普登 (UNM) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kayla, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Unum Group first-quarter 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持。我叫凱拉 (Kayla)，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Unum Group 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）

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

現在我想將電話轉給投資者關係部門的 Matt Royal。你可以開始了。

Great, Kayla. Thank you, and good morning. Yesterday afternoon, Unum released our first-quarter 2025 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.

太好了，凱拉。謝謝，早安。昨天下午，Unum 發布了我們的 2025 年第一季財報和財務補充報告。您可在我們網站的「投資者」部分找到這些資料，同時也能找到今天的簡報中包含的最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標和任何非 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表。

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 our periodic filings with the SEC for a description of factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected results. References made today to core operations sales in premium, including Unum International, are presented on a constant currency basis.

請注意，今天的電話會議可能包括前瞻性陳述和實際結果，這些陳述和結果受風險和不確定性的影響可能會產生重大差異，我們沒有義務更新任何這些陳述。請參閱我們的收益報告和定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與預期結果不同的因素。今天提到的高階核心業務銷售額（包括 Unum International）均以固定匯率計算。

Joining 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.

參加今天早上電話會議的有 Unum 總裁兼首席執行官 Rick McKenney；首席財務官史蒂夫·扎貝爾 (Steve Zabel)；蒂姆·阿諾德 (Tim Arnold)，我們殖民地人壽和自願福利線路的負責人； Chris Pyne 負責團體福利；以及 Unum International 首席執行官馬克·蒂爾 (Mark Till)。

Now, let me turn the call over to Rick.

現在，讓我把電話轉給里克。

Thank you, Matt. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first-quarter results. At our outlook meeting in January, we laid out our expectations and plans to continue our momentum, which includes our ability to maintain industry-leading margins, grow our top line at mid-single-digit levels, maintain robust capital flexibility, and actively manage the closed block.

謝謝你，馬特。大家早安，感謝大家今天加入我們討論我們的第一季業績。在一月份的展望會議上，我們闡述了我們的期望和繼續保持發展勢頭的計劃，其中包括我們保持行業領先利潤率的能力、以中等個位數的水平增長我們的營收、保持強勁的資本靈活性以及積極管理已關閉區塊的能力。

Our achievements in the first quarter underscore our advancement towards these goals, particularly highlighted by the long-term care reinsurance transactions announced in late February.

我們在第一季的成就凸顯了我們在實現這些目標方面取得的進展，尤其是二月底宣布的長期照護再保險交易。

The first quarter financial results are highlighted by core operations achieving an ROE of over 20%. Premium growth exceeding 4%, $350 million in underlying statutory earnings and capital metrics significantly surpassing our targets. Even with this solid execution, we came up a little short of our plans with earnings per share of $2.04, reflecting a higher level of disability claims. As we sit here today, we continue to execute towards our full-year growth outlook of 6% to 10%.

第一季財務表現的亮點是核心業務的 ROE 超過 20%。保費成長超過 4%，3.5 億美元的基礎法定收益和資本指標大大超出我們的目標。即使執行得如此出色，我們的每股收益仍略低於計劃 2.04 美元，這反映了殘疾索賠水平的提高。今天，我們坐在這裡，繼續努力實現 6% 至 10% 的全年成長預期。

Since our last call, the first quarter has clearly brought about significant volatility and economic sentiment. We do not see a near-term impact from the potential changes in prevailing economic conditions, as several of the drivers, including higher interest rates are a positive for our business. Our strong positioning in this period ultimately enables us to effectively support our clients during periods of increased uncertainty as they support their employees with a backdrop of stability.

自從我們上次通話以來，第一季顯然帶來了顯著的波動和經濟情緒。我們認為當前經濟狀況的潛在變化不會在短期內產生影響，因為包括利率上昇在內的多種驅動因素​​對我們的業務有利。我們在這段時期的強大定位最終使我們能夠在客戶不確定性增加的時期為他們的員工提供穩定的支持，從而有效地為他們提供支持。

The first-quarter environment concluded positively with interest rates remaining favorable, employment levels remaining healthy and wages continuing to rise. This healthy labor market was evident in our existing client base where we observed levels of natural growth that contributed to our success, albeit at more typical levels.

第一季的經濟環境呈現正面態勢，利率維持有利，就業水準維持健康，薪資持續上漲。這種健康的勞動力市場在我們現有的客戶群中顯而易見，我們觀察到自然成長水準有助於我們的成功，儘管水準更為典型。

Our offerings, which are part of a comprehensive employment package aimed at attracting and retaining talent play a crucial role in providing critical protections for employees. Our connection with these employers in today's environment is strengthened through our digital interactions and our ability to deliver quality services. This includes leave administration, which is an increasingly important to them. As these digital interactions are crucial to our growth story, they require continual focus and investment to maintain our differentiated status.

我們提供的服務是旨在吸引和留住人才的綜合就業方案的一部分，在為員工提供關鍵保護方面發揮著至關重要的作用。透過我們的數位互動和提供優質服務的能力，我們在當今環境下與這些雇主的聯繫得到了加強。這包括休假管理，這對他們來說越來越重要。由於這些數位互動對於我們的成長至關重要，因此需要持續關注和投資才能保持我們的差異化地位。

Looking across the franchise, we saw sales that were at a comparable level to 2024. There was a slight increase in Unum US, and we were pleased to see Colonial Life started to get growth back into the sales results. The International segment did see a large decline but was more impacted by a current period of lack of large case sales. And given the size of this business, we can see that volatility period to period.

縱觀整個特許經營店，我們發現銷售額與 2024 年的水平相當。Unum US 的銷量略有成長，我們很高興看到 Colonial Life 的銷售業績開始恢復成長。國際市場確實出現了大幅下滑，但更大程度上受到當前大箱銷售不足的影響。考慮到該業務的規模，我們可以看到其在不同時期的波動。

There was also variability across product lines with strong sales growth in Voluntary Benefits and a little bit of softness across our Group lines. The reality is it remains early in the sales cycle. Our pipeline for Group sales for the remainder of the year looks promising, and we expect to achieve our overall sales goals as we proceed through 2025 in a similar pattern that we saw the strong full-year results of 2024.

各產品線之間也存在差異，自願福利的銷售成長強勁，而集團產品線則略有疲軟。實際情況是，它仍處於銷售週期的早期階段。我們集團今年剩餘時間的銷售前景看好，我們預計在 2025 年，我們將以與 2024 年全年業績強勁類似的模式實現我們的整體銷售目標。

While still early in the sales pipeline, we are seeing the success of last year's sales play through our top line with earned premium in our core operations growing at 4%. Persistency in some product line was lower than last year's high point and remains in line with more historical levels.

雖然銷售管道仍處於早期階段，但我們看到去年的銷售業績取得了成功，核心業務的保費收入成長了 4%。部分產品線的持久性低於去年的高點，但仍與歷史水準保持一致。

Over time, as our digital capabilities embed further within our customers' processes we will look for increasing levels of persistency as there will be increased ease of doing business with Unum and with Colonial Life.

隨著時間的推移，隨著我們的數位能力進一步融入客戶的流程，我們將尋求提高持久性水平，因為與 Unum 和 Colonial Life 開展業務將變得更加容易。

Across the franchise, we continue to generate strong margins. Our expertise in addressing our customers' needs, combined with our pricing discipline has served us well. Of note this quarter, we did see an elevated benefit ratio in Group Disability. While consistent with our outlook of low 60s and still delivering high margins, the benefit ratio of 1Q moved up several points driven by a higher level of incidents in both long-term and short-term disability.

在整個特許經營過程中，我們繼續創造強勁的利潤。我們在滿足客戶需求方面的專業知識以及我們的定價原則為我們提供了良好的服務。值得注意的是，本季我們確實看到團體殘障保險的福利比率上升。雖然與我們對 60% 以下的預期一致，並且仍然能帶來高利潤率，但由於長期和短期殘疾事件發生率較高，第一季的福利率上升了幾點。

After multiple years of positive performance, we currently believe this quarter is more about near-term volatility, but we will continue to watch as the year plays out. Importantly, recoveries remain good and the higher level of incidents in long-term disability was more acute earlier in the quarter before settling down.

經過多年的積極表現，我們目前認為本季更多的是短期波動，但我們將繼續關註今年的進展。重要的是，恢復情況仍然良好，長期殘疾事件的發生率在本季初更為嚴重，之後才逐漸穩定下來。

Rounding out the rest of Unum US, we saw good broad-based performance. Group Life and AD&D continue to generate earnings levels higher than pre-pandemic levels. Supplemental and voluntary saw good margins in both IDI and voluntary benefits. International results were in line with expectations with the UK earnings in the higher GBP20 million range and Colonial Life saw ROE close to 20%.

縱觀 Unum US 的其他股票，我們看到了良好的全面表現。團體人壽和意外身故及殘障險的獲利水準持續高於疫情前的水準。補充和自願福利在 IDI 和自願福利方面均獲得了良好的利潤。國際業績符合預期，英國收益在 2,000 萬英鎊左右，Colonial Life 的 ROE 接近 20%。

Outside of the core business, long-term care experienced a good first quarter. While headline results are below our annual guidance range, this was driven by lower returns in our alternative asset portfolio, which backs our long-term care block. Underlying liability trends were generally in line with our expectations. These good results paired with continued active management of the block, driving further confidence in our position.

除核心業務外，長期照護業務第一季表現良好。雖然整體績效低於我們的年度指導範圍，但這是由於我們的另類資產投資組合的回報率較低所致，而這支持了我們的長期照護部門。基本負債趨勢大致符合我們的預期。這些良好的業績加上對該區塊持續積極的管理，進一步增強了我們對此地位的信心。

Our multifaceted approach continues to execute on premium rate increases, examining ways to further insulate against interest rate through hedging and explore further action to reduce the size of the book through reinsurance.

我們採取多管齊下的方法繼續提高保費率，研究透過對沖進一步防範利率風險的方法，並探索透過再保險進一步減少保單規模。

It was just over two months ago when we announced our two long-term care transactions, which will remove 20% of the risk of this block at favorable economic terms and release significant capital through our internal restructuring. While we are pleased with the expected outcome of these deals, we continue to be active and strive to further reduce this exposure.

就在兩個多月前，我們宣布了兩項長期照護交易，這將以優惠的經濟條件消除該區塊 20% 的風險，並透過我們的內部重組釋放大量資本。雖然我們對這些交易的預期結果感到滿意，但我們會繼續積極努力，進一步降低這種風險。

As we funded this business fully in 2023, we have remained committed to not add capital to this line of business. Differently this quarter, our capital position was bolstered and capital was released by the internal reinsurance we discussed in February. As a result, we ended the quarter with record levels of holding company liquidity at $2.2 billion and one of the highest RBC positions we have seen at 460%.

由於我們在 2023 年為該業務提供了全額資金，因此我們始終致力於不為該業務線增加資金。本季的不同之處在於，我們的資本狀況得到了增強，並透過我們在二月份討論的內部再保險釋放了資本。結果，我們在本季結束時，控股公司流動性達到創紀錄的 22 億美元，RBC 部位達到我們所見過的最高水準之一，達到 460%。

Statutory earnings were also strong with one-time benefits from our restructuring that drove the headline result of nearly $500 million. This position enables high levels of optionality with capital deployment. And as such, we repurchased shares in the first quarter of roughly $200 million.

法定收益也很強勁，重組帶來的一次性收益推動整體業績達到近 5 億美元。這一立場使得資本部署具有高度的選擇性。因此，我們在第一季回購了約 2 億美元的股票。

This is one way we return capital to shareholders, but also important is consistent dividend increase. which we will announce as part of our Annual Shareholder Meeting process in May. We remain excited about the opportunities ahead and are committed to delivering on the present.

這是我們向股東返還資本的一種方式，但持續增加股利也同樣重要。我們將在五月的年度股東大會上宣布這項消息。我們對未來的機會仍然感到興奮，並致力於實現現在的目標。

Now, let me hand it over to Steve, who will provide further insights into our performance and discuss how these results shape our future trends. Steve?

現在，讓我把話題交給史蒂夫，他將進一步了解我們的表現，並討論這些結果如何影響我們未來的趨勢。史蒂夫？

Great. Thanks, Rick, and good morning, everyone. As Rick described, the first quarter was a good start to the year. From a top-line perspective, we're seeing strong levels of growth in our core operations with premium growth of 4.2% and aided by the strong levels of new sales we saw last year. We are pleased to see this result as persistency levels for some products to ease slightly as expected from record levels experienced in 2024.

偉大的。謝謝，里克，大家早安。正如里克所描述的，第一季是今年的一個好開始。從營收角度來看，我們的核心業務成長強勁，保費成長率為 4.2%，這得益於去年強勁的新銷售。我們很高興看到這一結果，因為一些產品的持久性水平與 2024 年創下的紀錄水平相比略有下降，正如預期的那樣。

Overall sales for core operations were down slightly with lower large case sales offset by strong voluntary benefit sales. When considering the first-quarter results, the seasonality of our sales and a healthy pipeline, we are maintaining our outlook for full-year 2025 sales growth of 5% to 10% across core operations.

核心業務整體銷售額略有下降，大箱銷售額的下降被強勁的自願福利銷售所抵銷。考慮到第一季的業績、銷售的季節性和健康的管道，我們維持對 2025 年全年核心業務銷售額成長 5% 至 10% 的預期。

In addition to growth, our margins continue to be robust with benefit ratios at or favorable to our expectations and historical levels across all products. I will dive into the group disability benefit ratio more in a moment, but we'll note that we do not have reason to believe the increase in the first quarter is indicative of a reversal of recent favorable trends and therefore, believe we can achieve our annual expectation of low 60% for the full year.

除了成長之外，我們的利潤率持續保持強勁，所有產品的收益率都達到或優於我們的預期和歷史水平。稍後我將更深入地探討團體殘障福利比率，但我們會注意到，我們沒有理由相信第一季的成長顯示近期有利趨勢的逆轉，因此，我們相信我們可以實現全年 60% 以下的年度預期。

In the first quarter, adjusted operating earnings finished at $466.8 million, leading to after-tax adjusted operating earnings per share of $2.04, this result was down 3.8% from last year, driven by the disability benefit ratio dynamics mentioned earlier as well as the impact of our current year operating expense pattern, which will decline throughout the year.

第一季度，調整後的營業利潤為 4.668 億美元，稅後調整後每股營業利潤為 2.04 美元，較去年同期下降 3.8%，這主要受到前文提到的殘疾福利比率變化以及本年度營業費用模式的影響，而營業費用模式全年都將下降。

We recorded statutory after-tax operating income of $489.8 million which incorporates an estimated $131 million favorable impact from the internal LTC reinsurance transaction we announced in February. With an underlying run rate of approximately $350 million, we are well positioned to achieve our annual expectation of $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion of statutory earnings from our traditional insurance subsidiaries.

我們記錄的法定稅後營業收入為 4.898 億美元，其中包括我們 2 月宣布的內部 LTC 再保險交易帶來的約 1.31 億美元的有利影響。憑藉約 3.5 億美元的基本運作率，我們完全有能力實現傳統保險子公司每年 13 億美元至 16 億美元法定收益的預期。

While we are only one quarter into the year, we remain confident in executing against our capital targets for 2025.

雖然今年才剛過去一個季度，但我們仍然有信心實現 2025 年的資本目標。

Now let's move into the segment financial results. Starting with Unum US, adjusted operating income decreased 14.6% to $329.1 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $385.2 million in the first quarter of 2024. Natural growth of lives and wages continued at normal levels of between 2% and 3% and along with total group persistency of 89.3%, supported premium growth of 4.3% in Unum US. Overall, Unum US sales were higher in the first quarter of 2025 by approximately 1% year over year, driven by strong voluntary benefit sales.

現在讓我們來看看分部財務表現。從 Unum US 開始，2025 年第一季調整後營業收入下降 14.6% 至 3.291 億美元，而 2024 年第一季為 3.852 億美元。人壽和工資的自然增長繼續保持在 2% 至 3% 之間的正常水平，加上集團整體繼續率達到 89.3%，支持了 Unum US 的保費增長 4.3%。整體而言，受自願福利銷售強勁的推動，Unum 美國 2025 年第一季的銷售額年增約 1%。

As Rick mentioned, the pipeline for group sales over the next two quarters is healthy, and we expect overall all sales to meet our expectations of 5% to 10% growth for the year. Adjusted operating income in the group disability line of $119.2 million was lower compared to $164.8 million in the first quarter of 2024. The decrease was driven by higher incidents across both short-term and long-term disability with continued strong recoveries for long-term disability.

正如 Rick 所提到的，未來兩個季度集團銷售的通路是健康的，我們預計全年整體銷售額將達到我們預期的 5% 至 10% 的成長。團體傷殘險的調整後營業收入為 1.192 億美元，低於 2024 年第一季的 1.648 億美元。下降的原因是短期和長期殘疾事件的增加，以及長期殘疾的恢復持續強勁。

While the group disability benefit ratio of 61.8% compared unfavorably to the year-ago period of 57.5% and was slightly above our expectation, it was within our low 60s expectation for the year. Also as a reminder, we decided to exit the stop-loss business in 2024, while insignificant to earnings, group disability premium growth in the first quarter would have been approximately 3% when excluding stop loss in both periods.

雖然 61.8% 的團體殘障福利比率與去年同期的 57.5% 相比不太理想，且略高於我們的預期，但仍在我們對今年 60% 的預期範圍內。另外要提醒的是，我們決定在 2024 年退出停損業務，雖然對收益的影響微不足道，但如果在兩個時期都排除止損，第一季的團體傷殘保費增長率將達到約 3%。

Adjusted operating income for Unum US Group Life and AD&D finished at $69.2 million in the quarter compared to the year-ago period of $78.8 million. The benefit ratio of 69.3% was slightly elevated compared to 68.2% a year ago, driven by higher incidents, but was in line with our outlook of approximately 70%.

Unum US Group Life and AD&D 的調整後營業收入本季為 6,920 萬美元，而去年同期為 7,880 萬美元。由於事故發生率較高，69.3% 的福利率較去年同期的 68.2% 略有上升，但與我們約 70% 的預期一致。

Adjusted operating earnings for the Unum US supplemental and voluntary lines in the first quarter of 2025 decreased slightly to $140.7 million from $141.6 million in the first quarter of 2024. The voluntary benefit ratio was in line with our expectation of mid-40s, however, increased from very favorable levels experienced a year ago, offset by a reduction in the multiline individual disability benefit ratio. As a result, supplemental and voluntary segment earnings will not be impacted by the recently announced reinsurance transaction with Fortitude Re until the transaction does close.

2025 年第一季度，Unum 美國補充和自願線路的調整後營業收入從 2024 年第一季的 1.416 億美元小幅下降至 1.407 億美元。然而，自願福利比率符合我們預期的 40% 左右，比一年前非常有利的水平有所增加，但多線個人殘疾福利比率的降低抵消了這一變化。因此，在交易完成之前，補充和自願部門的收益不會受到最近宣布的與 Fortitude Re 的再保險交易的影響。

Moving to Unum International. Adjusted operating income in the first quarter increased to $38.7 million from $37.4 million in the first quarter of 2024. Adjusted operating income for the Unum UK business increased in the first quarter to GBP29.5 million compared to GBP28.2 million in the first quarter of 2024. Premium income for our Unum International Business segment increased by 7% year over year, including 18% growth in Unum Poland. Strong persistency in excess of 90% in both Unum UK and Poland helped to offset decreased overall sales in the quarter.

遷往 Unum International。第一季調整後營業收入從 2024 年第一季的 3,740 萬美元增至 3,870 萬美元。Unum 英國業務第一季的調整後營業收入從 2024 年第一季的 2,820 萬英鎊增至 2,950 萬英鎊。我們的 Unum 國際業務部門的保費收入年增 7%，其中 Unum 波蘭的成長率為 18%。Unum 英國和波蘭超過 90% 的強勁持久性有助於抵消本季整體銷售額的下降。

Next, adjusted operating income for the Colonial Life segment increased to $115.7 million in the first quarter compared to $113.7 million in the first quarter of 2024. Premium income of $457.3 million grew at a rate of 2.3%. Record levels of first-quarter earnings and premiums were supported by persistency of 78.1%, a similar level to the year-ago period. Sales in the first quarter of $105.3 million grew 2.2% over last year. After several quarters of reduced sales growth at Colonial Life, we are very pleased with this strong start to 2025.

其次，Colonial Life 部門第一季的調整後營業收入從 2024 年第一季的 1.137 億美元增至 1.157 億美元。保費收入4.573億美元，成長率為2.3%。第一季財報和保費創歷史新高，得益於 78.1% 的持續率，與去年同期水準相似。第一季銷售額為 1.053 億美元，比去年同期成長 2.2%。在 Colonial Life 的銷售成長連續幾季下滑之後，我們對 2025 年的強勁開局感到非常高興。

In the Closed Block segment, adjusted operating income of $24.4 million in the first quarter of 2025 compared to $27.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Earnings were lower due primarily to lower income on alternative assets which yielded 5.1% in the first quarter on an annualized basis compared to our long-term expectation of 8.10%.

在封閉式區塊部門，2025 年第一季的調整後營業收入為 2,440 萬美元，而 2024 年第四季為 2,770 萬美元。收益較低主要是因為另類資產的收益較低，第一季的年化報酬率為 5.1%，而我們的長期預期為 8.10%。

As we've experienced in prior years, a lag in reporting in the first quarter can impact timing of results and delay recognition of earnings into the remainder of the year. A subset of year-end partnership statements for alternative investments will be received and reported in the second-quarter results.

正如我們在前幾年所經歷的那樣，第一季的報告滯後可能會影響結果的時間，並將收益確認推遲到今年剩餘時間。我們將收到另類投資年終合作報表子集，並將其報告於第二季業績中。

As a reminder, our annual outlook for this segment of $140 million to $170 million assumes a normalized level of alternative asset returns, and therefore, can be impacted by quarter-to-quarter fluctuations. Within the Closed Block, aggregate benefits experience for LTC was generally in line with our expectations, and we remain committed to no longer requiring capital contributions to support this block backed by our $2.6 billion of protection at Fairwind.

提醒一下，我們對該部分 1.4 億至 1.7 億美元的年度展望是假設另類資產回報處於正常水平，因此可能會受到季度間波動的影響。在封閉區塊內，LTC 的整體福利體驗基本上符合我們的預期，我們仍然致力於不再要求資本投入來支援該區塊，並以我們在 Fairwind 的 26 億美元保護為後盾。

The LTC net premium ratio was 94.7% at the end of the first quarter of 2025 compared to 94.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Sequentially, the increase of 10 basis points reflects modestly unfavorable benefits experienced relative to long-term expectations in our uncapped cohorts. In terms of rate increases, we continue to make progress and have achieved approximately 55% of our current reserve expectations through the end of the first quarter.

2025 年第一季末的 LTC 淨保費比率為 94.7%，而 2024 年第四季為 94.6%。連續 10 個基點的成長反映出相對於我們無上限群體的長期預期而言，他們所經歷的收益略有不利。在利率上調方面，我們繼續取得進展，截至第一季末已實現當前儲備預期的約 55%。

Finally, I wanted to provide a brief update on the external LTC reinsurance transaction we announced in February. As a reminder, we have agreed to see $3.4 billion or approximately 20% of long-term care statutory reserves, along with a portion of our multi-life individual disability in-force to Fortitude REIT.

最後，我想簡單介紹一下我們在二月宣布的外部 LTC 再保險交易。提醒一下，我們已同意將 34 億美元或約 20% 的長期照護法定儲備金以及部分多人壽保險個人殘障保險提供給 Fortitude REIT。

Overall, the transaction is expected to generate approximately $100 million of capital benefits. We are working through the approval process and customary closing conditions now. The process is progressing well with no changes to our overall timeline.

總體而言，預計此交易將產生約1億美元的資本利得。我們現在正在進行審批流程和慣例成交條件。整個過程進展順利，我們的整體時間表沒有變化。

While the breadth of our financial impacts will be reported in the period the transaction closes, some aspects of the financial reporting requirements are reflected in our first-quarter results. This was notable in first-quarter reported net investment losses of $206.8 million. A significant portion of this amount or $152.4 million is attributable to recognizing losses on assets in the transaction transfer portfolio that were in an unrealized loss position. Unrealized gains on assets within the same portfolio will be recognized once the transaction closes.

雖然我們的財務影響範圍將在交易完成期間報告，但財務報告要求的某些方面已反映在我們的第一季業績中。這在第一季報告的 2.068 億美元淨投資損失中表現得尤為明顯。其中很大一部分，即 1.524 億美元，是由於確認了交易轉移組合中處於未實現虧損狀態的資產損失。交易結束後，將確認同一投資組合內資產的未實現收益。

And for your reference, the transfer portfolio had total unrealized gains of $115.4 million as of the end of the quarter. In addition, asset sales associated with generating liquidity for both the external and internal LTC transactions resulted in realized losses of $42.6 million. Considering impacts from both of these transactions, the realized losses generated by routine portfolio activity during the quarter were under $10 million.

供您參考，截至本季末，轉會投資組合的未實現收益總額為 1.154 億美元。此外，與為外部和內部 LTC 交易產生流動性相關的資產出售導致實現損失 4,260 萬美元。考慮到這兩筆交易的影響，本季常規投資組合活動產生的實際損失不到 1,000 萬美元。

Wrapping up my commentary on the segment's financial results, the adjusted operating loss in the corporate segment was $41.1 million compared to $46.1 million loss in the first quarter of 2024, primarily driven by higher net investment income as a result of the First Unum dividend to the holding company.

總結我對該部門財務表現的評論，企業部門的調整後營業虧損為 4,110 萬美元，而 2024 年第一季的虧損為 4,610 萬美元，這主要是由於 First Unum 向控股公司派發股息導致的淨投資收入增加。

Shifting to investments. We continue to benefit from the favorable environment for new money yields and effective risk management. Our strategy supports a comprehensive through-the-cycle approach. In addition, we have taken opportunities to derisk our investment portfolio over the past several years, highlighted by a significant reduction to high-yield exposure from 7.8% of our total investment portfolio in 2020 to 3.4% as of the first quarter of 2025.

轉向投資。我們繼續受益於新資金收益和有效風險管理的有利環境。我們的策略支援全面的整個週期方法。此外，在過去幾年中，我們抓住機會降低投資組合的風險，其中最突出的是高收益投資佔比從 2020 年佔總投資組合的 7.8% 大幅降至 2025 年第一季的 3.4%。

Also in first quarter, total net investment income was $513.2 million compared to $513.5 million in the same period last year. Miscellaneous investment income decreased marginally to $20.2 million compared to $20.8 million a year ago, with income from our alternative assets totaling $18.3 million.

第一季度，總淨投資收入為 5.132 億美元，去年同期為 5.135 億美元。雜項投資收入從去年的 2,080 萬美元小幅下降至 2,020 萬美元，其中來自另類資產的收入總計 1,830 萬美元。

Additionally, we have maintained our hedge program to manage interest rate risk. Through the first quarter, we had entered into $3.6 billion of treasury forwards with approximately $2.5 billion of notional hedges outstanding at quarter end. These open hedges secure the underlying treasury rate for a significant portion of our investable LTC cash flows over the next 10 years.

此外，我們也維持了對沖計畫來管理利率風險。截至第一季度，我們已簽訂了 36 億美元的國債遠期合約，季度末未償還的名義對沖金額約為 25 億美元。這些開放式對沖確保了未來 10 年內我們可投資 LTC 現金流的很大一部分的基礎國債利率。

I'll wrap up my commentary with an update regarding our capital position. We expect that our strong statutory earnings will persist in enhancing significant capital strength and financial flexibility, similar to our experience in 2024. The weighted average risk-based capital ratio for our traditional US insurance companies has further strengthened to approximately 460%.

我將以有關我們的資本狀況的最新消息來結束我的評論。我們預計，強勁的法定收益將持續增強資本實力和財務靈活性，類似於我們在 2024 年的經驗。我們傳統美國保險公司的加權平均風險資本比率進一步增強至約 460%。

The liquidity at the holding company has risen to $2.2 billion, which does include a $630 million dividend from First Unum resulting from the internal reinsurance transaction.

該控股公司的流動資金已升至 22 億美元，其中包括 First Unum 因內部再保險交易而獲得的 6.3 億美元股息。

Although these metrics are expected to vary throughout the year, we anticipate a year-end RBC of 425% to 450% and holding company liquidity exceeding $2.5 billion, both in excess of our long-term targets, providing us with capital flexibility. This flexibility is integrated into our strategies for share buybacks and annual increases in the shareholder dividends. Having repurchased shares valued at $200 million during the first quarter, we aim to achieve at least this amount in the second quarter.

雖然這些指標預計全年都會有所不同，但我們預計年底的 RBC 將達到 425% 至 450%，控股公司流動性將超過 25 億美元，這兩項指標都超過了我們的長期目標，為我們提供資本靈活性。這種靈活性融入了我們的股票回購和股東股利年度增加的策略。我們在第一季回購了價值 2 億美元的股票，目標是在第二季至少實現這一目標。

As we have previously communicated, we will review our plans for the year as a whole, following the successful conclusion of the external LTC reinsurance transaction later this year. Overall, we are pleased with our first-quarter results and remain well positioned to implement our strategy and meet our financial objectives.

正如我們之前所傳達的，在今年稍後成功完成外部 LTC 再保險交易後，我們將重新審視全年的計劃。總體而言，我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，並且仍然有能力實施我們的策略並實現我們的財務目標。

Now I'll hand the call back to Rick for his closing remarks, and I look forward to answering your questions.

現在我將把電話交還給里克，請他做最後發言，我期待回答你們的問題。

Great. Thank you, Steve. And I would just summarize today by saying that our commitment to excellence in growing our core business and protecting more people as combined with robust capital strength. I think this sets us up on a promising trajectory for the year ahead.

偉大的。謝謝你，史蒂夫。今天我想總結一下，我們致力於卓越發展核心業務，並結合雄厚的資本實力保護更多的人。我認為這為我們未來一年的發展奠定了良好的基礎。

So I'm sure there are plenty of topics to discuss. And so with that, we will move to your questions. Kayla, please open the Q&A session.

所以我確信有很多話題可以討論。那麼，我們將開始回答您的問題。Kayla，請開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Ryan Krueger, KBW.

（操作員指示）Ryan Krueger，KBW。

My first question is on disability incidents. Can you give us a little bit more color on what you saw with incidents as the quarter progressed? And then in terms of the normalization back down during the quarter, any -- can you help us understand if that kind of continued into April at this point?

我的第一個問題是關於殘疾事件的。您能否向我們詳細介紹本季發生的事件？然後就本季恢復正常化而言，您能否幫助我們了解這種情況是否會持續到四月？

Yeah, Ryan. It's Steve. So yeah, you're right. During the quarter, we did see elevated incidents above our expectations in both short-term and long-term disability. Long-term disability, obviously, is a big driver of overall profitability. And what we saw in the trends there were very high early in the quarter, specifically January, very high incidence rates and those did come down closer to what our expectations would be as the quarter played out.

是的，瑞安。我是史蒂夫。是的，你是對的。在本季度，我們確實看到短期和長期殘疾事件的數量超出了我們的預期。顯然，長期殘疾是整體獲利能力的一個重要驅動因素。我們看到的趨勢是，本季初，特別是 1 月份，發病率非常高，而隨著本季的結束，發病率確實下降到了更接近我們預期的水平。

They don't really have anything to talk about April yet. But as we're looking forward to the remainder of the year, we do think that that overall benefit ratio will come down a tick and be closer to kind of what our internal expectations were for the remainder of the year and really is one driver where we think we will have kind of a different trajectory earnings as the year proceeds.

關於四月，他們其實還沒有什麼好談的。但當我們展望今年剩餘時間時，我們確實認為整體福利比率將會略有下降，並更接近我們對今年剩餘時間的內部預期，而且這是一個驅動因素，我們認為隨著今年的進展，我們的盈利軌跡將會有所不同。

I guess the other thing that I would say, and I mentioned in my remarks as well as Rick did, that recoveries were really close to our expectations. So we felt really good about the level of recoveries that we saw. We just saw a little bit of a spike early in the quarter on LTC incidents.

我想說的另一件事是，我和瑞克在我的演講中都提到過，復甦確實接近我們的預期。因此，我們對所看到的復甦水準感到非常滿意。我們剛剛看到本季度初 LTC 事件略有增加。

Okay. Thanks. And then just a related follow up. I guess, how would you characterize your view of the economic sensitivity of disability claims? I think it's -- there's been correlations within the industry at times, but it doesn't seem to be consistent in -- for I think for Unum itself, it has not always been correlated, but just any updated thoughts on how you see disability claims being correlated to the economy overall?

好的。謝謝。然後只是相關的後續行動。我想，您如何描述您對殘疾索賠的經濟敏感性的看法？我認為 - 行業內部有時會存在關聯，但似乎並不一致 - 因為我認為對於 Unum 本身而言，它並不總是相關的，但您對殘疾索賠與整體經濟之間的關聯有何最新看法？

Sure, Ryan. We'll talk about that. And I think there has been a lot of exploration on the topic over the -- really over the last decade. And so it's hard to predict exactly what the environment will do going forward. But we can look back in terms of what we saw in previous recessionary, previous difficult environments.

當然，瑞安。我們會討論這個。我認為過去十年來人們對這個主題進行了大量探索。因此很難準確預測未來環境將如何發展。但我們可以回顧一下之前的經濟衰退和困難環境。

And I think what we've said, particularly in long-term disability, and so short term, can be a little bit different dynamic as well. But in long-term disability, we can see submitted claims go up that just is reflective of people's -- as they look at their employment status, et cetera. But we don't see that higher level of submitted incidents necessarily turn into paid incidents.

我認為我們所說的，特別是在長期殘疾和短期殘疾方面，也可能有一點不同的動態。但在長期殘疾方面，我們可以看到提交的索賠數量增加，這反映了人們的就業狀況等。但我們不認為提交的更高層級的事件必然會變成付費事件。

And so we can see a little bit of movement there over time, but it's not as sensitive as you might expect. These are people that our long-term disability policies are to protect people that have suffered something that allows them not to be able to work and protect their income over time.

因此，我們可以看到隨著時間的推移那裡有一點點運動，但它並不像你想像的那麼敏感。我們的長期殘障保險政策旨在保護那些因遭受某些傷害而無法工作的人，並長期保障他們的收入。

It's not an economically sensitive policy. And so it's hard to predict the future and how that works. But certainly, over the last couple of recessions we've seen, those submitted incidents does rise, but it doesn't flow all the way through to paid. And so that's our best expectation of what we might see in the future as well.

這不是一個經濟敏感的政策。因此很難預測未來及其如何運作。但可以肯定的是，在過去幾次經濟衰退中，我們看到提交的事件確實增加，但並沒有一直流向付費。這也是我們對未來可能看到的情況的最佳預期。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Suneet Kamath, Jefferies.

蘇尼特‧卡馬斯（Suneet Kamath），傑富瑞集團（Jefferies）。

So you reaffirmed the 6% to 10% growth guide for the year, which implies a pretty healthy bounce back relative to the first quarter level. I think you talked a little bit about the group disability coming back. But can you talk about some of the other drivers that kind of get you there?

因此，您重申了今年 6% 至 10% 的成長目標，這意味著相對於第一季的水平，將出現相當健康的反彈。我想您剛才談到了群體殘障問題再次出現的問題。但是您能談談其他一些幫助您實現這一目標的因素嗎？

Yeah. Let me start on that, Suneet, talk about -- in aggregate, I think one of the things that we highlighted is this quarter was a little bit lower than our expectations, but I think also a part of our expectations is that we have anticipated an increasing trend throughout the year. I'd also say this is quite early in the year. And so we have a lot of work to do to continue throughout the year. So it's a small snapshot at the beginning of the year.

是的。首先，Suneet，請談談——總的來說，我認為我們強調的一點是本季的業績略低於我們的預期，但我認為我們的預期之一就是我們預計全年業績將呈成長趨勢。我還想說，今年這個時候還太早。因此，我們全年還有很多工作要做。這是今年年初的一個小快照。

And not certainly some time where we would look to change what our outlook is overall. But you did ask for a couple of specifics that you can plug in there and maybe, Steve, you can highlight a couple of things that we think will be different in future quarters than you might have seen in this quarter.

當然，我們也不會在某個時候試圖改變我們的整體觀點。但是你確實要求提供一些可以插入的具體內容，也許，史蒂夫，你可以強調一些我們認為未來幾個季度與本季度可能有所不同的事情。

Yeah. So I mentioned really three things, and I'll kind of go click down on these Suneet. One is group disability loss ratio. The loss ratio was a little bit elevated from our expectations in the first quarter. We don't think we're going to somehow make that back over the remainder of the year, but we do think that loss ratio is going to come back closer to what our expectations would have been coming into the year and how we set our outlook. So that's number one.

是的。所以我實際上提到了三件事，我會點擊這些 Suneet。一是群體傷殘損失率。第一季的損失率比我們的預期略高。我們認為我們不會在今年剩餘時間內以某種方式收回這一損失，但我們確實認為損失率將更接近我們對今年的預期以及我們設定的前景。這是第一點。

All the income, our yield was just over 5% due to the issues with the lag in the reporting. We had anticipated that. And so when we set our outlook at the beginning of the year, we'd anticipate 8% to 10% yield for the full year on that portfolio.

由於報告滯後的問題，我們的所有收入收益率僅略高於 5%。我們早已預料到這一點。因此，當我們在年初設定展望時，我們預計該投資組合全年的收益率為 8% 至 10%。

Even with the first-quarter results, our expectation is that that's still a good assumption for us. that we'll be able to do that. So that's going to give a little bit of an overweighted increase to earnings as we proceed through the remainder of the year. And then operating expenses were a little higher in the first quarter. We also anticipated that just the pattern of some of our expenses throughout the year.

即使第一季的業績如此，我們的預期對我們來說仍然是一個好的假設。我們一定能夠做到這一點。因此，隨著我們在今年剩餘時間內繼續前進，這將使收益略有增加。第一季的營運費用略高。我們也預期了我們全年部分支出的模式。

And so when we gave guidance around a slight uptick, and operating expense ratios in '25 over '24. We still feel good about that, and we do think we're going to have a downward trajectory in our operating expense ratio as the year progresses.

因此，當我們給予 25 年營業費用率較 24 年略有上升的指引時。我們對此仍然感到滿意，我們確實認為隨著時間的推移，我們的營運費用率將呈下降趨勢。

And so those are kind of the three things that just in general, we think will make the last three quarters a little bit different than the first quarter. But then there is also two things that just build momentum naturally throughout the year. One is just organic growth. We think we'll have top-line growth as the year proceeds, and that will be a good margin business that will drive higher earnings in and of itself as the year progresses.

總的來說，我們認為這三件事會讓最後三個季度與第一季略有不同。但全年還有兩件事自然而然地形成了勢頭。一是有機成長。我們認為，隨著時間的推移，我們的營業額將會增加，這將是一個利潤率較高的業務，隨著時間的推移，它本身將推動更高的利潤。

And then also share repurchase. That builds a lot of momentum as far as EPS growth goes through the year. We evaluate that every quarter, but that will build momentum as we go through the year and really drive that EPS growth. So when you put that all together and based on the planning assumptions that we have today, we do still feel like 6% to 10% is a reasonable place for us to be, and we'll just have to evaluate it as we get through the year.

然後也進行股票回購。這對於全年每股收益的成長將產生很大的推動作用。我們每季都會對此進行評估，但隨著全年的發展，這將形成動力，並真正推動每股收益的成長。因此，當你把所有這些放在一起並基於我們今天的規劃假設時，我們仍然覺得 6% 到 10% 對我們來說是一個合理的水平，我們只需要在度過這一年時對其進行評估。

That's very helpful. Thanks. And then you had done something in the prepared remarks that I wanted to drill into around technology and that potentially leading to higher persistency going forward. Can you give us a sense of like what percentage of your book at Unum US is using Leave and some of the other technology initiatives that you have, just to get a sense of how much more upside is there?

這非常有幫助。謝謝。然後，您在準備好的發言中做了一些我想深入探討的有關技術的事情，這可能會帶來未來更高的持久性。您能否告訴我們，您在 Unum US 的書中有多少比例使用了 Leave 以及您擁有的一些其他技術計劃，以便我們了解還有多少好處？

Yeah, Suneet, it's Chris. Thanks for the question. It is a true point that's saying where we have our tech investments, including things around leave or integration with HCM platforms that we do see and expect to see an increase in persistency you picked up on the fact that, yes, that is not our entire book right now. We do have some business traditional and does persist quite well, but more at traditional levels you saw some of that in the quarter.

是的，Suneet，我是 Chris。謝謝你的提問。這是一個真實的觀點，它表明了我們的技術投資在哪裡，包括休假或與 HCM 平台整合方面的投資，我們確實看到並期望看到持久性的提高，您注意到了這樣一個事實，是的，這還不是我們現在的全部。我們確實有一些傳統業務，而且確實持續得很好，但在本季度，我們更多地看到了傳統層面的業務。

Rather than giving exact percentages, you can be sure that we're working hard to do two things. One is a significant percent of our new business that comes on, tied to those capabilities is quite high. And we also have a migration strategy to make sure that we're moving the block toward that preferable -- those investments at the right time if the customer pays.

我們不需要給出確切的百分比，但您可以肯定我們正在努力做兩件事。一是我們的新增業務中很大一部分與這些能力相關。我們還有一個遷移策略，以確保我們在客戶付款的情況下在適當的時間將這些投資轉移到更可取的方向。

Sometimes, it depends on when they're ready to make the shift. But we do have a team set up and momentum in that direction. So it will be an increasing part of the story, and therefore, persistency rises over time. And hopefully, at that level, it gives us some steer.

有時，這取決於他們何時準備好做出轉變。但我們確實已經組建了團隊並朝著這個方向努力。因此，它將成為故事中越來越重要的一部分，持久性也會隨著時間的推移而提高。希望在這個層面上它能給我們一些指引。

Got it. Makes sense. Thanks.

知道了。有道理。謝謝。

Joel Hurwitz, Dowling.

喬爾·赫爾維茨，道林。

Just sticking on the persistency topic. Can you unpack what you saw in Group? I know you indicated it would come down last quarter, but I'm a little surprised by the magnitude of the drop. And then just following up sort of on Suneet's question, what are you -- are you seeing noticeable differences on persistency for customers who utilize the HR Connect or total lead platforms?

只是堅持持久性主題。你能解釋一下你在小組中看到的內容嗎？我知道您表示上個季度它會下降，但我對下降的幅度有點驚訝。然後，繼續回答 Suneet 的問題，您是否看到使用 HR Connect 或 Total Lead 平台的客戶的持久性有明顯差異？

Yeah. Thanks, Joe. Chris, again. So again, thanks for noticing. We did expect to see persistency more traditional levels as we went into this year. We did know last year, you had a market dynamic that was some pent-up demand, I say post-COVID, where we saw fewer marketings and we knew there were some projects that were going to come to market.

是的。謝謝，喬。再次，克里斯。再次感謝您的關注。我們確實預計，隨著今年的到來，我們將看到更傳統的持久性水平。我們確實知道，去年市場動態存在一些被壓抑的需求，我說的是疫情之後，我們看到行銷活動減少，我們知道有些項目即將進入市場。

We benefited from that significantly with the 1-1 sales cycle. And -- but we also, at the same time, there were some parts of our book that have been quiet for a period of time that went out to market, which presents some risk unit. You saw that in some persistency challenge through the course of the quarter.

1-1 銷售週期為我們帶來了巨大的利益。而且 — — 但同時，我們的一些書籍在一段時間內一直處於沉寂狀態，後來才進入市場，這帶來了一些風險。您在本季度中看到了一些持久性挑戰。

In terms of what we expect to see when we have tech-enabled connections and leave management, it is that important to a customer that not only are we targeting the right customers that will work really well with the program, but we also do a great job setting expectations in terms of how this new way of doing business in a modern digital way is going to work. And that takes time.

就我們期望在擁有技術支援的連接和休假管理時看到的情況而言，對於客戶來說，這非常重要，因為我們不僅瞄準了能夠很好地配合該計劃的正確客戶，而且我們在設定這種以現代數字方式開展業務的新方式的期望方面也做得很好。而這需要時間。

We've done an increasingly good job of targeting the right types of customers so that they win even bigger when they take advantage of it and also making sure they understand the new world and how you -- when you leverage technology, can really change that customer experience, which is both their experience as an employer, but also the employee experience, which is really important in high-transaction things like lead management.

我們在瞄準正確類型的客戶方面做得越來越好，以便他們在利用技術時獲得更大的勝利，同時也確保他們了解新世界以及如何利用技術真正改變客戶體驗，這既是他們作為雇主的體驗，也是員工的體驗，這在潛在客戶管理等高交易量事務中非常重要。

So you can expect us to continue to get better at that. And again, that's been a multiyear program that we're deep into, and we'll continue on.

因此你可以期待我們在這方面繼續進步。再說一次，這是一個我們深入實施的多年計劃，我們將繼續下去。

Yeah. The only thing I'd add to that is when we think about the dynamics of sales, persistency, and then also natural growth, the overall objective here is overall top-line growth. And I think you saw in the first quarter that the results were pretty good that even with those levels of persistency, we're growing top line, and that's the ultimate goal.

是的。我唯一要補充的是，當我們考慮銷售動態、持久性以及自然成長時，這裡的總體目標是整體營收成長。我認為您在第一季就看到了非常好的結果，即使在這些堅持不懈的努力下，我們的營收仍在增長，這是我們的最終目標。

And sometimes you're going to have more activity in market and sometimes you're going to have less, but all in, we want to grow the business, and we were able to grow at over 4% in the first quarter.

有時市場活動會增多，有時活動會減少，但總而言之，我們希望業務成長，而且我們在第一季實現了 4% 以上的成長。

Yeah. And I'd add to that, Joel. When you look at our persistency levels in this quarter, a 90%, I mean our customers are quite happy with what we're doing today. And so we're talking about continuing to increase that and how that plays through in persistency. If we have relationships that are digitally embedded with our customers and their overall satisfaction rates with us are high, they'll stick with us.

是的。我還要補充一點，喬爾。當您查看本季我們的堅持率（90%）時，我的意思是我們的客戶對我們今天所做的事情非常滿意。因此，我們正在討論如何繼續增加這一點以及如何堅持下去。如果我們與客戶建立了數位化關係，並且他們對我們的整體滿意度很高，他們就會繼續與我們合作。

But I also want to say, they're good today. They're good today. We're a leader in this space. with the right products, the right solutions, the right capabilities. And so this is about how can we get even better with our customers.

但我也想說，他們今天表現得很好。他們今天表現很好。我們是這個領域的領導者。採用正確的產品、正確的解決方案和正確的功能。所以這就是我們如何才能更好地服務我們的客戶。

Got it. That's helpful. And then one on disability. And just taking a step back and looking at experience over the past couple of years versus maybe pre-pandemic -- how much have incidence rates on long-term disability and I guess, recoveries, changed? And on the recovery side, can you just help to mention what that improvement has done in terms of reducing average claim duration?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後是關於殘疾的問題。回顧過去幾年的經驗，與疫情之前相比，長期殘疾的發生率和康復率發生了多大變化？在復甦方面，您能否幫助說明這種改進在縮短平均索賠期限方面發揮了什麼作用？

Yeah. It's Steve. We haven't really put out statistics just around number of recoveries and those types of things. I'll just refer back to some of the comments that we've made in the past. If you go all the way back to pre-pandemic and kind of play the movie forward through the pandemic, we definitely saw increased levels of incidents, but then as we saw that play through in the '23, '24 timeframe, those incidence levels really came back to kind of historical norms and stayed consistent.

是的。我是史蒂夫。我們實際上還沒有公佈有關康復人數和諸如此類的統計數據。我只是想回顧一下我們過去所發表的一些評論。如果回顧疫情之前，並在疫情期間播放影片，我們肯定會看到事件發生率上升，但隨著我們在 23、24 年期間看到這種情況，這些事件的發生率確實回到了歷史正常水平並保持一致。

Notwithstanding what we saw in the first quarter of this year where they were a little elevated. We kind of feel like we're back in on stable ground there as far as the level of incidents. What was kind of math throughout the pandemic was our recovery rates continued to increase, and you saw that in a couple of ways. One, we made multiple changes to our best estimate assumption within our LTD claim reserve.

儘管我們在今年第一季看到它們略有升高。就事件發生率而言，我們感覺情況又回到了穩定狀態。在整個疫情期間，我們的康復率持續上升，這可以從幾個方面看出。首先，我們對 LTD 索賠準備金中的最佳估計假設進行了多次修改。

And so it was kind of a consistent improvement throughout that period of time. And then just as we think about going forward, we felt comfortable with the operational sustainability of the levels of recoveries that we saw in 2024, and those did maintain into the first quarter.

因此，在整個這段時間內，情況一直在持續改善。然後，當我們考慮未來時，我們對 2024 年看到的復甦水準的營運可持續性感到滿意，而這些水準確實保持到了第一季。

So we haven't given specific statistics around that. But just kind of general directional. That's what we've seen really play out from pre-pandemic until the current state.

因此，我們還沒有提供這方面的具體統計數據。但只是一種一般性的方向。這就是我們從疫情前到現在所看到的真相。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Elyse Greenspan, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的伊莉絲‧格林斯潘。

My first question is just on capital. Obviously, you guys gave us the Q2 outlook, which is close to the Q1. You guys obviously have a lot of extra flexibility, right, with the reinsurance deal. So why not raise the buyback and kind of lean in here versus -- I know you guys said you would revisit once the LTC deal closes later this year.

我的第一個問題是關於資本的。顯然，你們給我們的第二季展望與第一季的展望很接近。透過再保險協議，你們顯然擁有許多額外的彈性。那為什麼不提高回購規模並傾向此呢？我知道你們說過，一旦 LTC 交易在今年稍後結束，你們就會重新考慮這個問題。

Yeah. Thanks, Elyse, for the question. I mean I would just step back a little bit from our overall capital deployment plans that have that have been fairly consistent. And I think the big thing here is our capital generation has been significant. We had that last year. We had that in the plan this year. And so it does give us a lot of flexibility.

是的。謝謝 Elyse 提出的問題。我的意思是，我會稍微回顧一下我們一直以來相當一致的整體資本部署計畫。我認為最重要的是我們的資本創造十分重要。我們去年就有了。我們今年的計劃中就有這個。因此它確實給了我們很大的靈活性。

Like we said, our priorities are going to be about how do we continue to build out those good operating businesses, invest in the right places that can be both on an organic basis as well as M&A, how can we bring new capabilities from an M&A structure. So you start with that.

正如我們所說的，我們的首要任務是如何繼續打造良好的營運業務，在既可以有機發展又可以併購的正確領域進行投資，以及如何從併購結構中帶來新的能力。所以你就從那裡開始吧。

Then you've talked about -- and I mentioned in my comments, an increasing dividend, which we've done for a period of time. And so those are kind of underpinning type levels that we have out there. And your question focuses on the share repurchase. We purchased $200 million in the first quarter.

然後您談到了——我在我的評論中也提到了增加股息，我們已經這樣做了一段時間了。這些就是我們所擁有的基礎類型水準。您的問題主要集中在股份回購。我們在第一季買了2億美元。

As Steve said in his comments, we expect that will increase that, be more than that as we look to the second quarter. The dynamics that we have around that in terms of things we factor in. One, you mentioned the long-term care transaction closing.

正如史蒂夫在評論中所說，我們預計第二季度這一數字還會增加，甚至更多。就我們所考慮的因素而言，我們對此有著動態的看法。首先，您提到了長期照護交易的結束。

So we're looking forward to that and making sure that, that happens at a reasonable timeframe. And then we'll be dynamic. And I think that that's what we've said really coming into last year, given the significant flexibility that we have we're going to make sure that we're dynamic in how we deploy that capital. And so I really don't want to give you much more insight in that. We take all those factors into account as we do that.

因此，我們期待這一點，並確保它在合理的時間範圍內發生。然後我們就會充滿活力。我認為這正是我們在去年所說的，鑑於我們擁有的巨大靈活性，我們將確保我們能夠靈活地部署這些資本。因此我真的不想給你更多有關這方面的見解。我們在這樣做的時候會考慮到所有這些因素。

We'll give you some more insight as we close the long-term care transaction. But we're going to be active in the markets, like we said, and we do have capacity to do more if the situation warrants. And so we'll give you that view as we work along the way. So appreciate your comment. I'll just take us back to we're in a really good position from a capital perspective.

當我們完成長期照護交易時，我們會為您提供更多見解。但正如我們所說的，我們將積極參與市場活動，如果情況需要，我們確實有能力做更多的事情。因此，我們會在工作過程中向您提供這種觀點。非常感謝您的評論。我只是想讓我們從資本角度來看處於非常有利的地位。

As we mentioned these levels of liquidity, these levels of RBC are the -- some of the highest we've seen. And we want to return that to our shareholders. After we've done a good job of the growth of the business, but do so in a responsible, but a dynamic way, reflecting the environment that we have around us.

正如我們所提到的流動性水平，這些 RBC 水平是我們所見過的最高水平。我們希望將其回報給我們的股東。在我們很好地完成了業務成長之後，我們以負責任但充滿活力的方式去做，反映我們周圍的環境。

Thanks. And then my follow up is just on sales. you guys reaffirmed the core sales growth outlook for the year. And it seems like you pointed, I think, to some seasonality like last year. So would your expectation be that sales would pick up scheme and be the strongest in the fourth quarter? Or any color you can just give us on the quarterly projection of sales that you see for this year?

謝謝。然後我的後續工作就是銷售。你們重申了今年的核心銷售成長前景。我認為您似乎指出了一些像去年一樣的季節性。那麼，您是否預計第四季的銷售額將回升並達到最強勁的水平？或者您能否向我們提供您今年季度銷售的預測？

Yeah. Thanks, Elyse. I think this would be a good opportunity to talk to the teams about what they're seeing in the year. I know it is early in the sales cycle. And so we haven't done a lot, but I think we can probably give some good context in terms of what we're seeing and why we feel like our overall sales growth is tracking.

是的。謝謝，伊莉絲。我認為這是一個很好的機會來與各團隊討論他們今年所看到的情況。我知道現在還處於銷售週期的早期。因此，我們所做的還不夠多，但我認為我們可以就我們所看到的情況以及我們為什麼覺得我們的整體銷售成長在追蹤方面提供一些很好的背景資訊。

So maybe you start off, Chris.

那也許你先開始吧，克里斯。

Yeah. Great. Thanks, Rick. Well, we had a great fourth quarter, and obviously, that was a good start to the year. Momentum was a little bit slower, very early in the quarter. But I would point you to the fact that first quarter for group effective dates, particularly on the larger end, I think Steve mentioned in his comments, it can be a little volatile.

是的。偉大的。謝謝，里克。嗯，我們的第四季表現非常好，顯然，這是今年的一個好開始。本季初期，成長動能略有放緩。但我想指出的是，第一季的集團生效日期，特別是較大的日期，我認為史蒂夫在他的評論中提到過，可能會有點不穩定。

There just aren't a ton of larger employers that move for [21, 314] and type effective date. So you don't see -- you can see some volatility in those results. We saw that this quarter. But when we look to for the balance of the year, and we're really getting into that exciting sales season for larger employers for 1/1, but we'll see 7/1s and third-quarter effective dates in market right now.

並沒有很多大型雇主願意為 [21, 314] 搬家並輸入生效日期。所以你看不到——你可以看到這些結果中存在一些波動。我們在本季看到了這一點。但是，當我們展望今年的平衡時，我們確實進入了大型雇主激動人心的 1/1 銷售季，但我們現在會看到市場上 7/1 和第三季度的生效日期。

Great pipeline as it relates to strong levels of activity but the qualitative element of that relative to targeting customers that will respond well to the tech investments we've made that are very anxious to get into a better situation around leave management where we know we'll have higher close ratios, that is very encouraging at this point.

很好的管道，因為它與強大的活動水平有關，但其定性因素與針對那些對我們的技術投資反應良好的客戶有關，這些客戶非常渴望在休假管理方面進入更好的狀態，我們知道我們將擁有更高的成交率，這在目前是非常令人鼓舞的。

So our teams continue to get better at kind of finding those customers and then the close ratios hold. And again, we really like where we stand right now in the year and are excited for the next three quarters.

因此，我們的團隊會不斷改進，更好地找到這些客戶，並保持成交率。再說一次，我們真的很喜歡今年目前的狀況，並對接下來的三個季度充滿期待。

That's great. Tim, we can talk about Voluntary Benefits had a great first quarter, but I'm talking about how we're feeling about it in the Colonial Life as well.

那太棒了。提姆，我們可以談談自願福利在第一季表現很好，但我也想談談我們對殖民生活的看法。

Yeah, sure. So on the B side, we were very pleased with first quarter sales results overall commence about 40% growth, and that growth occurred across all segments. So it wasn't just a large case here or there that drove it. We saw really strong new client sales growth again across all segments. And that led with persistency slightly above expectations that led to revenue growth north of 5%.

是的，當然。因此，在 B 方面，我們對第一季的銷售業績感到非常滿意，整體成長了約 40%，並且所有部門都實現了成長。因此，這不僅僅是由這裡或那裡的一個大案子引起的。我們再次看到所有領域的新客戶銷售成長都非常強勁。這使得收入成長率略高於預期，達到 5% 以上。

So pleased with that. We're also pleased with the degree to which we're cross-selling into our existing group business block. We're cross-selling into clients who have the tech platforms that Chris talked about earlier. And we're also cross-selling it to clients who had the Unum leave program. So very excited about what's happening on the Unum side.

我對此非常滿意。我們也對我們向現有集團業務板塊的交叉銷售程度感到滿意。我們正在向擁有 Chris 之前談到的技術平台的客戶進行交叉銷售。我們也將其交叉銷售給擁有 Unum 休假計劃的客戶。我對 Unum 方面發生的事情感到非常興奮。

I'll say it for Colonial Life, we're encouraged. We see modest sales growth in the quarter, which led to 2.3% premium growth. What we're really excited about is in our public sector, again, our most profitable sector, we saw 18% growth in the quarter. New client sales growth was 11%, so that indicates that new clients see the value prop that Colonial Life brings to the table.

我想說，對於殖民生活來說，我們受到了鼓舞。我們看到本季銷售額溫和成長，導致保費成長 2.3%。讓我們真正興奮的是，公共部門，也是我們最賺錢的部門，本季實現了 18% 的成長。新客戶銷售額成長了 11%，這表明新客戶看到了 Colonial Life 帶來的價值主張。

As you think about leading indicators, recruiting was up almost 17% in the quarter and sales from new agents were up 34% in the quarter. We also saw really strong growth with our proprietary HRIS platform well above expectations there. So I would say, very pleased on the Unum inside, very encouraged on the Colonial life side.

當您考慮領先指標時，本季招募量成長了近 17%，新代理商的銷售額成長了 34%。我們也看到我們的專有 HRIS 平台實現了非常強勁的成長，遠遠超出預期。所以我想說，我對 Unum 內部感到非常高興，對殖民生活方面感到非常鼓舞。

Yeah. And then, Elyse, internationally, we've had some really strong top-line growth here over the last couple of years. And Mark, maybe you can give some indications about how we're feeling for the full year.

是的。然後，伊莉絲，在國際上，過去幾年我們的營收成長非常強勁。馬克，也許您可以對我們全年的感受做一些說明。

Thanks, Rick. Yeah, I mean, the Polish businesses continue to have very good growth. You've seen sales growth of 27% quarter versus prior year. The UK business has had -- also had very strong growth in its sub-500 live core business, was up about 15%.

謝謝，里克。是的，我的意思是波蘭企業繼續保持良好的成長勢頭。您已經看到本季的銷售額與去年同期相比成長了 27%。英國業務—其 500 強以下核心業務也實現了非常強勁的成長，增幅約為 15%。

What's been a bit harder to come by in the first quarter was large case sales. I think a little bit of global economic uncertainty and a little bit of increased taxing in the UK has probably contributed to that. We've also found some of the larger employers is not quite -- not quite passed on increase the size of their sales -- their employee basis quite as much as well. So those two things have affected us a little bit, but we're fighting hard for the rest of the year, and we think that we can continue to grow the business nicely.

第一季比較難實現的是大箱銷售。我認為全球經濟的不確定性和英國稅收的增加可能是造成這種情況的原因之一。我們也發現，一些較大的雇主並沒有完全——沒有完全透過增加他們的銷售額——來增加他們的員工基礎。所以這兩件事對我們有點影響，但我們會在今年剩餘的時間裡努力奮鬥，我們認為我們可以繼續順利發展業務。

Thanks, Mark. Appreciate the question. It's good to get all those perspectives. That's why we feel good about our top line as we look to the rest of the year.

謝謝，馬克。感謝你的提問。獲得所有這些觀點是件好事。這就是為什麼我們對今年剩餘時間的業績感到滿意。

Tom Gallagher, Evercore ISI.

湯姆·加拉格爾，Evercore ISI。

First question, just on disability claims. Rick, you had mentioned that during periods of economic weakness, you see submitted incidents go up but you also see claim denials going up to some extent. Are you actually seeing that? Like when you look at underlying -- I know you said January incidence was higher.

第一個問題是關於殘疾索賠。里克，你曾提到，在經濟疲軟時期，提交的事故數量會增加，但索賠被拒的數量也會增加。你真的看到了嗎？就像當你查看潛在數據時——我知道您說一月份的發病率較高。

Are you seeing kind of that early warning sign that submitted incidents has kind of been rising yet? Or have you not yet seen that? And also anything in the January rise that you saw for certain industries or an industry that was particularly contributing to that?

您是否看到了提交的事件數量增加的早期預警信號？還是你還沒看到？另外，您是否看到 1 月份某些行業的成長情況，或者哪個行業對此做出了特別的貢獻？

Yeah. No, Tom, I'd be very clear to say that the dynamics we talk about are really potentially forward-looking. I mean, we don't know where the economy is going. There's a lot of speculation about that. But if I go back to January, we were in a very different feeling around where the economy was going, et cetera. So I'd take you there first.

是的。不，湯姆，我可以非常清楚地說，我們談論的動態確實具有前瞻性。我的意思是，我們不知道經濟將走向何方。對此有很多猜測。但如果回顧一月份，我們對經濟走向等的感覺就截然不同。所以我會先帶你去那裡。

The second is there is a little bit of a lag. So you think about long-term disability policies people have gone through an illumination period, et cetera, before they get to that long-term disability. So this is not an indication of anything that we see out there correlated to what's going on in the market.

第二，有一點點滯後。因此，您可以考慮長期殘障保險政策，人們在面臨長期殘疾之前必須經歷一段啟蒙期等等。因此，這並不表明我們看到的任何與市場正在發生的事情相關的事情。

That might be way further down the line. That will take a while to actually transpire as we get there. So our discussion around what might happen in a recessionary type environment, a stressed environment, that would be further out into the future.

這可能還需要很長一段時間。當我們到達那裡時，這實際上需要一段時間才能實現。因此，我們討論的是未來在經濟衰退和壓力環境下可能會發生什麼。

But I think that -- we gave you a little bit of parsing around January. We don't normally do that to get into that level of detail. It is volatile in a period of time. And so I wouldn't read too much into it, just to say that we haven't hit any kind of trend that we're concerned about at this point.

但我認為——我們在一月份左右給你提供了一些分析。我們通常不會深入到這種程度的細節。它在一段時間內是波動的。因此我不會對此進行過多的解讀，只是想說我們目前還沒有遇到任何我們所擔心的趨勢。

And just to be clear, Rick, you're not seeing any early warning signs, if I could call it that, on higher submitted incidents that usually is kind of indicative of you might start to see a pattern?

需要明確的是，里克，你沒有看到任何早期預警信號，如果我可以這樣稱呼的話，在提交的事件數量較高的情況下，這通常表明你可能開始看到一種模式？

Yeah. I'd say, Tom, we're not going to be the place where you see early warning signs. We're going to lag a little bit in terms of what may be transpiring. So it's not that. I think we highlighted, and that's why we talk about is volatility because it's what we see in the first quarter. So we'll be certainly talking about the trends, depending on whether the economy goes and what it does, but that will be in future quarters, not anything we've seen today.

是的。我想說，湯姆，我們不會成為你看到早期預警信號的地方。對於即將發生的事情，我們將會稍微滯後一些。所以事實並非如此。我認為我們強調了這一點，這就是我們談論波動性的原因，因為這是我們在第一季看到的。因此，我們肯定會談論趨勢，這取決於經濟的走向和表現，但那將是未來幾季的事情，而不是我們今天所看到的任何情況。

Got you. And then my follow up is just on (inaudible). One on -- can you just quantify the reserve release that you had in that segment this quarter? I know it was like unusually strong, but how much of that was a one-time reserve release?

明白了。我的後續行動是（聽不清楚）。首先－您能否量化本季該部分的儲備釋放？我知道這非常強勁，但其中有多少是一次性儲備釋放的？

And then anything else on what's driving the strength in sales and earned premium growth. It looks like it's mainly individual disability from a numbers standpoint. Was there something in particular driving that? Or it sounds like from the comments made earlier, you expect that to remain pretty strong.

然後還有其他什麼因素推動銷售和保費成長強勁。從數字的角度來看，這似乎主要是個人殘疾。有什麼特別的原因嗎？或者從先前的評論來看，您預計這種趨勢將保持相當強勁。

Yeah, Tom, it's Steve. I'll take the first part of that, and then Chris can handle the sales question. So yeah, I know we didn't disclose the amount. It was right around $14 million of a gain on the recapture of a reinsurance transaction during the first quarter. That was kind of a one-time thing.

是的，湯姆，我是史蒂夫。我將負責第一部分，然後克里斯可以處理銷售問題。是的，我知道我們沒有透露金額。第一季度，從再保險交易中收回的收益約為 1,400 萬美元。那是一次性的事。

It wasn't necessarily a reserve release. It was just kind of the aggregate economics of recapturing a treaty that we had on that block. So that will be something that won't trend going forward and doesn't impact things like necessarily loss ratios and those types of things.

這不一定是儲備釋放。這只是我們重新奪回該區塊條約的總體經濟效益。因此，這不會成為未來的趨勢，也不會對損失率等諸如此類的事情產生影響。

So just so you can scope. The thing that I would say is we still had a very good quarter in supplemental and voluntary, it was above kind of the run rate outlook that we gave of $120 million. So we felt great about how the business performed, even ex kind of that one- time thing, and the sales --

這樣你就可以確定範圍了。我想說的是，我們在補充和自願方面仍然表現得非常好，高於我們給出的 1.2 億美元的運行率預期。因此，我們對業務表現感到很滿意，即使經歷了一次性事件，銷售額--

Yeah. And Tom, thanks for the opportunity to talk about our industry-leading individual disability franchise. It really is a highlight business for us. We don't talk about it nearly enough -- this quarter, it does stand out with double-digit sales growth. I think we're around 11% year-over-year sales growth.

是的。湯姆，感謝您給我這個機會來談論我們領先業界的個人殘疾人特許經營權。這對我們來說確實是一項亮點業務。我們對此的討論還遠遠不夠——本季度，它的銷售額確實以兩位數的增長脫穎而出。我認為我們的銷售額年增約 11%。

And that came as Tim was referencing earlier on the voluntary side, it wasn't necessarily one large case driving it. It was just a night a bunch of solid transactions coming through. So we love seeing that. It's great coverage, fits very much the attractive retain environment that Rick referenced earlier on. It was coupled with really strong claims results.

正如蒂姆之前提到的自願方面，這並不一定是一個大案例推動的。那天晚上，發生了許多實質的交易。所以我們很高興看到這一點。它的覆蓋範圍很廣，非常適合 Rick 之前提到的有吸引力的保留環境。這與真正強勁的索賠結果相結合。

So it does show up really nicely in the quarter. But I think overall, please -- always look at the individual disability business for -- as a real highlight leadership position for us.

因此，它在本季度確實表現得非常好。但我認為總的來說，請始終將個人殘疾業務視為我們真正的亮點領導地位。

Okay. Thanks.

好的。謝謝。

Wes Carmichael, Autonomous Research.

韋斯·卡邁克爾，自主研究。

In long-term care, I just wanted to touch on that for a minute. It sounds like there was some higher mortality in the quarter, but I think you also called out the impact of capped cohort. So I imagine it's a geography impact, but just hoping you can maybe impact what you saw for LTC experience in the quarter?

在長期照護方面，我只想稍微談談這一點。聽起來本季的死亡率有所上升，但我認為您也提到了上限隊列的影響。所以我想這是一個地理影響，但只是希望您也許可以影響您在本季度看到的 LTC 體驗？

Sure. I can take that one, yeah. So in the first quarter, we did continue to see some elevated claims incidents. but still feel comfortable with the trends we are seeing and kind of the storyline of getting back to a more normalized claim inventory, I think, continues to hold.

當然。是的，我可以接受這個。因此，在第一季度，我們確實繼續看到一些索賠事件的增加。但我仍然對所看到的趨勢感到滿意，我認為恢復到更正常化的索賠庫存的故事情節將繼續保持。

We did see elevated claimant mortality, which is normal for the first quarter just because of the seasonality flu season, that sort of thing. We did see that. I'd say overall underwriting profitability on the block was kind of at expectations, if not a little favorable to our expectations when we set our original earnings guidance for the year on Closed Block.

我們確實看到申請人死亡率上升，這在第一季是正常的，只是因為季節性流感季節之類的原因。我們確實看到了。我想說，整體承保獲利能力基本上符合預期，甚至比我們最初設定的年度封閉式保險獲利預測時的預期還要好一些。

The difference is maybe some of the unfavorable against our ultimate assumptions, experience that we saw were more driven from those cohorts that you would see the impact of that go through the NPR, that were uncapped cohorts, where some of the favorable experience actually came through earnings. They were in more of the cap cohorts.

不同之處在於，也許我們的最終假設存在一些不利因素，我們所看到的經驗更多來自於那些透過 NPR 看到影響的群體，即不受限制的群體，其中一些有利的經驗實際上來自於利益。他們比較屬於上限群體。

So you kind of take that all in and you think about the guidance, the full year guidance we gave of 140 to 170, really, the shortfall against what the kind of quarterly amount that would support that would be, was this dynamic around lower alternative asset income for the year.

因此，你把所有這些都考慮進去，然後想想指導意見，我們給出的全年指導意見是 140 到 170，實際上，與支持這一目標的季度金額之間的差距是多少，這是圍繞年度另類資產收入較低的動態造成的。

As I said in some of my opening remarks and then a discussion about EPS guidance, we do think -- we do think we will make that up just kind of through our long-term assumption for the year and be able to hit that range of 140 to 170 for the full year.

正如我在開場白和關於每股收益指引的討論中所說的那樣，我們確實認為——我們確實認為我們將通過對今年的長期假設來實現這一點，並能夠達到全年每股收益 140 至 170 的範圍。

Thanks, Steve. And my follow up, I guess, on the expense ratio, it sounds like that was a bit front-end loaded. Can you just talk about are those elevated investments? Is there some stock comp in there and how that's going to trend throughout the rest of the year? And I guess, if I go back a couple of years and I look at your 2023 outlook, I mean, I think the expense ratio is expected to peak a couple of years ago. Are there still investments you need to make in the business going forward?

謝謝，史蒂夫。我想，我對費用率的後續調查聽起來有點前端了。您能談談這些投資是否增加嗎？其中是否存在一些股票補償？其在今年剩餘時間內的趨勢如何？我想，如果我回顧幾年前並看看你對 2023 年的展望，我的意思是，我認為費用率預計在幾年前達到高峰。未來您的業務是否還需要投資？

Yeah, I'd say it's just a combination of further investments in our operations, including our technology and our people. would be in there. There were some incentive costs that are a little bit heated in the first quarter that drove a little bit of that, and we had anticipated and it's pretty normal of what we see just generally. So yeah, we -- as we said our original guidance for both earnings as well as for OpEx ratio levels. We did expect this to be a little bit higher in the first quarter and then trend down and that would still be our expectation.

是的，我認為這只是對我們的營運（包括我們的技術和我們的人員）的進一步投資的組合。就會在那裡。第一季有一些激勵成本有點高，這在一定程度上導致了這種情況，我們已經預料到了，而且我們通常看到的這種情況很正常。是的，正如我們所說，我們對收益和營運支出比率水準都有最初的指導。我們確實預計第一季這一數字會略高一些，然後呈下降趨勢，這仍然是我們的預期。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Alex Scott, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的亞歷克斯·斯科特。

I wanted to circle back on macroeconomic sensitivity. You commented some already on disability incidents. But I'd just be interested if you're seeing any early signs of your clients, whether it's small or midsized corporate level, changing behavior at all in terms of how much they're hiring or consuming in terms of group benefits.

我想重新討論一下宏觀經濟敏感性。您已經對殘疾事件發表了一些評論。但我感興趣的是，您是否看到您的客戶（無論是小型還是中型企業）在招募或團體福利消費方面有任何行為改變的早期跡象。

Yeah. Maybe I'll start with the overall economic environment. And you highlighted one, which we did delve into, which is what will happen on the disability of the loss side in that type of environment. I think the other thing we've talked about is premium growth, the growth, how much dependence is there around having a robust economy.

是的。也許我應該從整體經濟環境開始。您強調了一點，我們也對此進行了深入研究，即在那種環境下，損失方的殘疾將會發生什麼情況。我認為我們討論的另一件事是保費成長，這種成長對強勁經濟的依賴程度有多大。

So we think that, that is important. We talked about the natural growth there. But we see it as increasing or slowing our premium growth as opposed to taking that away.

所以我們認為這很重要。我們討論了那裡的自然增長。但我們認為它會增加或減緩我們的保費成長，而不是減少保費成長。

The last piece I'd mention too is on the investments front, and we've done a good job of looking hard at our portfolio, especially with potential environments that might come up and feel very good about that. But I think your question was specifically around like how are employers feeling about what we provide to them. And Chris, maybe you can give us some insight in terms of newer conversations or lack thereof that we're seeing with our clients.

我要提到的最後一點是關於投資方面的，我們對我們的投資組合進行了認真的審視，特別是考慮到可能出現的潛在環境，並且對此感到非常滿意。但我認為您的問題具體是關於雇主對我們提供給他們的服務有何感受。克里斯，也許您可以就我們與客戶之間新出現的對話或缺乏的對話給我們一些見解。

Yeah. Thanks, Alex. We're still seeing a lot of great focus and energy around companies that are really trying to go get the best talent, bring in top-quality people, they're making moves around the ecosystem of their own technology to run their businesses so that they can create the employee experience that really resonates and they can run their companies efficiently for growth. So we see a lot of bullishness still out there and opportunities to improve.

是的。謝謝，亞歷克斯。我們仍然看到許多公司投入了極大的關注和精力，他們真正努力去獲得最好的人才，引進高素質的人才，他們正在圍繞自己的技術生態系統來運營業務，以便他們能夠創造真正引起共鳴的員工體驗，並能夠高效地運營公司以實現增長。因此，我們看到仍有許多樂觀情緒和改善的機會。

Leave management kind of speaks to both ends of that. If you think about employers who are trying to put together the best and most flexible leave programs to attract the right type of employees and again, give them the flexibility that they still value but at the same time, make sure that they partner with a player like us who can keep track of everything, make sure that the experience is clear and tight and done in a modern digital way.

休假管理在某種程度上說明了這一點。如果您想想那些試圖整合最佳和最靈活的休假計劃以吸引合適類型員工的雇主，並再次給予他們仍然重視的靈活性，但同時，確保他們與我們這樣可以跟踪一切的參與者合作，確保體驗清晰、緊湊並以現代數字方式完成。

Those are the type of conversations we're having, and we're having lots of them and -- whether we're out with partners like Workday or ADP at some of their conferences, these are robust, exciting conferences and keep us very bullish for the future.

這些都是我們正在進行的對話類型，我們進行了很多這樣的對話——無論我們是否與 Workday 或 ADP 等合作夥伴一起參加他們的一些會議，這些都是充滿活力、令人興奮的會議，讓我們對未來充滿信心。

Got it. That's helpful. Second question I had is just on long-term care and potential for reinsurance, any updated thoughts on just the capacity that's out there from the reinsurers for long-term care? How is that continuing to evolve? I mean we're hearing some industry commentary that maybe some of the European multi-lines are more interested in some of those related to their capital ratios and so forth and benefits they get. So are you seeing more opportunities to potentially keep fighting up pieces here?

知道了。這很有幫助。我的第二個問題是關於長期照護和再保險的潛力，對於再保險公司在長期照護方面的能力有什麼最新的想法？其將如何繼續發展？我的意思是，我們聽到一些行業評論，也許一些歐洲多元化保險公司對與其資本比率等相關的內容以及他們獲得的收益更感興趣。那麼，您是否看到了更多可能繼續在這裡戰鬥的機會？

Yeah. Thanks, Alex. When we think about -- we've said we're going to continue to be very active in the management of our long-term care business. And the transaction that we had was (inaudible), the third one that we've seen out there in the market today. It was a good deal for us. It was a good deal for our counterparties. And I think when you see that type of environment, it garners a lot of interest when they can look at what it might mean to them and seeing some of the details that we put out there.

是的。謝謝，亞歷克斯。當我們考慮時——我們說過我們將繼續積極地管理我們的長期照護業務。我們進行的這筆交易（聽不清楚）是我們今天在市場上看到的第三筆交易。對我們來說這是一筆好交易。對於我們的交易對手來說，這是一筆很好的交易。我認為，當你看到那種環境時，當他們能夠了解這對他們意味著什麼，並看到我們在那裡提出的一些細節時，它會引起很大的興趣。

And so we continue to be actively in pursuit of these type of things for the interest to ramp up to real evaluation takes a little while, but I think there's certainly interest around this both on the asset side and then when you think about the biometric side as well. And so we feel good that they'll be continued, but this is one of those things as we've talked about in the previous few years, takes time to do. You've got to have the right counterparty, you got to have the right match. We were very, very pleased to get that done.

因此，我們將繼續積極追求這類事情，因為興趣的提升需要一段時間才能達到真正的評估，但我認為無論是在資產方面還是在生物識別方面，人們肯定對此感興趣。因此，我們很高興看到這些工作能夠繼續下去，但正如我們在過去幾年中討論過的，這需要時間來完成。你必須有正確的交易對手，你必須有正確的匹配。我們非常非常高興能夠完成這件事。

But the same dynamics exist going forward in terms of how we look at it. So we'll look for an active market and certainly we've got to close this last deal first, but we'll be active out there in the rest of the year.

但從我們的角度來看，同樣的動力仍然存在。因此，我們會尋找一個活躍的市場，當然我們必須先完成這筆最後一筆交易，但我們會在今年剩餘時間保持活躍。

Thank you.

謝謝。

John Barnidge, Piper Sandler.

約翰·巴尼奇、派珀·桑德勒。

Thank you for the opportunity. Can you maybe talk about the macro conditions in international markets? I believe the economy in Poland is generally doing better than in the UK. So how do you view the opportunity set for international?

感謝您提供的機會。能談談國際市場的宏觀狀況嗎？我認為波蘭的經濟總體上比英國更好。那麼您如何看待國際化帶來的機會？

[Great], Mark?

[太好了]，馬克？

Yeah, you're entirely like to say, actually, Poland is one of the strongest economies in the European Union as a whole. And that market has been growing well. We've been growing fast in that market. You'll have seen premium income growth in the quarter of 18%, and we've had a long-term positive trends there. So we continue to be feel good about the Polish market and investing in the Polish market.

是的，您完全可以這麼說，實際上，波蘭是整個歐盟最強大的經濟體之一。而且該市場一直成長良好。我們在該市場發展迅速。您會看到本季保費收入成長了 18%，並且我們一直保持著長期積極的趨勢。因此，我們繼續對波蘭市場感到樂觀，並將繼續在波蘭市場進行投資。

And you are seeing the UK market has been on a long-term positive trend. I mean our results from the U.K. market now, earnings are close to that $30 million a quarter mark as they were in quarter one this year. That's significantly up on the pre-pandemic levels.

您會發現英國市場長期呈現正面趨勢。我的意思是，我們現在在英國市場的業績，收益接近今年第一季每季 3000 萬美元的水平。這比疫情前的水準有顯著上升。

The government is investing hard in growth in the UK. And it might be against a slightly more difficult global economic background. But I do think, generally speaking, we feel positive about the opportunity in the UK to see continued growth. The health service creates challenges for the employers who need to keep a healthy workforce and we're a very good answer to that problem for employers. So I just see the market trends being favorable for us.

英國政府正大力投資促進其發展。這可能是在全球經濟情勢稍微困難的背景下發生的。但我確實認為，總的來說，我們對英國持續成長的機會感到樂觀。醫療服務為需要維持健康勞動力的雇主帶來了挑戰，而我們為雇主解決了這個問題提供了很好的答案。所以我認為市場趨勢對我們有利。

And then my follow-up question. On recent renewals in the group benefit space, are you still seeing employment expansion in core as well as large markets?

然後是我的後續問題。關於團體福利領域最近的更新，您是否仍然看到核心市場和大型市場的就業擴張？

Yeah. Thanks, John. So just overall renewals, in general, our disciplined approach to kind of going out and bringing customers to the right pricing level. and trying to keep them on a predictable manner is still a good approach that is valued by our employer set and our broker consultants. So we'll continue to do that. We talk more and more about investments and capabilities during that time.

是的。謝謝，約翰。因此，總體而言，就整體續約而言，我們採取了嚴謹的方法來為客戶提供合適的價格水平。並嘗試以可預測的方式保持它們仍然是一種很好的方法，受到我們的雇主和經紀顧問的重視。因此我們會繼續這樣做。在此期間，我們越來越多地談論投資和能力。

In terms of the growth of these companies and adding employees, wages, we still see that natural growth that Rick mentioned at historical levels. So that's kind of in a normal spot, which feels good. We love what Tim referenced about adding voluntary benefits to group customers that don't have voluntary. So there's another opportunity for growth.

就這些公司的成長以及員工和工資的增加而言，我們仍然看到里克提到的歷史水平的自然增長。所以這有點像是正常的位置，感覺很好。我們很喜歡蒂姆提到的為沒有自願福利的團體客戶增加自願福利。因此，還有另一個成長機會。

So overall, John, I'd say it feels like a relatively normal time around how we interact with in-force customers, whether we're adjusting price, adding lines, or watching their companies grow at reasonable rates.

所以總的來說，約翰，我想說，我們與現有客戶的互動感覺相對正常，無論是調整價格、增加線路，還是看著他們的公司以合理的速度發展。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jack Matten, BMO Capital Markets.

傑克·馬滕 (Jack Matten)，BMO 資本市場。

Just the first one on statutory earnings which are strong in the quarter even backing out kind of the internal reinsurance transaction benefit, any color on just what drove that result even though there was some pressure on GAAP earnings this quarter?

第一個問題是，即使剔除內部再保險交易收益，本季的法定收益仍然強勁，儘管本季 GAAP 收益面臨一些壓力，但什麼原因推動了這一結果？

Yeah. Again, when we set our outlook for the beginning of the year, our GAAP outlook and our stat outlook would be set on the same fundamentals we did not view the first quarter as really tremendously challenging from a GAAP perspective. It was fairly close to our expectation across multiple lines.

是的。再次，當我們設定年初的展望時，我們的 GAAP 展望和統計展望將基於相同的基本面，從 GAAP 角度來看，我們並不認為第一季真的極具挑戰性。這與我們在多條線路上的預期相當接近。

And so as that translated to statutory earnings, yeah, we viewed ex the impact of the internal reinsurance transaction. We were about $350 million of statutory earnings, and that was pretty consistent with what our planning assumption would have been coming into the year. And I think it translates very well to the full year outlook that we would have given back in January.

因此，當這轉化為法定收益時，是的，我們考慮了內部再保險交易的影響。我們的法定收入約為 3.5 億美元，這與我們今年的計劃假設非常一致。我認為這與我們一月份給出的全年展望非常吻合。

Got it. That makes sense. And then just a quick follow up on the alternative investment income. I guess is there any risk or sensitivity to the full-year outlook, we don't get a market recovery, I mean I know you talked about having some visibility in your returns in the upcoming quarters. Just wanted to think if there's any risk to that that we should be thinking about?

知道了。這很有道理。然後快速跟進一下另類投資收入。我想，全年前景是否存在任何風險或敏感性，我們沒有看到市場復甦，我的意思是，我知道您談到了未來幾季的回報會有一定的可見性。只是想想這是否有我們應該考慮的風險？

Yeah. What I would say on that is we're not really looking for market recovery. In essence, the reason that the yield was so low in the first quarter is more around just a reporting lag, where year-end statements are really what's going to be driving our first-quarter earnings and just because those structures go through year-end audits, there tends to be more of a delay of those being presented to us to be able to record.

是的。我想說的是，我們並不是真的期待市場復甦。從本質上講，第一季度收益率如此之低的原因更多的只是報告滯後，年終報表才是真正推動我們第一季度收益的因素，而由於這些結構要經過年終審計，因此提交給我們進行記錄的時間往往會更長。

So we're not counting on market recovery to get to our full-year yield expectation, we're just really counting on a full year of reporting from those investments.

因此，我們並不指望市場復甦就能達到我們的全年收益預期，我們只是真正指望這些投資全年的報告。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jimmy Bhullar, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的 Jimmy Bhullar。

So first, I just had a question on the disability business. And wondering what gives you confidence or what's different about this business now than pre-pandemic, because pre-pandemic you had mid-70s type benefits ratios, and it was still a very good business, 10% type margins, very high ROEs. And obviously, the last few years has been a lot better than that.

首先，我有一個關於殘疾人事務的問題。我想知道是什麼讓您有信心，或者現在這項業務與疫情前有什麼不同，因為疫情前您的福利比率是 70 年代中期的水平，而且它仍然是一個非常好的業務，利潤率為 10%，ROE 非常高。顯然，過去幾年的情況已經好多了。

But what gives you the confidence that either because of macro factors or because of just competition, we're not going to reset at those types of levels over the next -- not necessarily one quarter, but over the next one to two years.

但是，是什麼讓你有信心，無論是由於宏觀因素還是僅僅因為競爭，我們都不會在未來——不一定是一個季度，而是在未來一到兩年內——重置到那種水平。

Yeah, Jimmy, it's Steve. I think what gives us confidence is that operationally, we understand how our capabilities have kind of progressed over the period of time. And I'll go back to the comments I made earlier, where incidents by and large, over the last several years have been pretty consistent with pre-pandemic levels of incidents. And again, setting aside kind of the blip that we saw in the first quarter, and so that seems like a reasonable expectation going forward.

是的，吉米，我是史蒂夫。我認為讓我們充滿信心的是，從營運角度來看，我們了解我們的能力在一段時間內是如何進步的。我將回到我之前所發表的評論，總的來說，過去幾年發生的事件與疫情前的事件水平相當一致。再次強調，拋開我們在第一季看到的一些小波動，這似乎是合理的未來預期。

And then from a recoveries perspective, we saw what I would say was progressive, modest improvement really over the last decade of our ability to get people back to work at a faster pace. And it's a combination of us understanding diagnoses and what getting back to work can look like for those through our data capabilities through just our ability to make accommodations for people and get them back to work.

然後從復甦的角度來看，我們看到了我想說的漸進式、適度的改善，在過去十年中，我們在讓人們以更快的速度重返工作崗位的能力確實得到了提升。這是我們了解診斷和重返工作崗位所需的條件的結合，透過我們的數據能力，透過我們為人們提供便利並讓他們重返工作崗位的能力。

We've talked a little bit about we're in an environment where getting back to work looks different than maybe it did historically. And so we've been able to really take that into account as we work with employees to get them back to work. But we've seen steady improvement over that period of time. Operationally, we know what's driving that improvement in our recovery rates. And so we do think it's sustainable.

我們已經討論過，我們目前所處的環境與歷史上重返工作崗位的情況有所不同。因此，我們在與員工合作讓他們重返工作崗位時能夠真正考慮到這一點。但我們在那段時間看到了穩定的改善。從操作上來說，我們知道是什麼推動了我們的恢復率的提高。所以我們確實認為它是可持續的。

The question then that always comes up is just the competitive pricing dynamic and what that could look like. And so I don't know, Chris, if you want to hit on that?

那麼總是會出現的問題就是競爭性定價動態以及它會是什麼樣子。所以我不知道，克里斯，你是否想談談這個？

Yeah. Thanks, Steve. Just to add, when you get into the competitive pricing and some of the shifts that's happened over the past, say, decade, that's again where I keep getting back to when you're engaged in something that's outside of kind of contracts and provisions and you start getting into managing things like we were connecting into ACM platforms. It does change the dynamic around our importance to that customer.

是的。謝謝，史蒂夫。補充一下，當你進入競爭性定價和過去十年發生的一些變化時，當你從事一些超出合約和條款範圍的事情時，我就會再次回到這一點，你開始管理像我們連接到 ACM 平台這樣的事情。它確實改變了我們對該客戶的重要性。

And suddenly, things like disability premiums, while still price sensitive and still competitive, it just takes the edge off of needing to drive every last dollar out of those kind of line items. And lead management does give us just a tremendous opportunity to engage in a high-volume sort of way with customers in a complicated but really important end of the business for them. And again, I do think that's partial to what Steve was referencing in terms of our operational excellence that keep us confident in the future.

突然之間，像殘障保險費這樣的項目，雖然仍然對價格敏感，仍然具有競爭力，但它只是減輕了從這些項目中榨取每一分錢的需要。而領導管理確實為我們提供了一個巨大的機會，讓我們能夠以高容量的方式與客戶接觸，這對他們的業務來說是一個複雜但非常重要的部分。而且，我確實認為這在一定程度上符合史蒂夫提到的我們的卓越運營，讓我們對未來充滿信心。

And then just on the LTC NPR going up. It seems like from your comments, that's more of an aberration given results in capped versus uncapped cohorts. But what should we be looking at from the outside to sort of assess whether the reserves in that business are appropriate? Or what would cause you alarm and make you reassess your reserve position?

然後 LTC NPR 就開始上升了。從您的評論來看，這更像是一種異常現象，因為結果有上限，而不存在上限。但是，我們應該從外部看什麼來評估該業務的儲備是否合適？或是什麼會引起您的警覺並讓您重新評估您的儲備狀況？

Yeah. I'll just kind of reiterate some of the things I said earlier. So overall, our underwriting margins were at or maybe even a little bit better than our expectations in the first quarter. And it was a combination of continued slight elevated claim incidents. And so we continue to monitor that. And those hit those cohorts that would impact the net premium ratio. And so we did see that go up by 10%.

是的。我只是想重申我之前說過的一些話。因此整體而言，我們第一季的承保利潤率達到甚至可能略高於我們的預期。這是索賠事件持續輕微上升的結果。因此我們將繼續監控此事。這些都會對那些影響淨保費比率的族群產生影響。因此我們確實看到這一數字上漲了 10%。

But we saw very high claimant mortality which impacted a little bit more actual earnings in the period. And so in combination, we felt good about the overall underwriting margins for the period. We still feel good as we sit here today about our long-term expectations for both claim incidents and claimant mortality. And obviously, we'll continue to monitor that going forward.

但我們發現索賠人的死亡率非常高，這對該時期的實際收入產生了一定影響。總的來說，我們對該期間的整體承保利潤率感到滿意。今天我們坐在這裡，對索賠事件和索賠人死亡率的長期預期仍然感到高興。顯然，我們將繼續監控此事。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Mark Hughes, Truist Securities.

馬克·休斯，Truist Securities。

The 17% growth of recruiting in the Colonial Life business. Is that maybe influenced by the macro? Or is that something that you're driving internally?

Colonial Life 業務的招募成長了 17%。這可能受到宏觀的影響嗎？還是這是你內心在推動的事情？

Thanks, Mark. I appreciate the question. We're very pleased with the recruiting results we saw in the first quarter. I think it's probably the work that we're doing internally. Our teams are very focused on recruiting. We ran a social media ad campaign, helping people -- helping make it easier for people to join Colonial Life. And so we attribute largely to what we're doing internally. We are not hearing people say that they lost a job and they want to be a part of a Colonial Life now.

謝謝，馬克。我很感謝你提出這個問題。我們對第一季的招募結果非常滿意。我認為這可能是我們內部正在進行的工作。我們的團隊非常注重招募。我們開展了一項社群媒體廣告活動，幫助人們——幫助人們更輕鬆地加入 Colonial Life。因此，我們很大程度上將其歸功於我們內部所做的事情。我們沒有聽到人們說他們失去了工作並且現在想要成為殖民生活的一部分。

And then any change -- recoveries are obviously strong, any change in the government's approach to disability awards?

那麼，復甦顯然很強勁，政府對殘障賠償的態度有什麼改變嗎？

So, Mark, Chris. So security backlog has been a topic that's been discussed at the industry level for some time. We'll continue to discuss that. We love as an industry to help the government get through social security approvals faster. That said, from our perspective, we don't see it as a major factor in our performance right now.

那麼，馬克，克里斯。因此，安全積壓一直是業界討論的議題。我們將繼續討論這個問題。作為一個產業，我們熱衷於幫助政府更快完成社會保障審批。話雖如此，從我們的角度來看，我們並不認為這是目前影響我們業績的主要因素。

Appreciate it. Thank you.

非常感謝。謝謝。

And there are no further questions at this time, Rick McKenney. I turn the call back over to you.

目前沒有其他問題，里克·麥肯尼。我把電話轉回給你。

Great. Thank you, Kayla. I would like to thank everybody for joining us this morning and continued interest in Unum. So as you can tell from our comments today, we remain very focused on executing our strategy and delivering our 2025 outlook. So with that, we conclude today's call and look forward to connecting with you over the coming months. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝你，凱拉。我要感謝大家今天早上的參加以及對 Unum 的持續關注。因此，正如您從我們今天的評論中看到的，我們仍然非常專注於執行我們的策略和實現我們的 2025 年展望。今天的電話會議就此結束，我們期待在未來幾個月與您繼續聯繫。謝謝。

And this concludes today's conference 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。