Unum Group

Unum delivered robust value to shareholders in 2023 as we continued to outpace the performance of many peers. The company accelerated growth through increased demand for its products and services, highlighted by double-digit sales growth, healthy increases in premium income and strong persistency in our core operations. Record after-tax adjusted operating earnings per share illustrated Unum’s disciplined approach to pricing and balanced expense management, while our ability to generate substantial excess capital provided financial flexibility to invest in growth initiatives, fund long-term needs in our Closed Block segment and increase the level of capital returned to shareholders.

Based on our strong operational and financial results over the last few years, we believe Unum is an attractive investment for shareholders. Total shareholder return for the year was ahead of our industry benchmark and proxy peer group at nearly 14% (see below). Over the longer term, Unum has continued to excel in returning value to shareholders, in part through steady growth in book value per share (excluding AOCI) and premium income over the last several years, and increasing dividend payments and share repurchase activity. Macro-economic factors, such as strong employment, wage inflation and high interest rates, are beneficial for our business, and we believe will continue to drive greater recognition of our value to investors.

In addition to our core operations, our Closed Block segment primarily consists of long-term care (LTC) policies and older individual disability policies that Unum continues to service and support. After agreeing to increase LTC statutory reserves over a multi-year period starting in 2020, we accelerated these planned contributions and completed the recognition of these additional required reserves at the end of 2023. Through these and other steps, we have provided a strong capital position behind the business, which has mitigated the need for future capital contributions under current assumptions.

We believe this, combined with our market-leading positions, history of consistent execution, strong demand for our products and services, favorable business environment, capital strength, and strategy of prioritizing funding of growth initiatives, makes Unum an excellent long-term investment.

(2) Prior financial information has been adjusted to reflect our modified retrospective adoption, effective January 1, 2023, of the ASU 2018-12, related to targeted improvements to the accounting for long-duration contracts. Changes from this ASU were applied as of January 1, 2021, also referred to as the transition date.

(3) S&P 500 Life & Health Insurance Sub Industry Index.