Globe Life Inc.

and welcome to the second quarter 2021 earnings release conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mike Majors, Executive Vice President, Administration and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Joining the call today are Gary Coleman and Larry Hutchison, 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 our earnings release, 2020 10-K, and any subsequent forms 10-Q on file with the SEC. 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 will now turn the call over to Gary Coleman.

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. In the second quarter, net income was $200 million, or $1.92 per share, compared to $173 million, or $1.62 per share, a year ago. Net operating income for the quarter was $193 million, or $1.85 per share, an increase of 12% per share from a year ago. On a GAAP reported basis, return on equity as of June 30th was 9.0% for the first half of the year and 9.7% for the second quarter. Book value per share was $83.59. Excluding unrealized gains and losses on fixed maturities, return on equity was 12.4% for the first half of the year and 13.5% for the second quarter. In addition, book value per share grew 9% to $55.66. In our life insurance operations, premium revenue increased 9% from the year-ago quarter to $728 million. As noted before, we have seen improved percentage and premium collections since the onset of the pandemic. Life underwriting margin was $179 million, up 11% from a year ago. The increase in margin is due primarily to the higher premium and lower amortization related to the improved persistency. For the year, we expect live premium revenue to grow between 8 to 9 percent and underwriting margin to grow 5 to 6 percent. In health insurance, premium revenue grew 4 percent to $296 million and health underwriting margin was up 16% to $74 million. The increase in underwriting margin was primarily due to improved claims experience and persistency. For the year, we expect health premium revenue to grow between 4% and 5%, and underwriting margin to grow around 9%. Administrative expenses were $68 million for the quarter, up 10% from a year ago. As a percentage of premium, administrative expenses were 6.6% compared to 6.5% a year ago. For the full year, we expect administrative expenses to grow 8 to 9% and be around 6.7% of premium, due primarily to increased IT and information security costs, higher pension expense, and a gradual increase in travel and facility costs. I will now turn the call over to Larry for his comments on the second quarter marketing operations.