Conifer Holdings, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Conifer Holdings' second quarter 2023 investor conference call. All participants will be in a 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. As you also know, today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Brian Roney. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Conifer issued its 2023 second quarter financial results after the close of market yesterday. You can find copies of the earnings released on the company's website, ir.cnfrh.com. The slide presentation accompanying management's remarks this morning is available to view or download via webcast or from the investor relations section of Conifer's website. Before we get started, Please 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 may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties underlying our forward-looking statements, as 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?

Thank you, Brian. Good morning, everyone. Also joining me on the call today are Nick and Harold. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our second quarter financial results. Like the industry at large, the impact of wind-related events was felt by many in the quarter. In this regard, we are no different than our peers. In fact, the affected personal lines business, it has been almost 10 years since an event anywhere near this magnitude has occurred. Despite the unusual storm-related losses in the period, I'm pleased to see continued progress in several key areas of emphasis for Conifer. For example, top line growth and expense management. In the quarter, gross written premiums were up 19%. Significant rate increases coupled with organic growth within our historically profitable core specialty business allowed us to achieve this substantial top line growth. Moreover, for the six month period, gross written premium was up almost 15% on the year as well. SNCC will provide more color shortly, but that is solid growth in the quarter and for the six months. We see room for continued expansion going forward. It's important to recognize that our disciplined underwriting strategy played a pivotal role in driving this top-line growth. Over the past few years, we have diligently refined our book of business, focusing on lines where we have deep knowledge and experience in the key profitable verticals that we emphasize most. Furthermore, when we isolate the impact of storm-related losses, we posted an underlying accident year combined ratio of 95% for the second quarter. It is a testament to the strength of our core operation and reiterates our commitment to underwriting excellence and our ability to navigate challenges while remaining focused on long-term profitable growth. Additionally, our expense ratio continues to trend favorably, demonstrating consistent and sustained improvement on an overall expense reduction. We are approaching our target expense ratio of 35%, a significant near-term milestone that reflects our commitment to operational efficiency and enhancing overall profitability. These results affirm our efforts to streamline our processes, control costs, and position the company for continued improvement as we move forward. I'd like to take a moment to emphasize that these achievements are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team. Their unwavering commitment to our strategic vision coupled with their marketing expertise has enabled us to navigate the complexities facing our entire industry while positioning Conifer for sustainable success. I'll now hand it off to Nick for more color on our underwriting results.