AMERISAFE, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the AmeriSafe 2024 First Quarter Earnings Conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Ms. Catherine Shirley, Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Good morning. Welcome to the AmeriSafe 2024 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 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. Workers' compensation rates across the industry continue to decline in the first quarter, spurred by favorable frequency trends and modest increases in severity. Continued wage growth is helping the industry taper the impact of multi-year rate decreases. However, it is not as robust as 2023. With these conditions as a backdrop, AmeriSafe had solid results in the first quarter. reporting a combined ratio of 87.3% and an ROE of 22.8%. We remained competitive by maintaining our strategy of evaluating risk through safety services and underwriting, giving our insureds peace of mind, and continuing our track record of creating value for our shareholders. Premiums for policies we wrote in the quarter were relatively flat compared to the first quarter of 2023. We continue to see strong retention in policies for which we offered renewal with 94.9% of retention in the first quarter, as well as modest policy growth. Both new business submissions and bonds increased on a year-over-year basis as we're seeing higher agent engagement. Gross premiums written decreased 2.9% compared with the first quarter of 2023, primarily due to lighter audit premiums as wage pressure is moderating. Each quarter of last year, we reported that wage growth was slowing from the post-pandemic highs. For the types of jobs that we insure, we continue to see upper single-digit wage growth, which speaks to the economic strength of our insured classes in the near term. For example, the construction industry continues to add jobs when looking at the latest national data. I believe we will continue to report positive audit premium in 2024, but at lower levels than 2023. As for losses, our accident year loss ratio was in line with the prior year at 71%. Our expectation is that frequency trends will remain favorable and severity increases will be modest, similar to the industry as a whole. In addition, we experienced $8.6 million of favorable development on prior accident years due to proactive claims handling. The favorable development was primarily attributable to accident years 2017 through 2020. We continue to monitor the potential impact of rising healthcare costs on the long-term medical cost inflation, but nothing noteworthy at this time. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Andy to discuss the financials.