Globe Life Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Globe Life Incorporated first quarter 2020 earnings release conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Mike Majors, Executive Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Joining the call today are Gary Coleman and Larry Hutchinson, our co-chief executive officers, Frank Svoboda, our chief financial officer, and Brian Mitchell, our general counsel. Some of our comments or answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements that are provided for general guidance purposes only. Accordingly, please refer to the first quarter earnings release we issued yesterday. Some of our comments may also contain non-GAAP measures. Please see our earnings release and website for discussion of these terms and reconciliations to GAAP measures. I'll now turn the call over to Gary Coleman.

Gary Coleman Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. The developments of the last several weeks have been difficult for everyone, and our thoughts are with all those impacted by the current crisis. Today, most of our comments will address our thoughts on the potential impact of COVID-19 on our insurance operations and financial position. However, we do want to begin by giving a brief summary of the first quarter results. In the first quarter, net income was $166 million, or $1.52 per share. compared to $185 million or $1.65 per share a year ago. Net operating income for the quarter was $189 million or $1.73 per share, a per share increase of 5% from a year ago. On a GAAP-reported basis, return on equity for the year was 9.6% and book value per share was $60.98. Excluding unrealized gains and losses on fixed maturities, return on equity was 14.1%, and book value per share grew 9% to $49.66. In our life insurance operations, premium revenue increased 4% to $650 million, and life underwriting margin was $179 million, up 5% from a year ago. Health insurance premium revenue grew 5% to $280 million, and health underwriting margin was up 3% to $63 million. Administrative expenses were $64 million for the quarter, up 7% from a year ago, and in line with our expectations. For the full year, we expect administrative expenses to be up around 5%. I will now turn the call over to Larry for his comments on first quarter marketing results.