Life-licensed sales force grew 7% driven by solid recruiting and a 17% increase in new life licenses

Term Life net premiums grew 5%; adjusted direct premiums up 6%

Issued Term Life face amount of $31 billion, up 5%; total in force coverage of $958 billion

Investment and Savings Products sales of $2.9 billion, up 34%

Investment and Savings Products client asset values up 26%, ending the quarter at $111 billion

Net earnings per diluted share from continuing operations (EPS) of $5.72 increased 31% (including a remeasurement gain of $0.52 per diluted share); return on stockholders’ equity (ROE) of 38.3%

Diluted adjusted operating earnings per share of $5.68 increased 28% (including a remeasurement gain of $0.52 per diluted adjusted share); adjusted net operating income return on adjusted stockholders’ equity (ROAE) of 36.5%

Declared dividend of $0.90 per share, payable on December 12, 2024; repurchased $129 million of common stock during the quarter

DULUTH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 6, 2024-- Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. Total revenues of $774.1 million, increased 11% compared to the third quarter of 2023. Net income from continuing operations of $194.7 million increased 24%, while net earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of $5.72 increased 31% compared to the prior year period.

Comparisons to the prior year period were impacted by the Company’s annual actuarial assumption review, as described below, which resulted in a net remeasurement gain of $23.0 million, or $0.52 after tax earnings per diluted share. The Company recorded a remeasurement gain of $28.2 million in the Term Life segment and a remeasurement loss of $5.2 million in the Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment.

Net income and diluted earnings per share, including discontinued operations, were $164.4 million and $4.83, respectively during the third quarter of 2024 compared to $152.1 million and $4.23, respectively in the prior year period. On September 30, 2024, the Company exited its senior health business by permanently surrendering and relinquishing its rights to e-TeleQuote Insurance, Inc. with no significant continuing involvement. Consequently, the senior health business’ financial results have been reported in discontinued operations for all periods presented.

Adjusted operating revenues of $770.1 million increased 10% compared to the third quarter of 2023. Adjusted net operating income of $193.2 million increased 21%, while adjusted operating earnings per diluted share of $5.68 grew 28% year-over-year. Comparisons to the prior year period were impacted by the Company’s annual actuarial assumption review, as described above. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures is included at the end of this release.

Distribution results during the third quarter were strong, driven by sustained recruiting momentum and growth in new life-licensed representatives. Financial results in the Term Life segment, excluding the remeasurement gain, benefited from continued strong sales and stable margins. Results in the Investment and Savings Products segment were positively impacted by favorable equity market conditions, which fueled sales growth and higher client asset values.

“Our results continue to reflect the power of Primerica’s distribution model as we meet the increasing financial needs of middle-income families,” said Glenn Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Primerica, Inc. “In the third quarter, we were able to successfully leverage the momentum created by our convention in July 2024 to accelerate growth.”

Third Quarter Distribution & Segment Results

* Not calculated

Life Insurance Licensed Sales Force

The Company introduced new recruiting incentives for July and the beginning of August to further the momentum created at the convention. This led to a record number of new recruits and a 17% increase in the number of new licenses. During the third quarter, a total of 142,655 new recruits became part of Primerica and 14,349 individuals obtained a new life license. The size of the sales force increased 7% year-over-year, for a total of 148,890 life-licensed representatives as of September 30, 2024.

Term Life Insurance

During the third quarter of 2024, the Company issued 93,377 new life insurance policies, up 5% year-over-year. Productivity as measured by the average monthly rate of new policies issued per life-licensed independent sales representative remained unchanged at 0.21.

Third quarter revenues of $450.3 million increased 5% compared to the third quarter of 2023 driven by 6% growth in adjusted direct premiums. Income before income taxes of $178.4 million in the current year period included a $28.2 million remeasurement gain primarily due to an assumption change stemming from the ongoing decline in disability incidence rates under our waiver of premium rider, resulting in a 26% increase year over year and a benefits and claims ratio of 53.2%. Excluding the impact of the remeasurement gain, the benefits and claims ratio would have been 57.6%. The DAC amortization and insurance commissions ratio at 11.9% and the insurance expense ratio at 7.4% remained stable year-over-year. The Term Life Insurance operating margin at 27.5% was favorably impacted by the remeasurement gain in the current year period. Excluding the impact of the remeasurement gain, the Term Life Insurance operating margin would have been 23.1%.

Investment and Savings Products

Ending client asset values continued to benefit from strong equity market appreciation, ending the quarter at $111.2 billion, up 26% compared to the prior year period. Total product sales during the quarter were $2.9 billion, up 34% year-over-year, driven by strong investor demand for mutual funds, annuities and managed accounts, likely influenced by strong equity market performance. Net client inflows during the quarter were $444 million.

Third quarter revenues of $266.1 million increased 22% compared to the prior year period, while income before income taxes of $79.9 million increased 24%. Revenues from sales-based commissions and fees increased 32%, while sales-based commission expenses increased 27%. Revenue growth slightly outpaced correlated product sales due to continued strong client demand for variable annuities, on which we earn higher up-front fees. Asset-based revenues increased 19%, largely consistent with the growth in average client asset values. The change in asset-based commission expenses was in line with asset-based revenues.

Corporate and Other Distributed Products

During the third quarter of 2024, the segment recorded a pre-tax adjusted operating loss of $5.7 million compared to pre-tax adjusted operating income of $3.1 million in the prior year period. The year-over-year decline was primarily due to a $5.2 million remeasurement loss on a closed book of non-term life insurance business, lower revenues from certain other distributed products and growth in other operating expenses. This was partly offset by higher net investment income ("NII") due to higher yields on investments and growth in the size of the portfolio.

Taxes

The effective tax rate from continuing operations remained largely unchanged at 23.5% in the third quarter of 2024 compared to 23.7% in the prior year period.

Capital

The Company repurchased 510,911 shares of common stock for $128.8 million during the third quarter of 2024 and the Board of Directors has approved a dividend of $0.90 per share, payable on December 12, 2024 to stockholders of record on November 21, 2024. Primerica Life Insurance Company’s statutory risk-based capital (RBC) ratio was estimated to be about 440% as of September 30, 2024.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), the Company presents certain non-GAAP financial measures. Specifically, the Company presents adjusted direct premiums, other ceded premiums, adjusted operating revenues, adjusted operating income before income taxes, adjusted net operating income, diluted adjusted operating earnings per share and adjusted stockholders' equity.

Adjusted direct premiums and other ceded premiums are net of amounts ceded under coinsurance transactions that were executed concurrent with our initial public offering (the “IPO coinsurance transactions”) for all periods presented. We exclude amounts ceded under the IPO coinsurance transactions in measuring adjusted direct premiums and other ceded premiums to present meaningful comparisons of the actual premiums economically maintained by the Company. Amounts ceded under the IPO coinsurance transactions will continue to decline over time as policies terminate within this block of business.

Adjusted operating revenues, adjusted operating income before income taxes, adjusted net operating income and diluted adjusted operating earnings per share exclude the impact of investment gains (losses), including credit impairments, and fair value mark-to-market (“MTM”) investment adjustments for all periods presented. We exclude investment gains (losses), including credit impairments, and MTM investment adjustments in measuring these non-GAAP financial measures to eliminate period-over-period fluctuations that may obscure comparisons of operating results due to items such as the timing of recognizing gains (losses) and market pricing variations prior to an invested asset’s maturity or sale that are not directly associated with the Company’s insurance operations.

Adjusted operating income before taxes, adjusted net operating income, and diluted adjusted operating earnings per share exclude corporate restructuring and related charges associated with the decision to exit the senior health business. We exclude these items from our non-GAAP financial measures as they are not useful in evaluating the Company’s ongoing operations. Adjusted net operating income and diluted adjusted operating earnings per share also exclude the tax effect of pre-tax operating adjustments. We exclude these items from our non-GAAP financial measures as they represent the tax effect of pre-tax operating adjustments and/or non-recurring items that will cause incomparability between period-over-period results.

Adjusted stockholders’ equity excludes the impact of net unrealized investment gains (losses) recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) for all periods presented. We exclude unrealized investment gains (losses) in measuring adjusted stockholders’ equity as unrealized gains (losses) from the Company’s available-for-sale securities are largely caused by market movements in interest rates and credit spreads that do not necessarily correlate with the cash flows we will ultimately realize when an available-for-sale security matures or is sold. Adjusted stockholders’ equity also excludes the difference in future policy benefits calculated using the current discount rate and future policy benefits calculated using the locked-in discount rate at contract issuance recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). We exclude the impact from the difference in the discount rate in measuring adjusted stockholders' equity as such difference is caused by market movements in interest rates that are not permanent and may not align with the cash flows we will ultimately incur when policy benefits are settled.

Our definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from the definitions of similar measures used by other companies. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in making financial, operating and planning decisions and in evaluating the Company’s performance. Furthermore, management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures may provide users with additional meaningful comparisons between current results and results of prior periods as they are expected to be reflective of the core ongoing business. These measures have limitations and users should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s results as reported under GAAP. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are attached to this release.

Earnings Webcast Information

Primerica will hold a webcast on Thursday, November 7, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, to discuss the quarter’s results. To access the webcast, go to https://investors.primerica.com at least 15 minutes prior to the event to register, download and install any necessary software. A replay of the call will be available for approximately 30 days. This release and a detailed financial supplement will be posted on Primerica’s website.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information contained in this press release, the statements in this release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contain known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from anticipated or projected results. Those risks and uncertainties include, among others, our failure to continue to attract and license new recruits, retain sales representatives or license or maintain the licensing of sales representatives; new laws or regulations that could apply to our distribution model, which could require us to modify our distribution structure; changes to the independent contractor status of sales representatives; our or sales representatives’ violation of or non-compliance with laws and regulations; litigation and regulatory investigations and actions concerning us or sales representatives; differences between our actual experience and our expectations regarding mortality, persistency, disability or insurance as reflected in the pricing for our insurance policies; changes in federal, state and provincial legislation or regulation that affects our insurance, investment product and mortgage businesses; our failure to meet regulatory capital ratios or other minimum capital and surplus requirements; a significant downgrade by a ratings organization; the failure of our reinsurers or reserve financing counterparties to perform their obligations; the failure of our investment products to remain competitive with other investment options or the loss of our relationship with one or more of the companies whose investment products we provide; heightened standards of conduct or more stringent licensing requirements for sales representatives; inadequate policies and procedures regarding suitability review of client transactions; revocation of our subsidiary’s status as a non-bank custodian; a significant change to or disruption in the mortgage lenders’ mortgage businesses or an inability of the mortgage lenders to satisfy their contractual obligations to us; economic downcycles that impact our business, financial condition and results of operations; major public health pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks or other catastrophic events; the failure of our or a third-party partner’s information technology systems, breach of our information security, failure of our business continuity plan or the loss of the Internet; any failure to protect the confidentiality of client information; the current legislative and regulatory climate with regard to privacy and cybersecurity; cyber-attack(s), security breaches; the effects of credit deterioration and interest rate fluctuations on our invested asset portfolio and other assets; incorrectly valuing our investments; changes in accounting standards may impact how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations; the inability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make distributions; litigation and regulatory investigations and actions; a significant change in the competitive environment in which we operate; the loss of key personnel or sales force leaders; the efficiency and success of business initiatives to enhance our technology, products and services; any acquisition or investment in businesses that do not perform as we expect or are difficult to integrate; and fluctuations in the market price of our common stock or Canadian currency exchange rates. These and other risks and uncertainties affecting us are more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available in the "Investor Relations" section of our website at https://investors.primerica.com. Primerica assumes no duty to update its forward-looking statements as of any future date.

About Primerica, Inc.

Primerica, Inc., headquartered in Duluth, GA, is a leading provider of financial products and services to middle-income households in North America. Independent licensed representatives educate Primerica clients about how to better prepare for a more secure financial future by assessing their needs and providing appropriate solutions through term life insurance, which we underwrite, and mutual funds, annuities and other financial products, which we distribute primarily on behalf of third parties. We insured approximately 5.7 million lives and had approximately 2.9 million client investment accounts on December 31, 2023. Primerica, through its insurance company subsidiaries, was the #2 issuer of Term Life insurance coverage in the United States and Canada in 2023. Primerica stock is included in the S&P MidCap 400 and the Russell 1000 stock indices and is traded on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PRI”.

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Investor Contact:
Nicole Russell
470-564-6663
Email: Nicole.Russell@primerica.com

Media Contact:
Susan Chana
404-229-8302
Email: Susan.Chana@Primerica.com

Source: Primerica, Inc.