Unum's 3Q profit more than doubles

Employee benefits and disability insurance provider Unum Group, which has major operations in Portland, is reporting its third-quarter profit more than doubled because investments performed better than they did a year ago.

Unum reported a profit of $221.1 million, or 66 cents per share, compared with $108 million, or 32 cents per share a year ago. The company gained $9.5 million, or 2 cents per share, from investments this year, and lost $108.9 million, or 32 cents per share, from investments in the third quarter of 2008.

Unum said its revenue edged up 3 percent, to $2.52 billion from $2.44 billion. That fell short of the $2.56 billion analysts were expecting.

The company said Unum U.S. premium revenue fell 2 percent to $1.22 billion. Unum U.K. results were hurt by volatile exchange rates, and premium revenue fell 25 percent to $169.7 million.

Premium revenue for the Colonial Life business rose 3 percent to $253.5 million.

For the full year, Unum backed its profit forecast of $2.50 to $2.60 per share for the year. Analysts expect $2.56 per share.