Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2026 Skyward Specialty Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. And to ask a question during the session, you would have to press star 1-1 on your telephone, and you will then hear an automated message of us and your hand is raised. And to withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Natalie Schoolcraft, Senior Vice President. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Gina. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today, I am joined by our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Robinson, and Chief Financial Officer, Mark Hochul. We will begin the call today with our prepared remarks, and then we will open the lines for questions. Our comments 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-GAAP measures along with other supplemental financial schedules are included as part of our press release and available on our website under the investor section. With that, I will turn the call over to Andrew.

Thank you, Natalie. Good morning and thank you for joining us. This quarter marks our first reporting as Skyward Group, inclusive of both the Skyward Specialty and Apollo segments. Our results reflect an excellent start as a combined company. Mark will cover the quarter in detail in a moment, but I'll start our call today with a few highlights. First quarter diluted operating EPS improved to $1.25 from $0.90 a share in the same quarter last year, an impressive increase of 39%, reflecting both the strong embedded earnings growth of Skyward Specialty and the realized accretion from the Apollo acquisition. Our annualized operating return on equity was an outstanding 20%, Our book value per share grew to $27.50, which is up 10% over the prior quarter. Altogether, these results reflect strong underlying earnings momentum and disciplined capital deployment, positioning us well to continue to deliver consistent top quartile returns for our shareholders. Our growth in gross written premiums on a pro forma basis was up 10% over the prior year. Managed premiums were up 20% on a pro forma basis to $968 million. And as a reminder, managed premiums include a combination of group premiums and premiums supported by third-party capital providers. The underlying 49% growth in gross written premiums driving the fee aspect of Apollo's business will be an important and new earnings growth driver as we look out into the future. As is widely discussed, market conditions are increasingly challenging for significant parts of the P&C sector. Our portfolio construction is genuinely unique amongst the P&C universe in that over 50% of the Skyward Group's business, now inclusive of Syndicate 1971 or IBOT, our digital economy syndicate, is in markets less exposed to the P&C cycles. Together with our niche-focused strategy and outstanding execution, Skyward Group has never been better positioned to deliver sustained, top-quartile shareholder value and continued earnings growth. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mark to provide the financial details for the quarter.