think it's probably a little premature at this point to talk about 2025. You are right, historically, that benefit ratio was in kind of the low 70%. I would say, we'll see how the remainder of the year plays out, we'll see how the sustainability of margins are. And then as we get through the back half of the year, we can start to give a little bit more visibility into what we think 2025 looks like. I think it's safe to say, Elyse, that there's nothing that we know that would say something in that 70 to low 70s wouldn't be kind of an expectation, but it's hard to just predict right now what that might look like until we see the back half of the year.

這是史蒂夫。我認為現在談論 2025 年可能還為時過早。你是對的，從歷史上看，福利比率大約是 70%。我想說，我們將看看今年剩餘時間的情況如何，我們將看看利潤率的可持續性如何。然後，當我們度過今年下半年時，我們可以開始對 2025 年的情況有更多的了解。我認為可以肯定地說，Elyse，據我們所知，70 歲到 70 歲以下的事情不會是一種期望，但現在很難預測那會是什麼樣子，直到我們看到下半年。

John Barnidge, Piper Sandler.

約翰·巴尼奇，派珀·桑德勒。

Can you talk about the growth in the US, and how much of that is coming from pricing versus expanded offerings and new employee count?

您能談談美國的成長嗎？

Yes. Thanks, John. This is Chris. And we are seeing growth up several different ways. The wage growth that we saw in the past has kind of come back to normal. Employee growth also kind of back to normal. But our premium growth, we work the cases where we need to get a price increase. Based on experience, setting price for sustainable levels, we'll adjust down if we need to. And then obviously, the new business sales that come through, it's a mix of things that contribute to what you're seeing. But we feel good that's very balanced, and we're optimistic for the future.

是的。謝謝，約翰。這是克里斯。我們看到成長有幾種不同的方式。我們過去看到的工資成長已經恢復正常。員工成長也恢復正常。但是我們的溢價成長，我們會處理需要漲價的情況。根據經驗，將價格設定為可持續水平，如果需要，我們會下調。顯然，新業務的銷售是多種因素共同促成的。但我們感覺很好，非常平衡，我們對未來持樂觀態度。

John, the only thing I'd add to that, in the script, we didn't really talk about natural growth, quantifying it. It was around 4% in the second quarter. I'd say that probably was a little bit heavier weighted to wage growth than employment growth, but continue to provide a nice tailwind for us.

約翰，我唯一要補充的是，在劇本中，我們並沒有真正談論自然成長，也沒有量化它。第二季約為4%。我想說，薪資成長的權重可能比就業成長的權重稍重，但仍繼續為我們提供良好的推動力。

And then my follow-up question. With the higher premium board base in force on the back of persistency that seems to be secularly strong over the last several years, how do you view the opportunity to extend the duration of that higher EPS growth?

然後是我的後續問題。在過去幾年似乎長期強勁的持久性的支持下，董事會溢價較高，您如何看待延長每股收益較高增長持續時間的機會？

John, can you repeat the last part of that?

約翰，你能重複最後一部分嗎？

Yes. How do you view the opportunity to extend the duration of that higher EPS growth that we're now expecting?

是的。您如何看待延長我們現在預期的每股盈餘更高成長持續時間的機會？

Yes. I would say we kind of go back to what our longer-term expectations would be. As we're talking about future years, we're pretty comfortable with the type of long-term guidance that we would have given back in January and think that that provides a nice support for the business.

是的。我想說，我們有點回到了我們的長期期望。當我們談論未來幾年時，我們對一月份給出的長期指導類型感到非常滿意，並認為這為業務提供了很好的支持。

We've tended to be able to operate pretty well through different environmental and market expectations, and we feel that way going forward. So probably a little bit early to talk about going into next year, but that long-term expectation would be in that 8% to 10% range. But we'll update the market as we get into January of next year.

我們往往能夠在不同的環境和市場預期中保持良好的運營，我們認為未來也是如此。因此，現在談論明年可能有點早，但長期預期將在 8% 到 10% 的範圍內。但我們將在明年一月更新市場狀況。

I think the key thing, John, too, if you think about -- it's about driving the premium growth. And so if we get that good top line growing, our team does a really good job with discipline in getting margins in our business. And then you combine with that reducing the share count, as we talked about, that leads us to that 8% to 10% growth. We're happy with that, but we're especially happy this year growing in that 10% to 15% range.

約翰，如果你仔細想想，我也認為關鍵的事情是推動保費成長。因此，如果我們的收入成長良好，我們的團隊就會在業務利潤方面嚴格遵守紀律，做得非常好。然後，正如我們所討論的，結合減少股票數量，我們將實現 8% 到 10% 的成長。我們對此感到滿意，但我們特別高興的是今年成長在 10% 到 15% 的範圍內。

Jimmy Bhullar, JPMorgan.

吉米·布拉爾，摩根大通。

So first, just a question on long-term care. If I look at your net premium ratio, it improved a little bit sequentially, but it seems like for the first half as a whole, it's still running fairly high. So just wondering, what are the key metrics that you're watching to see if you need to raise reserves as you do your [ review ]? And any comments on how those are trending versus initial expectations?

首先，我想問一個關於長期照護的問題。如果我看一下你的淨保費率，它會連續改善，但似乎整個上半年仍然處於相當高的水平。因此，我想知道，您正在觀察哪些關鍵指標，以確定您是否需要在進行準備金時增加準備金？[ 審查 ]？對於這些趨勢與最初預期的對比有何評論？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Jimmy. I'd just go back to kind of our internal operational metrics. We did see that the elevation in the first quarter, we did see that come down in the second quarter, although still elevated. It all comes down to which cohorts we see it in. I would say, in the first quarter, we had unfavorable experience against expectations in those cohorts that were uncapped. So you would have seen the NPR go up. And then that reversed a little bit in the second quarter, where we had favorable experience in those cohorts. And so that's just a dynamic that we'll see play forward.

是的。謝謝你的提問，吉米。我只想回到我們的內部營運指標。我們確實看到第一季的上升，我們確實看到第二季下降，儘管仍然上升。這一切都取決於我們在哪些群體中看到它。我想說，在第一季度，我們在那些沒有上限的群體中經歷了與預期相反的不利經歷。所以你會看到 NPR 的上升。然後這種情況在第二季度發生了一些逆轉，我們在這些群體中獲得了良好的經驗。所以這只是我們將看到的一種動態。

Specifically about our reserve assumption review, it's early really to talk about any conclusions. But just to remind, we go through a comprehensive review on all of our product lines as part of LDTI in the third quarter for GAAP, and we will do that this year and be able to talk about the results of that on our third-quarter call. And then we go through the statutory version of that in the fourth quarter, and we'll be able to report out on that.

特別是關於我們的儲備金假設審查，現在談論任何結論還為時過早。但提醒一下，我們將在第三季度按照 GAAP 進行 LDTI 的全面審查，作為 LDTI 的一部分，我們將在今年這樣做，並能夠在第三季度討論審查結果。然後我們將在第四季度審查該文件的法定版本，然後我們將能夠對此進行報告。

But obviously, we're looking at longer-term experience sets when we look at all of these assumptions. And so we'll take not only the last year that we've seen in new account, but what we've seen for the last several years. And that will factor into how we think about reserve assumptions. But again, no conclusions yet. And we'll update you when we get through third-quarter earnings.

但顯然，當我們考慮所有這些假設時，我們正在考慮長期的經驗集。因此，我們不僅會考慮我們在新帳戶中看到的去年的情況，還會考慮我們過去幾年所看到的情況。這將影響我們如何看待儲備假設。但同樣，還沒有結論。當我們公佈第三季財報時，我們會向您通報最新情況。

And then just on your sales results, some of the commentary from your peers on competition in group benefits has been more cautious than your commentary. And if I look at your overall sales, they haven't been that good in the first half of the year. So how much of the weaker sales is because of competition you're seeing, whether it's large case or otherwise? Or is it just sort of normal volatility you see in some of the larger cases?

然後就您的銷售業績而言，您的同行對團體福利競爭的一些評論比您的評論更為謹慎。如果我看一下你們的整體銷售情況，上半年的情況並不好。那麼，銷售疲軟有多少是由於您所看到的競爭（無論是大案還是其他原因）造成的？或者這只是您在一些較大案例中看到的正常波動？

Thanks, Jimmy. I think we'll go and talk to each of our business about what sales are and the story that we see beyond just competition, where do we see sales going. Chris, do you want to start us off in the US?

謝謝，吉米。我想我們會去和我們的每家企業討論什麼是銷售，以及我們在競爭之外看到的故事，我們認為銷售將走向何方。克里斯，你想讓我們從美國開始嗎？

Thanks again for the question. So we come through the first half of the year, really, frankly, ahead of our plan. So we feel really good about where we sit midyear. We feel very good about capabilities that I've talked about driving lots of prospective conversations with customers, getting us to finalist meetings and winning in the market. We see that mostly in the mid-market. Again, just based on effective dates, it's a little bit more normal to see smaller and mid-market effective dates that fall in the first half of the year.

再次感謝您的提問。因此，坦白說，我們今年上半年的進度比我們的計劃提前了。所以我們對年中的處境感覺非常好。我們對我所談到的能力感到非常滿意，這些能力推動了與客戶的大量潛在對話，讓我們參加了最終會議並贏得了市場。我們主要在中端市場看到這一點。同樣，僅根據生效日期，較小型和中型市場的生效日期落在今年上半年是比較正常的。

What you see from Unum US from a comparative basis year over year, the volatility in large is most pronounced. Last year, we had our largest group insurance sale happened for 7/1, and that's a little bit abnormal just based on effective date. Normally, that would be more centered on 1/1. And even our largest individual disability sale happened in the second quarter of last year.

從 Unum US 的逐年比較來看，波動性最為明顯。去年，我們最大的團體保險促銷發生在 7 月 1 日，僅從生效日期來看，這有點不正常。通常，它會更集中在 1/1 上。甚至我們最大的個人殘障銷售也發生在去年第二季。

So when I compare year over year with, again, mid-market sales, new coverages, and new premium, we're really pleased with where things stand. And when I kind of put a cap on it and look forward to 1/1, we're very confident with the position we're in that we can deliver the full-year sales result. And that isn't a dynamic competitive environment, no question. But again, we've got a strong team bringing a strong message.

因此，當我再次將中端市場銷售、新承保範圍和新保費逐年進行比較時，我們對現狀感到非常滿意。當我給它設定一個上限並期待 1/1 時，我們對我們所處的位置非常有信心，我們可以實現全年銷售業績。毫無疑問，這不是一個動態的競爭環境。但同樣，我們擁有一支強大的團隊，帶來了強烈的訊息。

Great. We'll go to the UK, Mark?

偉大的。我們要去英國，馬克？

Thanks very much, Rick. I think we're really pleased in International with the growth that we generated in quarter two. It was much improved on quarter one. If I look at the UK first, 5.7% growth in local currency in sales, that was a record quarter two for us.

非常感謝，瑞克。我認為我們對國際業務第二季的成長感到非常滿意。比第一季有了很大改善。如果我先看一下英國，以當地貨幣計算，銷售額成長了 5.7%，這對我們來說是創紀錄的第二季。

And actually, from a competitive intensity perspective, the second half of the year, we'll see one of our competitors leave as that business has been acquired. And we've been investing very strongly in the UK in proposition, which creates a story beyond price. Poland, I would say the market is pretty consistent. And overall, I think we're feeling very good about ourselves being in line with the 8% to 12% outlook that we gave at the start of the year.

實際上，從競爭強度的角度來看，今年下半年，我們將看到我們的一位競爭對手因該業務被收購而離開。我們一直在英國大力投資，這創造了一個超越價格的故事。波蘭，我想說市場相當穩定。總體而言，我認為我們對自己的感覺非常好，與年初給出的 8% 至 12% 的前景一致。

Thanks, Mark. And Tim, I know you talked a little bit about sales. Anything, you'd add to the question?

謝謝，馬克。提姆，我知道你談過一些關於銷售的問題。有什麼可以補充的嗎？

Yes. Just to reiterate a couple of points. New sales up 8.7%, sales in our target markets up significantly year over year. Those are the places I think you would see pressure from the competitive environment, so the voluntary benefits marketplace is competitive. But the pressure we're seeing is with our existing clients, and we believe that's inflationary versus competitive.

是的。只是重申幾點。新銷量成長8.7%，目標市場銷量較去年同期大幅成長。我認為在這些地方你會看到來自競爭環境的壓力，因此自願福利市場具有競爭力。但我們看到的壓力來自於我們現有的客戶，我們認為這是通膨而不是競爭。

So appreciate the question, Jimmy. I think wrapping up the competitive, I think we've all hit on it. We live in a competitive environment. That is not new. We're used to operating in that environment. And so we look out for the rogue competitor that's out there pricing irrationally, from our perspective, in the market. We don't see that. We just see good aggressive competition, and that's a world we thrive in.

所以很感激這個問題，吉米。我認為結束競爭後，我想我們都已經想到了這一點。我們生活在一個充滿競爭的環境。這並不新鮮。我們已經習慣在那種環境下工作了。因此，從我們的角度來看，我們會留意市場上定價不合理的流氓競爭對手。我們沒有看到這一點。我們只看到激烈的競爭，這就是我們蓬勃發展的世界。

Tom Gallagher, Evercore.

湯姆‧加拉格爾，《Evercore》。

Sorry to beat a dead horse here, another question about group benefits competition. So on another company's earnings call last week, we heard about new competitors entering into the group benefit space. They were flagging mutual insurers as well as some public companies that aren't big players, but that appear to be ramping up and growing fairly aggressively. Can you comment on what you're seeing in terms of new competition? Are you also bumping into that? And how is that affecting things from a pricing or from a growth perspective?

抱歉，這裡已經死馬了，這是另一個關於團體福利競爭的問題。因此，在上週另一家公司的財報電話會議上，我們聽說有新的競爭對手進入集團福利領域。他們標記了互助保險公司以及一些雖然規模不大但似乎正在相當積極地崛起和成長的上市公司。您能否評論一下您在新競爭方面所看到的情況？你是否也遇到這樣的情況呢？從定價或成長的角度來看，這對事情有何影響？

Yes, Tom, it's a good point. We certainly can name some new entrants into the market. Some of them are -- they're generally on the smaller end of the market. Some of them are getting products approved in a subset of states, they're starting to show up in different places. I certainly don't want to dismiss that as a factor; that's part of the competitive dynamic that we've all talked about, Rick just reiterated. We compete really well there.

是的，湯姆，這是一個很好的觀點。我們當然可以說出一些市場新進者的名字。其中一些是——它們通常處於較小的市場。其中一些產品正在部分州獲得批准，它們開始出現在不同的地方。我當然不想將其視為一個因素； 「這是我們都討論過的競爭動態的一部分，」里克重申。我們在那裡競爭得非常好。

My sense would be that the newer entrants more likely show up where they see kind of openings in the market to show up maybe on a price basis to get attention. And when you start getting a little bit deeper on digitized self-service portals and connected platforms and things as complicated as lead management, you probably see a little less of the new entrant, which is maybe why I would say, yes, it's a real part of the market, but not the biggest thing that we think is going to drive any sort of true headwind to our sales results for the year.

我的感覺是，新進入者更有可能出現在他們看到市場空缺的地方，可能會以價格為基礎出現以獲得關注。當您開始更深入地了解數位化自助服務入口網站和互聯平台以及潛在客戶管理等複雜事物時，您可能會看到更少的新進入者，這也許就是為什麼我會說，是的，這是一個真正的市場的一部分，但不是我們認為會為我們今年的銷售業績帶來任何真正阻力的最大因素。

Got you. That's helpful. And I guess, just broadly, I think, Rick, you guys have described the market as being rational. Price competition -- or I should say, rate that you're getting has been fairly stable for both disability and group life. What are you thinking on renewals into '25? Is it still stable? Would you expect some pressure on pricing? Just some directional commentary would be helpful.

明白你了。這很有幫助。我想，總的來說，我認為，里克，你們已經將市場描述為理性的。價格競爭——或者我應該說，對於殘疾和團體生活來說，你得到的價格相當穩定。您對 25 年續約有何看法？還穩定嗎？您預計定價會面臨一些壓力嗎？只需一些定向評論就會有所幫助。

Yes, Tom, I agree with how you capitalize it. We actually see the rationality in the market. Now that's a range, so we have to be very clear that the irrational that we've seen in previous years, I go back five-plus years, were people that were real outliers. And so there is aggressiveness in the market today, but that's a range that we can compete in and bring forward our capabilities and win on that front.

是的，湯姆，我同意你如何利用它。我們實際上看到了市場的合理性。現在這是一個範圍，所以我們必須非常清楚，我們在前幾年看到的非理性，我回溯五年多，是真正的異常值。因此，今天的市場充滿了侵略性，但這是我們可以參與競爭、提高我們的能力並在這方面獲勝的範圍。

Maybe, Chris, you could add to on that?

也許，克里斯，你可以補充一下嗎？

Just about that a little bit, Rick. There's no question, this year's persistency level is exceptional. So this is ahead of our plan. We do plan on meaningful persistency, but not as high as this year reflects. Maybe just get back to how we work with customers and the fact that we do try and use our pricing discipline and their desire for long-term price stability to adjust for the future. When your block is running well, like ours is, that does mean there are cases that deserve some sort of a rate adjustment down. But again, they don't want it to be a pendulum swing, where you're moving right, down, then up again in two years or whatever it might be.

就這麼一點點，瑞克。毫無疑問，今年的堅持水準非常出色。所以這超出了我們的計劃。我們確實計劃有意義的持久性，但不會像今年反映的那麼高。也許只需回到我們與客戶合作的方式，以及我們確實嘗試利用我們的定價規則以及他們對長期價格穩定的願望來調整未來的事實。當您的區塊運作良好時，就像我們的區塊一樣，這確實意味著在某些情況下值得進行某種利率調整。但同樣，他們不希望它成為一種鐘擺式擺動，即你向右移動，向下移動，然後在兩年內再次向上移動，或者發生任何可能的情況。

And we will still dynamically kind of work customers that need a price increase up to make sure that they're priced well for the long term, and that's a process we're very comfortable with. So I go back to the discipline, I go back to working hard to solve customer problems and focus on things that are meaningful in their technology ecosystem and in terms of lead management and other factors. The bundled sale is really important, and we're able to put together a nice package that gets a fair return and is stable for the long term.

我們仍然會動態地為需要漲價的客戶提供服務，以確保他們的長期定價合理，這是我們非常滿意的過程。所以我回到了紀律，我回到了努力解決客戶問題，並專注於在他們的技術生態系統以及潛在客戶管理和其他因素方面有意義的事情。捆綁銷售非常重要，我們能夠整合一個不錯的套餐，獲得公平的回報並且長期穩定。

Wes Carmichael, Autonomous Research.

韋斯·卡邁克爾，自主研究。

I wanted to drill down just again in group life. And just in the current quarter's experience, just wondering if you could maybe just unpack what you saw in terms of incidents or frequency. And is this still maybe a normalization a little bit post-pandemic? And if you could offer any color in terms of specific mortality cost, where you saw a little bit more favorability, that would be great.

我想再次深入了解團體生活。就本季的經驗而言，只是想知道您是否可以根據事件或頻率來分析您所看到的情況。這是否仍然是疫情後的一種正常化？如果你能在特定死亡率成本方面提供任何顏色，你會看到更多的好感度，那就太好了。

Wes, it's Steve. Yes, I can cover that. That segment is a combination of both kind of traditional group life as well as excellent depth in dismemberment. I would say it's definitely in the traditional group life. It's really focused on incidents in what we're seeing. There's really nothing around severity that I think we would call out. It's really just around count and incidence levels. And again, we've seen pretty consistent performance over the last three quarters.

韋斯，是史蒂夫。是的，我可以介紹這一點。此片段既是傳統群體生活的結合，又具有出色的肢解深度。我想說這絕對是在傳統的集體生活。它真正關注的是我們所看到的事件。我認為我們確實沒有什麼可以指出的嚴重性。這實際上只是關於計數和發生率水平。同樣，我們在過去三個季度中看到了相當穩定的表現。

I can't really comment on whether it still has something to do with the pandemic. I will say that we had predicted some endemic mortality in our block, and there is still some of that. But I'm not sure I would connect the two. I just think that we've had a pretty good run here and that we think that that should continue at least in the short term.

我無法真正評論這是否仍然與大流行有關。我想說的是，我們已經預測到我們街區會出現一些地方性死亡，現在仍然存在一些這種情況。但我不確定我會把這兩者連結起來。我只是認為我們在這裡取得了相當好的進展，我們認為這種情況至少在短期內應該持續下去。

That's helpful, Steve. And just maybe any update in the long-term care risk transfer market? Has anything changed over the past couple of months in your view?

這很有幫助，史蒂夫。也許長期照護風險轉移市場有任何更新？您認為過去幾個月有什麼改變嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Wes. Not a lot. I mean, I'll just take you back and say that we were happy to see another transaction happen in the market. It's exactly how we've been talking about it as well in terms of being able to look at our block in different pieces and parse it to find the right buyer at the right price.

是的。謝謝，韋斯。不是很多。我的意思是，我只想告訴你，我們很高興看到市場上發生另一筆交易。這正是我們一直在談論的方式，即能夠以不同的方式查看我們的區塊並對其進行解析，以便以合適的價格找到合適的買家。

I think that certainly opened up the market a little bit. People have raised tension levels. But once again, this is us doing the work, which we've done, finding the right buyer and going through what can be a pretty detailed process. So I wouldn't say anything new on that front. It is still something that we are very focused on, still something that we want to do. But until we actually find that right buyer, we'll announce that when it happens. But the market is kind of the same. But I'd say that a year ago, it probably did opening up a little bit, but it ebbs and flows, as we've talked about over the last several years.

我認為這確實打開了一點市場。人們的緊張程度有所提高。但這又是我們在做的工作，我們已經完成了，尋找合適的買家並經歷一個非常詳細的過程。所以我不會在這方面說任何新內容。這仍然是我們非常關注的事情，仍然是我們想做的事情。但在我們真正找到合適的買家之前，我們會在發生時宣布。但市場是一樣的。但我想說，一年前，它可能確實開放了一點，但正如我們過去幾年所討論的那樣，它有起有落。

Mark Hughes, Truist.

馬克‧休斯，真理主義者。

What is the good target benefit ratio in supplemental and voluntary?

補充和自願的最佳目標福利比例是多少？

Yes. I think we've had fairly consistent benefit ratios. That line of business, the combination of our individual disability income business that we're currently marketing, our voluntary benefits business, and our dental and vision, those tend to bounce around a little bit. If you go back to what we were looking at last January when we gave guidance, we were looking at something that, I'd say, ranged around 50%. We've seen some favorable experience probably against that expectation. But I think it's a pretty good planning assumption going forward of the margins that we would expect in that business.

是的。我認為我們的福利比率相當一致。該業務線，我們目前正在行銷的個人殘疾收入業務、我們的自願福利業務以及我們的牙科和視力業務的組合，這些業務往往會出現一些反彈。如果你回到去年 1 月我們給出指導時所看到的情況，我想說，我們所看到的範圍在 50% 左右。我們已經看到了一些可能與這種預期相反的有利經驗。但我認為，對於我們對該業務的預期利潤率而言，這是一個非常好的規劃假設。

Very good. And then this may be premature, but thinking about the forward interest rate curve as the Fed starts to cut, what does that mean for earnings growth next year? You referred to your long-term guidance of 8% to 10%. If we do go through a rate-cutting cycle, does that have a material impact? I mean, is that worth 100 to 200 basis points?

非常好。這可能還為時過早，但考慮一下聯準會開始降息時的遠期利率曲線，這對明年的獲利成長意味著什麼？您提到了 8% 至 10% 的長期指導。如果我們確實經歷降息週期，會產生重大影響嗎？我的意思是，這值得 100 到 200 個基點嗎？

Or how should we think about them?

或者說我們應該如何看待他們？

Yes. I think your question is a good one. I know the day that it is in the market in terms of rates and where they are, but think about the rate cuts, and it's premature because we don't know what's going to happen on the long end of the curve as a result of any action that the Fed will take. I think we talked about this environment. And when we say this environment, the 10-year and 30-year kind of with a [4-handle]on them, that's a good operating environment for us. And if it goes anywhere different than that, the impact will be -- and I'd say it will be longer term as well. We've talked about hedging, so we've actually locked up a bunch of that new cash flows that we'll see next year.

是的。我認為你的問題問得很好。我知道市場上的利率和利率水平，但想想降息，現在還為時過早，因為我們不知道曲線的長端會發生什麼，因為聯準會將採取的任何行動。我想我們討論過這個環境。當我們說這種環境時，10年和30年的那種[4把手]，這對我們來說是一個很好的營運環境。如果它的發展與此不同，那麼影響將會是——而且我想說這也將是長期的。我們已經討論了對沖，所以我們實際上已經鎖定了明年我們將看到的大量新現金流。

And so it's premature, Mark, to talk about what that impact might be. And once again, we don't really know where the 10-year and 30-year are going to go either. We've operated in more difficult environments. And I think that we're happy when things have a 4-handle on them.

因此，馬克，現在談論這種影響可能是什麼還為時過早。再說一次，我們也不知道 10 年和 30 年會走向何方。我們在更困難的環境中運作。我認為當東西有 4 個手把時我們會很高興。

Wilma Burdis, Raymond James.

威爾瑪·布爾迪斯，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

How are you guys thinking about the LTC hedging program going forward? Is there a natural stopping point? Or will you continue to add hedges until the rate environment just doesn't make sense anymore?

你們對 LTC 對沖計畫的未來有何看法？有自然停止點嗎？或者您會繼續增加對沖，直到利率環境不再有意義為止？

This is Steve. I'll take that one. So first of all, love our hedging program, it's provided really good risk management, and it minimizes capital sensitivities as it relates to our LTC book and kind of the reserving methodology that we have there on a regulatory basis. We're happy with how we've grown it. We've been at it now for over a couple of years. We kind of expanded it in the second quarter, feel good about that.

這是史蒂夫。我會接受那個。首先，我們喜歡我們的對沖計劃，它提供了非常好的風險管理，並且最大限度地降低了資本敏感性，因為它與我們的 LTC 帳簿以及我們在監管基礎上採用的儲備方法有關。我們對它的種植方式感到滿意。我們已經這樣做了幾年多了。我們在第二季度擴大了它，對此感覺很好。

I'll just go back to how we've set the program up and what our targets are. We look at investable cash flows over a time horizon. And what we've targeted is over the next five years to target 50% of those cash flows to put protection on. And then for year six and seven, we're targeting 40%. And really that's just because of, as I mentioned before, the hedge accounting methodology and just making sure that we can execute and deliver on those securities and going out in the market and being able to buy them. So nice expansion. At the end of second quarter, we had $2.4 billion of notional -- our strike price is about [4.25] on our book of business. And cumulatively, we put on $3.2 billion.

我將回顧我們如何制定該計劃以及我們的目標是什麼。我們著眼於一段時間內可投資的現金流。我們的目標是在未來五年內將其中 50% 的現金流量用於提供保護。然後，在第六年和第七年，我們的目標是 40%。事實上，正如我之前提到的，這只是因為對沖會計方法，並確保我們能夠執行和交付這些證券，並進入市場並能夠購買它們。如此好的擴充。在第二季末，我們的名目資產為 24 億美元——我們的執行價格約為我們業務帳簿上的 [4.25]。我們累計投入了 32 億美元。

Specific to your question, we're getting pretty close to our targets. This last expansion pretty much got us to where we want to be. The only thing that I'd note is we will continue to enter into new ones as those mature because we have those laddered really on a quarterly basis, where every quarter, they're maturing, we're going out, we're placing the cash in securities, and then we're kind of extending the program another quarter. So the cumulative number will continue to build. But I would say the absolute notional, we feel pretty good about where we are right now.

具體到你的問題，我們已經非常接近我們的目標了。最後的擴展幾乎讓我們到達了我們想要的地方。我唯一要注意的是，隨著那些成熟的項目，我們將繼續進入新的項目，因為我們確實按季度對這些項目進行階梯式調整，每個季度，它們都在成熟，我們正在走出去，我們正在放置證券現金，然後我們將該計劃再延長一個季度。所以累計數量還會繼續增加。但我想說的是絕對名義上的，我們對現在的處境感覺很好。

Okay. And then you talked a little bit more about the possibility of acquiring some capabilities. Has the market changed at all? Are there any attractive opportunities out there? Or is this just kind of reevaluating your capital usage?

好的。然後你又談到了獲得某些能力的可能性。市場發生了根本變化嗎？那裡有什麼有吸引力的機會嗎？或者這只是重新評估您的資本使用情況？

Yes. Thanks, Wilma. I think when we think about M&A, we've been clear to talk about that. It is about capabilities we want to have, areas of our business where we can actually enhance growth. There are opportunities out there that we look at. Now these are deals that would be of a smaller size, and I got to be careful where I size those type of deals.

是的。謝謝，威爾瑪。我認為當我們考慮併購時，我們已經明確地討論過這一點。這是關於我們想要擁有的能力，以及我們能夠真正促進成長的業務領域。我們正在尋找機會。現在這些交易的規模較小，我必須小心調整此類交易的規模。

It's not a capital consideration in terms of changing the dynamics that we've talked about of our deployment at year-end. But these are areas that we think they're out there available and will enable us to enhance our growth trajectory. And we stay very active in those markets to think about where that can be. But once again, it's not going to be a large consumer of the great capital generation that we've seen. So we feel very good about our capital deployment plans.

就改變我們在年底討論的部署動態而言，這不是資本考量。但我們認為這些領域是可用的，將使我們能夠增強我們的成長軌跡。我們在這些市場上保持非常積極的態度，思考其發展方向。但再一次，它不會成為我們所看到的大量資本產生的大量消費者。所以我們對我們的資本部署計劃感覺非常好。

Michael Ward, Citigroup.

花旗集團的邁克爾沃德。

I was just wondering if you could unpack the alternative income in Closed Block, if there's anything specific that drove that uptick this quarter and if there's any outlook for the back half of the year?

我只是想知道您是否可以解開封閉區塊中的替代收入，是否有任何具體因素推動本季的成長，以及下半年是否有任何前景？

Mike, this is Steve. I can handle that. So yes, our alternative income for the quarter was $32.8 million. That was an increase from the second quarter of last year. Our yield last year was about 6.5% annualized yield. And it was 9.9%, close to 10% annualized yield for the quarter.

麥克，這是史蒂夫。我能處理好。所以，是的，我們本季的替代收入為 3,280 萬美元。這比去年第二季度有所增加。我們去年的殖利率年化報酬率約為6.5%。該季度的年化收益率為 9.9%，接近 10%。

Our longer-term expectation would be in that 8% to 10% range. So pick the midpoint. That's what we use for our planning expectation. And when we would build our outlook, that would be the assumption that we would use. It's about $1.4 billion in asset value right now in that portfolio.

我們的長期預期是在 8% 到 10% 的範圍內。所以選擇中點。這就是我們用來規劃期望的內容。當我們建立我們的前景時，這將是我們將使用的假設。目前該投資組合的資產價值約為 14 億美元。

We like the diversification. We think that that's really helped us be somewhat stable in the yields that we've had in that portfolio. But I'd just say we're really happy with the performance that we've seen since inception and definitely this year. And if you're just trying to kind of plan going forward, that 8% to 10% range is kind of where we would peg it. It is going to be volatile quarter to quarter. I mean, you know how these asset classes work. But over time, I think that's a pretty good assumption.

我們喜歡多元化。我們認為這確實幫助我們保持了該投資組合的收益率的穩定。但我只想說，我們對自成立以來以及今年的表現感到非常滿意。如果你只是想制定未來的計劃，8% 到 10% 的範圍就是我們所確定的範圍。每個季度都會出現波動。我的意思是，你知道這些資產類別是如何運作的。但隨著時間的推移，我認為這是一個很好的假設。

Okay. And then maybe one last one, just a higher level on, I guess, long-term care, but the potential benefits on underwriting or I guess maybe on policyholders from GLP-1 drugs, maybe it's a little early for this. But it feels like -- I saw a headline yesterday, I think another study is sort of showing that it's seriously preventing or maybe delaying the progression of Alzheimer's. So is there any point where you guys think that it might actually be something that we really need to think about?

好的。然後也許是最後一個，我想是長期照護的一個更高水平，但承保的潛在好處，或者我想可能是 GLP-1 藥物的保單持有人的潛在好處，也許現在還為時過早。但感覺就像——我昨天看到了一個頭條新聞，我認為另一項研究表明它正在嚴重預防或可能延緩阿茲海默症的進展。那麼你們認為這實際上可能是我們真正需要考慮的事情嗎？

Mike, this is Steve. I'll take that one as well. So I'll take it at a high level. For society, it's great. It does feel like the development of these drugs are really accelerating, which is wonderful. We track very closely how these trials are going, the results that they're seeing in that. So obviously, very happy with that.

麥克，這是史蒂夫。我也拿那個。所以我會以高水準來看待它。對社會來說，這是偉大的。確實感覺到這些藥物的開發確實在加速，這真是太棒了。我們非常密切地追蹤這些試驗的進展以及他們所看到的結果。顯然，對此非常滿意。

When we step back and think about the business, it will take time for those advancements to work its way into the general population and then specifically into our insured population. Net-net, kind of how these are evolving, it should be a positive. And it should be a positive across many of our product lines for the other types of drugs that are being developed, not just things around Alzheimer's. So we're optimistic, again, great for society. But we wouldn't change our expectations until we see something actually work its way into our block and really see changes in the trends of our insured population.

當我們退後一步思考業務時，這些進步需要時間才能滲透到普通人群中，然後具體滲透到我們的參保人群中。網路網絡，這些是如何演變的，它應該是積極的。這應該對我們正在開發的其​​他類型藥物的許多產品線產生積極影響，而不僅僅是阿茲海默症相關藥物。所以我們再次感到樂觀，這對社會有好處。但我們不會改變我們的期望，直到我們看到某些東西真正進入我們的街區並真正看到我們參保人口趨勢的變化。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the call back over to Rick McKenney for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在，我將把電話轉回給里克·麥肯尼 (Rick McKenney) 作結束語。

Thanks, Mandeep. Thanks, everybody, for joining us and staying on here for a couple of extra minutes. We do appreciate your continued support and interest. Our second-quarter results were exceptionally strong, and we revised that and are reflected in our new outlook. And so I hope as you've dug into it, you see the strength that we see as well. We're very confident in our ability to maintain these levels as well as we look to the back half of the year.

謝謝，曼迪普。謝謝大家加入我們並在這裡多待了幾分鐘。我們非常感謝您持續的支持和關注。我們的第二季業績異常強勁，我們對此進行了修正並反映在我們的新展望中。所以我希望當你深入研究它時，你也能看到我們所看到的力量。我們對維持這些水準的能力非常有信心，並且展望今年下半年。

Operator, that will now end our call today. Thank you all for joining us. We'll look forward to talking to you either out in the market or on our quarterly call next quarter. Thank you.

接線員，現在結束我們今天的通話。感謝大家加入我們。我們期待在市場上或下季度的季度電話會議上與您交談。謝謝。

This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。