Conifer Holdings, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to Congress for Holdings first quarter 2022 investor conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Roney. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Conifer issued its 2022 first quarter financial results after the close of market yesterday. You can find copies of the earnings release on the company's website, ir.cnfrh.com. The slide presentation accompanying management's discussion this morning is available to view or download via webcast or from the investor relations portion of Conifer's website. Before we get started, we note that except with regard to historical information, statements made in this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements relating to trends, the company's operations and financial results, and the business and the products of the company and its subsidiaries. Actual results from CONIFER may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements, as a result of various risks and uncertainties underlying our forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties associated with COVID-19 and its impact on the economy and our business, as well as those risks described from time to time in Conifer's filings with the SEC, including our latest Form 10-K and subsequent reports. Conifer specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise. In addition, a replay of this call will be provided through a link on the investor relations section of our website. During this call, we'll also discuss non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures are included when possible, in our earnings release and our historical SEC filings. Statutory accounting data is prepared in accordance with statutory accounting rules and is therefore not reconciled to GAAP. We will conduct a Q&A session after management's prepared remarks this morning. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim Peckhoff, Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer. Jim?

Thanks, Brian. Good morning, everyone. On the call with me are also Nick, Harold, and Nick and Harold. Andy is absent today. On today's call, I'll provide a brief update of our business and our progress towards key strategic initiatives at the company. As per the norm, Nick will discuss the underwriting results in greater detail and Harold will cover the financials. Generally, we were encouraged to see continued top-line premium growth in the first quarter, particularly in the most profitable lines of business. Our premium growth was achieved through a combination of solid rate increases, high account retention, and disciplined expansion in our chosen specialty markets. For the quarter, gross rent and premiums were up 9%, largely a result of rate increases on our book of business. In addition to premium growth, we are pleased to see continued improvement in our expense ratio. We realized our short-term goal of sub-40 expense ratio for the first quarter, and we expect the improved expense trend will continue for the balance of the year. Our near-term expense ratio goal is 35%. Consistent top line growth with year-over-year gross rate and premium increases once again boosted our net earned premiums for the quarter. The net earned premium growth when combined with the results of our expense management positions us well for sustained improvement of our financial results. What was challenging for us in the quarter was the impact of continued reserve strengthening. As a result, we are committed to mitigating any future development as we shed residual burden of de-emphasized lines of business. Given the performance we've seen to date in our improved business mix, we feel more confident than ever that underwriting profitability is imminent. Our executive management and leadership teams have concentrated significant energy on a number of initiatives to combat development from all angles and ultimately to generate sustained loss ratio improvement. These initiatives are starting to bear positive results, and we see a clear path forward to achieving our ultimate goal, which is to deliver profit for the shareholders. With that, I'm turning it over to Nick.