Welcome, everyone. It is now 10:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time. Mr. Chairman, you can begin when you're ready.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Kevin Kabat, and I am the Chair of the Board of Directors of Unum Group. On behalf of the entire Board, I'd like to thank you for joining us today for the Unum Group 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. It was important to us that this meeting be conducted as inclusively as possible by providing shareholders the same opportunities to participate as during an in-person meeting. Shareholders who have not already voted or wish to change their votes will have the ability to do so during this meeting and may also submit questions online at any time using the Ask a Question feature on our virtual meeting site. We will address shareholder questions during a Q&A session that will follow the business portion of the meeting and a brief management report by CEO Rick McKenney.
Before beginning the business portion of the meeting, I want to first acknowledge some others with me here today. I'm joined online by my other board nominees standing for election at this meeting, including kristi Matus, who is standing for election for the first time. You'll find information about each director nominee in our proxy materials. Theo Bunting is not standing for re-election at this meeting, and I want to take a moment to thank Theo for his many years of service and contributions to Unum. They've been outstanding. Also in attendance today is Lisa Iglesias, our general counsel, who will assist me in conducting the meeting and serve as parliamentarian. In addition to the members of senior management who are in attendance today, representative of Ernst & Young LLP, Unum's independent auditor, have joined us and are available to address any relevant questions during the meeting.
I would now like to call the meeting to order. We will move to the formal business portion of the meeting, and I'll turn the call over to Lisa. Lisa?
Thank you, Kevin. I would like to remind everyone that the rules of conduct for the meeting are available on the Meeting Materials section of our virtual meeting site. If you've logged into the meeting with your control number, you may submit a question using the Ask a Question feature on our virtual meeting site at any time during this meeting. All questions must relate to our business or otherwise be relevant or suitable to the purpose of this meeting. If we do not respond to all questions during the meeting, we'll post answers to the remaining questions on our investors' website after the meeting. If we receive similar questions, we may group them together. We will only address questions that are submitted with the shareholder's first and last name and email address.
The polls for voting on all matters at this annual meeting opened at 9:45 A.M. Eastern Time today, 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. The polls for voting on the matters before this meeting will close in a few moments. If there are shareholders who have not voted and want to vote or who want to change their votes, please do so now using the Cast Your Vote feature on our virtual meeting site. If you've previously voted by proxy, you do not need to vote today unless you wish to change your vote.
I have received an affidavit of distribution from Broadridge Financial Solutions establishing that the notice of meeting and the accompanying proxy materials and annual report were mailed or made available on or about April 9th, 2026, to shareholders of record on March 23rd, 2026, which is the record date for shareholders entitled to notice of this meeting. Our Inspector of Election, a representative from Broadridge Financial Solutions, is present by phone at this meeting and has reported that we have received proxies representing a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock, which represents a quorum for the meeting. The matters requiring a vote by the shareholders are described in our proxy statement. We will now consider the three proposals before us. The first voting item is the election of 11 directors. The names and qualifications of the director nominees are listed in our proxy statement.
Each of our director nominees has been nominated to serve as a director for a one-year term ending at the annual meeting in 2027. The second voting item is the advisory vote on the compensation of our named executive officers, as described in our proxy statement. The third voting item is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditor for 2026. The board of directors has recommended a vote for each of the director nominees and a vote for each of the other two proposals. If you're voting today and have not yet voted, please do so now. In order to vote online, you'll need your control number that you received with your proxy materials. I will pause here to allow another moment for shareholders to complete their voting.
It is now 10:05 A.M. Eastern Time, and the polls for voting on the matters before this meeting are now closed. I will now review the preliminary voting results. The Inspector of Election reports that based on the votes cast prior to this meeting, the company has received proxies sufficient to elect each of the 11 director nominees to give advisory approval on the compensation of our named executive officers as described in our proxy statement, and to ratify the appointment of the auditors. The final vote results will be published in a Form 8-K report, which we'll file with the SEC within 4 business days after the Inspector of Election certifies the results. Kevin, that completes my report.
Great. Thank you, Lisa. This concludes the business portion of today's meeting. The Unum Group 2026 annual meeting of shareholders is now adjourned. I'll now turn this over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Rick McKenney, for a brief management report. Rick?
Thank you, Kevin. It's great to join everybody on the call for our annual meeting and to provide an update on how our team continues to deliver on our purpose for our customers and add value for our shareholders. We're appreciative of the trust that you, our shareholders, place in our board of directors and senior leadership. Unum Group is a company committed to helping the working world thrive throughout life's moments. We've been doing that for our customers since 1848. It remains our core purpose today. By providing vital support for today's workforce, Unum Group remains a consistent leader in employee benefits. In 2025, we delivered on our promises to the almost 50 million customers in the U.S., U.K., and Poland that we serve in many ways. This comes in the form of an empathetic ear and includes paying $8.3 billion in benefits during times of need.
More than 178,000 companies, large and small, rely on our workplace solutions and expertise to attract, retain, and protect their employees. We remain a trusted partner in employee benefits across the markets we serve and are well-positioned to seize the opportunities ahead and continue delivering long-term value for our stakeholders. Our focus continues to be squarely on our customers, delivering technology solutions and benefits that protect financial stability and promote well-being. Even though we faced some earnings normalization in 2025, we achieved meaningful top-line growth across our core businesses and made progress against our strategic priorities. By managing our business with discipline, our after-tax adjusted operating income was $1.4 billion on total revenues of $13.1 billion. We delivered steady adjusted operating return on equity and continued to grow our per-share book value.
Thanks to the execution of our teams and effective capital stewardship, we continue to create and return value for you, our shareholders. Last year, we returned more than $1.3 billion to our shareholders in dividends and share repurchases, driving total shareholder return of 8.6%. Just this morning, we continued our steady trend of dividend increases with the board's decision to raise the quarterly dividend rate on our common stock by 10%. Embedded in our DNA is a clear focus on execution, predictability, and resilience. That has helped us continue to be a compelling value proposition for our customers and shareholders over the long term. Looking at the last decade, we have steadily grown and increased the value of the company. A compound annual growth rate of nearly 4% in premiums for our core operations delivered steady top-line growth across multiple economic cycles, including through a pandemic.
Keeping our products and customer solutions at the forefront have driven this steady growth. We have seen premiums up almost 50% in that time period. It is not just growing the top line, but also doing so in a profitable way that is an underpinning of our philosophy. Disciplined execution and effective capital management drove an almost 8% compound annual growth rate in our book value per share, which has doubled over the last decade. We are building on a strong foundation in 2026. Solid top and bottom line performance across our businesses in the first quarter showed ongoing demand for what we do. Healthy increases in sales, coupled with good retention rates, drove overall premium growth to deliver first quarter after-tax adjusted operating earnings of more than $352 million.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2026 and beyond, we remain confident in our business model, strong capital position, and ability to deliver for our customers and shareholders. A key part of our durable growth story is pairing our focus on protecting people throughout their working lives with ongoing efforts to reduce our risk exposure in our closed block. Progress in managing that risk represents one of the most significant milestones of 2025. We materially reduced our long-term care exposure through a major third-party reinsurance transaction and a complementary internal reinsurance transaction. These actions ceded almost 20% of our long-term care statutory reserves, reduced our volatility, and created meaningful additional capital flexibility.
We also remain committed to sustained investment in our core business that ensures we efficiently provide exceptional experiences to those we serve, creating smarter connections, clear delivery paths, and better tools to help us work more effectively and efficiently. Continuing to evolve digital platforms like HR Connect, Total Leave, and Gather removes friction for our customers. Accelerating our use of artificial intelligence is a critical part of our ongoing digital transformation. Our approach to AI reflects the very same commitments that define all aspects of our business: responsibility, transparency, and a focus on people. We believe the thoughtful integration of AI into our business will continue to increase our ability to support more workers more efficiently and with the same compassion. While technology is a key enabler for us, the nearly 11,000 people who work at Unum Group remain our greatest asset.
Together, we are guided by a clear purpose to deliver value for those we serve and those around us. We strive not only to be the right partner for our customers, but also be an employer of choice. For example, in 2025, we provided $14.8 million in charitable contributions across our geographic footprint in the communities where we live and work. Our employees volunteered more than 89,000 hours to support the causes that matter most to them. Through this enduring commitment of financial resources and time, we are proud of the caring spirit our people show beyond the workplace. For the sixth year in a row, we have been named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere. We are proud of that and other recognitions for our workplace excellence, which speaks to the daily focus of our people cultivating a dynamic, accountable, and rewarding culture.
Looking ahead, we know the strength of our core operations, combined with our improving risk profile and financial flexibility, positions us to again convert opportunity into durable growth. We have the right strategy, being focused on serving employers and their employees at a time of need. It is one that creates steady, sustainable growth, and we know that our ongoing investments in people and capabilities make us stand apart from the competition. It comes down to the fact that employees need protection that helps them navigate uncertain moments with empathy and without jeopardizing their financial stability. At the same time, employers need benefit partners who understand the complexity of today's workplace and can help them support a healthy and productive workforce in a seamless way. It has been a simple but powerful formula for growth. We also remain committed to generating returning capital through dividends and share repurchases.
It's an approach that has served us well and we believe will continue to drive value for our shareholders. I would like to recognize the incredible work of our teams in putting our customers first and being the driving force behind our company. Finally, I would like to say thank you to you, our shareholders, for your time today and for the trust and investment you have in Unum Group. With that, I'd like to now move to the question and answer portion of the meeting. Lisa reviewed some of the rules around these submissions, and please keep in mind that for shareholders logged into the meeting with their control number, questions may be submitted using the Ask a Question feature on our virtual meeting site. Lisa, I'd ask, are there any questions to address at this time?
Thank you, Rick. As you mentioned, the Ask a Question feature is active now, and we've also received some questions in advance of the meeting. For those questions we don't address today, we'll post written responses on our investors website after the meeting. Again, we may group similar questions together to avoid duplication. With that, let me address the following question to you, Rick: What further actions can you take to make more progress on de-risking the closed block?
Thank you, Lisa, and thank you for the question. De-risking the closed block does remain a top priority of the company. We're continuing to make steady, deliberate progress through a multi-pronged approach. First, as we mentioned earlier, we're actively reducing exposure on the in-force through management actions. As part of the changes we implemented last year, including discontinuing new employee coverage on existing group long-term care cases, we've seen meaningful client engagement and decision-making. In the first quarter, as we mentioned on our first-quarter earnings call, approximately 7% of group long-term care cases closed, meaningfully reducing both the size and risk profile of the block. Importantly, this reduction has been achieved with clarity and transparency with our clients. Second, we continue to execute on premium rate increases across the block.
We have now crossed the $5 billion mark in cumulative premium rate increases since initiating our program. These actions remain an important part of how we improve the overall risk profile over time. Third, as we've talked about multiple times, risk transfer remains a key focus. In 2025, we reduced LTC reserves by $4 billion through our external reinsurance transaction with Fortitude Re and our internal funds-withheld reinsurance transaction. We continue to evaluate a broad set of options to further mitigate and reduce the LTC exposure. That does include additional risk transfer. We're encouraged by our progress and the opportunities ahead.
Thank you, Rick. Here's our next question. How important are mergers and acquisitions to Unum's overall growth strategy?
It's a good question. We're very clear to mention that our primary focus is on organic growth, which is supported by strong execution across our core operations. We are interested in leveraging M&A selectively to accelerate their growth and where it adds clear strategic value. Consistently, our M&A approach is a disciplined one that prioritizes strengthening our capabilities overall and expanding our position in areas where we already have a competitive advantage. For example, in the U.S., we've pursued capability-driven acquisitions in areas like leave management and employee benefit experience that enhance how we serve customers. Even last year, we acquired Beanstalk Benefits, a small company that we're embedding across our solutions. These type of transactions help us broaden the client relationship, improve our value proposition, and support growth across multiple product lines.
I'd also mention that we look opportunistically at growing our international business markets where we have great existing platforms like the U.K. and Poland, attractive areas where additional scale can further strengthen our competitive position and accelerate growth. Last year, we did 1 such transaction to acquire the Generali U.K. benefits business. These are meaningful things that will help our growth trajectory over time. For us, when you think about it, M&A is just one element of a broader capital allocation framework. We continue to balance investments in growth for organic growth with returning capital to shareholders for dividend and share repurchase. You've seen us do this in a disciplined way over time, and we'll continue on that path.
Thank you, Rick. This now concludes the Q&A session. With that, Rick, I'll turn it back to you.
Great. Thank you, Lisa, and thank you, Kevin, earlier. As we close, I want to thank you for your continued support of Unum Group. I know I speak for my fellow board members in saying we are proud to be associated with Unum. We thank you for attending today and hope you'll join us again next year. Please have a good rest of the day.