AMERISAFE, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the AmeriSafe 2023 third quarter earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Katherine Shirley. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Welcome to the AmeriSafe 2023 third 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, uncertainty, and other factors, including factors discussed in the earnings release, in the comments made during today's call, and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, 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. During the third quarter, momentum in our top line grew with increased enforced policy count, as well as an increase in audit premium. However, our expense ratio was elevated due to some infrequent items during the quarter, which Andy will provide more detail on. The overall workers' compensation market has remained fairly stable from the last quarter, with declining rates partially offset by wage inflation. Our underwriting discipline is demonstrated in our ability to maintain strong margins throughout many market cycles. In the third quarter, we reported a combined ratio of 90.6% and a return on average equity of 11.8%. Our top line increased 3.9% compared with the third quarter of 2022, with voluntary premium for policies written in the quarter growing 1.1%. We continue to see strong retention in policies for which we offer renewal, with a 95% retention for the quarter. Moving on to losses, the accident year loss ratio remained steady at 71%. During the quarter, our claims handling practices drove better than expected outcomes, resulting in favorable prior year development of 10.2 million, or 15.2 loss ratio points. These reserves were primarily released from accident years 2019, 2020, and 2021. As it relates to loss trends, frequency and severity were both in line with our expectations, trending lower when compared with previous year at nine months. It's been a while since I used the word lumpy in my prepared remarks, but when reporting favorable claims trends before the end of an accident year, I'm reminded that there's no seasonality to when severe claims happen. While the market remains challenging, we continue to utilize our focus on high hazard risk to position the company for outperformance within the industry. High retention with policyholders demonstrating our strong position while we work to attract new business, delivering robust returns to shareholders. Before returning the call over to Andy, I wanted to discuss our special dividend. The company's board of directors declared a special dividend at $3.50 for shareholders of record as of December 1, 2023. This dividend reflects the operational excellence of AmeriSafe and our commitment to shareholder value creation through capital deployment and returning excess capital when appropriate. With that, I'll turn the call over to Andy to discuss the financials.