Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Skyward Specialty Insurance Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to have the conference over to your first speaker today, Natalie Schoolcraft, head of investor relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Sean. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Today, I am joined by our chairman and chief executive officer, Andrew Robinson, and chief financial officer, Mark Poshel. We'll begin the call today with our prepared remarks, and then we will open the lines for questions. Our comments today may include forward-looking statements, which by their nature involve a number of risk factors and uncertainties which may affect future financial performance. Such risk factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements. These types of factors are discussed in our press release, as well as in our 10-K that was previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Financial schedules containing reconciliations of certain non-GET measures, along with other supplemental financial information are included as part of our press release and available on our website, skywardinsurance.com, under the Investors section. With that, I will turn the call over to Andrew. Andrew?

Thank you, Natalie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With another great quarter reporting Q2 adjusted operating income of $0.80 per diluted share, which is our best in company history and nearly double the same quarter last year. Our underwriting income is up over 50% and our investment income is up over 150% from the prior year. This quarter marks the sixth consecutive quarter we've delivered a sub-92 combined ratio and 18 plus percent growth. Our fully diluted book value per share was up 8.9% from the beginning of the year to $17.38 And our annualized adjusted return on equity and tangible equity through six months were 19.6 and 22.4% respectively. Altogether, these outstanding results are a testament to the high level of execution across our underwriting divisions and the functions that support our business. It's also a direct reflection of our rule our niche strategy, including our intentional efforts to have a well-diversified portfolio underwriting divisions that enables us to deliver top quartile underwriting profitability across all market cycles. As you may have read last week, Skyward Specialty was upgraded by AM Best to an A rating. This is no small achievement given that the company had an A- with negative outlook when I joined in May of 2020. The incredible commitment, drive, and execution of our 540 employees are the force behind this important achievement. I am confident that this will add to the momentum we have and will further fuel our winning in the marketplace. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mark to discuss our financial results in greater detail. Mark?