Cincinnati Financial Corporation

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you all for joining us for this Cincinnati Financial Corporation first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all phone participants are in a muted or listen-only mode to prevent any potential background noise. Today's session is also being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Investor Relations Officer, Mr. Dennis McDaniel. Excuse me, Mr. Dennis McDaniel, rather. Welcome, Dennis.

Hello, this is Dennis McDaniel at Cincinnati Financial. Thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Late yesterday, we issued a news release on our results, along with our supplemental financial package, including our quarter-end investment portfolio. To find copies of any of these documents, please visit our investor website, investors.cynthen.com. The shortest route to the information is the quarterly results section near the middle of the investor overview page. On this call, you'll first hear from President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Spray, and then from Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mike Sewell. After their prepared remarks, investors participating on the call may ask questions. At that time, some responses may be made by others in the room with us, including Executive Chairman Steve Johnston, Chief Investment Officer Steve Soloria and Cincinnati Insurance's Chief Claims Officer Mark Shambo and Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance Andy Schnell. Please note that some of the matters to be discussed today are forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. With respect to these risks and uncertainties, we direct your attention to our news release and to our various filings with the SEC. Also, a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures was provided with the news release. Statutory accounting data is prepared in accordance with statutory accounting rules and therefore is not reconciled to GAAP. Now I'll turn over the call to Steve.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to hear more about our results. Performance for the first quarter of the year was good and included several aspects that demonstrated the success of our proven strategy and our ability to execute it. Both our insurance and investment operations performed quite well. Net income of $274 million for the first quarter of 2026 included recognition of $82 million on an after-tax basis for the decrease in fair value of equity securities still held. Non-GAAP operating income was strong. $330 million for the quarter compared with an operating loss of $37 million a year ago. The 95.6% first quarter 2026 property casualty combined ratio improved by 17.7 percentage points compared with first quarter last year, including a decrease of 14.2 points for catastrophe losses. we had an excellent 87.5% accident year 2026 combined ratio before catastrophe losses for the first quarter. Turning to premium growth, our consolidated property casualty net written premiums grew 7% for the quarter, including a favorable 2% effect from net reinstatement premiums recorded in first quarter 2025. Our strong financial position and sophisticated pricing and segmentation models allowed us to benefit from market disruption over the past few years. We stayed the course, providing a stable market for our agents, in turn, growing at an accelerated pace. In fact, in just the last seven years, we've doubled the size of our consolidated property casualty net written premiums. As those market challenges shift, Growth is slowing as our underwriters continue to emphasize pricing and risk segmentation on a policy-by-policy basis in their underwriting decisions. Estimated average renewal price increases for most lines of business during the first quarter were lower than the fourth quarter of 2025, but still at levels we believe were healthy. Commercial lines in total averaged increases near the high end of the low single-digit percentage range. and excess and surplus lines was again in the mid-single-digit range. Our personal line segment included personal auto and homeowner in the high single-digit range. Our premium growth objectives are further supported by exceptional claims service and our deep relationships with best-in-class independent insurance agents. Next, I'll comment on first quarter performance by insurance segment compared with a year ago. As we pursue profitable premium growth, we believe pricing discipline in a challenging market contributed to strong profitability this quarter. Commercial lines grew net written premiums 3% with a 98.6% combined ratio that increased by 6.7 percentage points, including 6.0 points from higher catastrophe losses. Personal lines grew net written premiums 15%, driven by Cincinnati private client. The combined ratio for personal lines was 96.8%, 54.5 percentage points better than last year, including a decrease of 41.9 points from lower catastrophe losses. Access and surplus lines grew net written premiums 8% and produced a very good combined ratio of 89.3%. Cincinnati RE and Cincinnati Global each continue to contribute to profitability and reflect our efforts to diversify risk and further improve income stability. Cincinnati RE's first quarter 2026 net written premiums decreased by less than 1%. Its combined ratio was an outstanding 79.7%. Cincinnati Global's combined ratio was also stellar at 78.7%. along with premium growth of 31%, as it continues to benefit from product expansion in recent years. Our life insurance subsidiary continued to deliver excellent results, including 24% net income growth. In addition, term life insurance earned premiums grew 7%. I'll end my commentary with a summary of our primary measure of long-term financial performance, the value creation ratio. Our VCR was 0.2% for the first quarter of 2026. Net income before investment gains or losses for the quarter contributed 2.1%. Lower overall valuation of our investment portfolio and other items contributed negative 1.9%. Now I'll turn it over to Chief Financial Officer Mike Sewell for additional insights regarding our financial performance.