Unum CEO Tom WatjenUnum on Thursday trumpeted the success of its conservative business model, which has continued to deliver steady returns and rising profits for the Chattanooga-based insurer in spite of a spotty job market.
Shareholders have returned the favor. Unum’s stock has jumped 40 percent over the past year as the company boosted dividends and bought back more than a fourth of its stock.
“We grew the businesses we targeted for growth, generated strong profitability in our core businesses and maintained a solid financial foundation while delivering on our commitments to customers and shareholders,” Tom Watjen, president and CEO of Unum, told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in Portland, Maine. “Discipline does matter.”
Watjen, who finished his 10th year as Unum’s chief on April 1, said he was proud to serve “a noble cause” as head of a disability insurer that emphasizes getting injured employees back to work.
“We paid out over $6 billion of benefits to individuals and their families, which help them at a critical time in their lives,” Watjen said. “We helped over 230,000 individuals return to work, and return to work in a way that allows them to get back into the workforce and again, do the things that they want to do to help support themselves and their families.”