We care about Aflac’s policyholders affected by recent weather:
To help provide relief for Indiana policyholders residing in Delaware, Jefferson, and Randolph counties affected by the recent tornadoes, Aflac will provide a premium grace period starting March 13, 2024, and ending May 13, 2024. This grace period also provides an extension of filing deadlines for claims and leniency for any other action required under the policy. Aflac will provide a replacement copy of the policy upon request by the policyholder.
We care about Aflac’s policyholders affected by recent weather:
To help provide relief for California policyholders residing in Alameda, Butte, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Monterey, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, and Sutter Counties affected by the winter storms, Aflac will provide a premium grace period starting Feb. 3, 2024, and ending May 21, 2024. This grace period also provides an extension of filing deadlines for claims and leniency for any other action required under the policy. Aflac will provide a replacement copy of the policy upon request by the policyholder.
On Feb. 21, 2024, the cyber event reported by Change Healthcare, a company that assists healthcare providers with claims submissions and payments, has created a significant impact to health care providers, including hospitals, individual practitioners, practice groups, diagnostic centers, laboratories, and pharmacies. We have determined Aflac’s primary operations are not impacted. Further, Aflac and its subsidiaries do not have any direct connection to Change Healthcare systems in any of Aflac’s systems or applications. At this time, we are not aware of any impact to customer data but we are monitoring for any communications from our critical third-party suppliers. While Change Healthcare’s cyber event was not directed at Aflac, we will provide flexibility with claims submissions related to this incident should it be needed. If you believe you have a claim impacted by Change Healthcare’s event, please contact Aflac at 800-992-3522.
We care about Aflac’s policyholders affected by recent weather:
To help provide relief for California policyholders residing in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties affected by the winter storms, Aflac will provide a premium grace period starting Feb. 3, 2024, and ending May 21, 2024. This grace period also provides an extension of filing deadlines for claims and leniency for any other action required under the policy. Aflac will provide a replacement copy of the policy upon request by the policyholder.
AFLAC Incorporated today reported its third quarter results. Total revenues, which reflected a stronger average yen/dollar exchange rate, were $3.3 billion in the third quarter, or 13.3% higher than a year ago. Net earnings were $301 million, or $.58 per diluted share, compared with $237 million, or $.45 per diluted share, a year ago. Net earnings in the third quarter of 2004 included a gain of $6 million, or $.01 per diluted share, from the change in fair value of the interest rate component of the cross-currency swaps related to the company's senior notes as required by SFAS 133. In the third quarter of 2003, net earnings included a loss of $2 million, or $.01 per diluted share, from the effect of SFAS 133. Realized investment losses were $.01 per diluted share in the third quarters of 2004 and 2003.
We believe that an analysis of operating earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, is vitally important to an understanding of AFLAC's underlying profitability drivers. We define operating earnings as the profits we derive from our operations before realized investment gains and losses, the change in the fair value of the interest rate component of cross-currency swaps as required by SFAS 133, and nonrecurring items.
Management uses operating earnings to evaluate the financial performance of AFLAC's insurance operations because realized gains and losses, the impact of SFAS 133, and nonrecurring items tend to be driven by general economic conditions and events, and therefore obscure the underlying fundamentals and trends in AFLAC's insurance operations.
Operating earnings in the third quarter were $299 million, compared with $245 million a year ago. On a per-share basis, operating earnings rose 23.4% to $.58 per diluted share, compared with $.47 per share in the third quarter of 2003. Excluding the benefit of $.02 per share from the stronger yen to the dollar, operating earnings per share increased 19.1% for the quarter.
For the first nine months of 2004, total revenues rose 14.3% to $9.8 billion. Net earnings were $881 million, or $1.70 per diluted share, compared with $723 million, or $1.38 per share, a year ago. Operating earnings were $886 million, or $1.71 per diluted share, compared with $728 million, or $1.39 per share, in 2003. Excluding the benefit of $.07 per share from the stronger yen, operating earnings per share increased 18.0% for the first nine months of 2004.
The board of directors declared the fourth quarter cash dividend. The fourth quarter dividend of $.095 per share is payable on December 1, 2004, to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 12, 2004.
Commenting on the company's results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel P. Amos stated: "Overall, we are very pleased with our financial performance for the third quarter and first nine months of 2004. Yet, we are disappointed that we did not produce better sales growth in Japan and the United States.
"AFLAC Japan's total new annualized premium sales in the third quarter declined 2.9% from a year ago to 28.6 billion yen, or $260 million. For the nine months, total new annualized premium sales were down .4% to 89.2 billion yen, or $818 million. Sales growth in the quarter was again impacted by sharp declines in Rider MAX conversions and significantly lower sales from Dai-ichi Mutual Life, compared with 2003. Conversions were down 54.3% from a year ago, and sales through Dai-ichi dropped 32.0%. Excluding conversions and the contribution from Dai-ichi, sales were up 4.5% for the quarter and 5.4% for the nine months. We currently expect fourth quarter sales to increase at a low-single-digit rate, which will result in flat sales to a slight increase for the full year.
"AFLAC U.S. produced total new annualized premium sales in the third quarter of $270 million, or 2.7% above the third quarter of 2003. For the first nine months, new sales were up 7.6% to $843 million. Although we believe the rate of sales growth in the fourth quarter will improve compared with the third quarter, we still expect a low- to mid-single-digit sales increase for the remaining three months of the year. Therefore, we do not expect to meet our full-year sales objective of a 10% to 12% increase in 2004. New sales in the third quarter were negatively impacted by the hurricanes that devastated areas of the Southeast. Sales in Florida and Alabama were especially soft compared with their rates of sales growth in the first half of the year. However, we believe the overall weak sales growth primarily resulted from the sweeping changes we made to our sales management team last year. Those changes are continuing to impact recruiting, productivity and, consequently, sales.
"We expect new agent recruiting in the United States to improve as sales coordinators who were promoted at the start of the year become better adjusted to the responsibilities of their new positions. We also believe we can improve retention and productivity of sales associates as we continue to intensely focus on recently adopted training initiatives. Ultimately, we believe these actions will lead to better recruiting and faster sales growth in the United States. We are also encouraged about the outlook for our operations in Japan. Although we have seen a proliferation of supplemental insurance products in recent years, AFLAC is still the best branded company for the sale of cancer life and medical insurance, which represent our top two product categories in Japan. We also plan to introduce a new medical insurance product in early 2005 to extend our leadership position.
"Most important, our financial performance continues to be strong. The financial results of AFLAC U.S. and AFLAC Japan have met or exceeded expectations throughout the year. With our consolidated year-to-date operating earnings running ahead of target, we plan to spend more on marketing expenses in the fourth quarter to stimulate sales. As a result, we expect to produce fourth quarter operating earnings per diluted share of approximately $.57 before the impact of the yen. If the yen/dollar exchange rate averages 110 in the fourth quarter, reported operating earnings will likely be $.56 per diluted share.
"Clearly, we are very confident that full-year operating earnings per diluted share will increase 17% in 2004, excluding the impact of the yen. Our goal is to increase operating earnings per diluted share by 15% in 2005 and 2006 before currency translation. We also believe our earnings targets for the next two years are achievable. Our ability to generate strong earnings growth despite slow sales growth reflects the underlying strength and resilience of our operations and business model. We remain committed to providing valued products and services to our customers, and solid growth for our shareholders."
AFLAC Incorporated
A copy of AFLAC's third quarter report to shareholders can be found on the investor relations page of aflac.com.
AFLAC Incorporated will webcast its third quarter conference call on the investor relations page of aflac.com at 9 a.m. (EDT), Wednesday, October 27.
AFLAC INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED SUMMARY OF EARNINGS
(UNAUDITED -- IN MILLIONS, EXCEPT FOR SHARE AND PER-SHARE AMOUNTS)
THREE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2004 2003 % Change
Total revenues $3,321 $2,931 13.3%
Operating earnings 299 245 22.4
Reconciling items, net of tax:
Realized investment gains (losses) (4) (6)
SFAS 133 6 (2)
Net earnings 301 237 26.9
Operating earnings per share - diluted .58 .47 23.4
Reconciling items, net of tax:
Realized investment gains (losses) (.01) (.01)
SFAS 133 .01 (.01)
Net earnings per share - diluted .58 .45 28.9
Net earnings per share - basic .59 .46 28.3
Cash dividends paid per share .095 .08 18.8
Shares used to compute earnings per
share (000):
Basic 506,599 513,385 (1.3)
Diluted 515,576 521,212 (1.1)
NINE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30,
Total revenues $9,834 $8,600 14.3%
Operating earnings 886 728 21.7
Reconciling items, net of tax:
Realized investment gains (losses) (2) (16)
SFAS 133 (6) 11
Japan pension obligation transfer 3 -
Net earnings 881 723 21.9
Operating earnings per share - diluted 1.71 1.39 23.0
Reconciling items, net of tax:
Realized investment gains (losses) (.01) (.03)
SFAS 133 (.01) .02
Japan pension obligation transfer .01 -
Net earnings per share - diluted 1.70 1.38 23.2
Net earnings per share - basic 1.73 1.41 22.7
Cash dividends paid per share .285 .22 29.5
Shares used to compute earnings per
share (000):
Basic 508,286 513,888 (1.1)
Diluted 517,591 522,793 (1.0)
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" to encourage companies to provide prospective information, so long as those informational statements are identified as forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. We desire to take advantage of these provisions. This document contains cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected herein, and in any other statements made by company officials in oral discussions with the financial community and contained in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Forward-looking statements are not based on historical information and relate to future operations, strategies, financial results or other developments. Furthermore, forward-looking information is subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties. In particular, statements containing words such as "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "goal," "objective," "may," "should," "estimate," "intends," "projects," or similar words as well as specific projections of future results, generally qualify as forward-looking. AFLAC undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements.
We caution readers that the following factors, in addition to other factors mentioned from time to time in our reports filed with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements: legislative and regulatory developments; assessments for insurance company insolvencies; competitive conditions in the United States and Japan; new product development; ability to attract and retain qualified sales associates; ability to repatriate profits from Japan; changes in U.S. and/or Japanese tax laws or accounting requirements; credit and other risks associated with AFLAC's investment activities; significant changes in interest rates; fluctuations in foreign currency rates; deviations in actual experience from pricing and reserving assumptions; level and outcome of litigation; downgrades in the company's credit rating; changes in rating agency policies or practices; subsidiary's ability to pay dividends to parent company, and general economic conditions in the United States and Japan.
Analyst and investor contact - Kenneth S. Janke Jr., (800) 235-2667 - option 3, FAX: (706) 324-6330, or
Media contact - Laura Kane, (706) 596-3493, FAX: (706) 320-2288, or
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010525/AFLACLOGO )
SOURCE: AFLAC Incorporated
CONTACT: Analysts and investors, Kenneth S. Janke Jr., +1-800-235-2667 -
option 3, or fax, +1-706-324-6330, or
+1-706-596-3493, or fax, +1-706-320-2288, or
Incorporated
Web site: http://www.aflac.com/
