AMERISAFE, Inc.

and welcome to the AmeriSafe 2022 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Catherine Shirley, Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Good morning. Welcome to the AmeriSafe 2022 First Quarter Investor Call. If you have not received the earnings release, it is available on our website at AmeriSafe.com. This call is being recorded. A replay of today's call will be available. Details on how to access the replay are in the earnings release. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these statements. If the underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, or as the results of risk, uncertainties, and other factors, including factors discussed in today's earnings release, in the comments made during this call, and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. I will now turn the call over to Janelle Frost, AmeriSafe's President and CEO.

Thank you, Catherine, and good morning, everyone. Our combined ratio of 80.1% this quarter was supported by strong policy retention, favorable prior year case development, better than expected insured payrolls, and a reduction in assessments. I will address premiums, losses, and payrolls, and Neil will speak to the reduction in assessments and other financial metrics. Premiums written in the quarter were down 4.6% from the first quarter of 2021. We continued to face competitive marketplace as carriers seek market share and premium in a declining rate environment. Our average loss cost decline in the quarter was 8.2%. Our ELCM, which is an index of the approved loss cost, was a 154, same as first quarter of 2021. In holding our discipline and responding to competition, we were successful in retaining 93% of the accounts for which we offered renewal, but overall policy count was down 1.1%. Additive to the top line was higher than expected policyholder payrolls. Audit premium and related adjustments increased premium 2.8 million in the quarter, which was a marked improvement over 300,000 reported in the same quarter of 2021. Wage inflation was the primary driver of payroll increases. Moving on to losses, we experienced $10.2 million of favorable prior year development in the quarter, primarily from accident years 2017, 2018, and 2019. Importantly, we did not adjust our reserve estimate for the catastrophic claim reported in the fourth quarter. As for the current accident year, our loss ratio was 71%. I believe it is at this time each year that I use the words three months does not a trend make. That being said, frequency for the quarter was down from accident year 2021 at three months and severity was within expectations. We view fewer reported claims as opportunity to focus on open claims and finding avenues to resolve and close them. Before turning the call over to Neil, I want to speak about this quarter's share repurchases. In the quarter, we repurchased shares for a total of $2.1 million, with $22.9 million remaining within our authorization. The repurchasing of shares, along with our dividends, reinforced our confidence in the earnings power of our niche business. I'll now turn the call over to Neil.