St. Paul's Securian Financial employees receive 7% profit-sharing award after strong 2019

Securian Financial employees will share more than $15.1 million in profit-sharing after a strong 2019 in which the company saw a 35% increase in net income.

For eligible employees among Securian's 2,900 associates, the award will be worth about 7% of their salaries. That's up from 6.5% from the 2018 fiscal year.

The St. Paul-based company released its preliminary 2019 results at the company's annual all-employee meeting Tuesday. About 2,200 employees packed the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, near Securian's headquarters.

Securian has made a profit-sharing contribution to eligible employees' retirement accounts for 46 consecutive years.

In addition to the annual profit-sharing, Securian also has a fully funded employer-paid pension plan for its employees. Employees are vested in the pension plan after five years of service. Those benefits and others are factors in Securian's ability to retain 95% of its employees last year.

"In 2019, we delivered excellent operating performance consistent with our 140-year history of outstanding financial strength," Chris Hilger, Securian's chief executive, said in a release.

The company paid $5.6 billion in statutory benefits to customers, he said.

Securian, which sells insurance and other financial products, had net income in 2019 of $435 million on $6.6 billion in total revenue, a 20% increase over 2018. The company said the net income increase was driven by strong investment gains.

The company's top-line revenue, which excludes certain nonrecurring revenue and is the company's primary revenue measure, rose 9% to $5.9 billion. Total assets under management rose 18% to $93 billion.

Securian will release its audited financial results and annual report in late April.

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926