American Financial Group, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Financial Group 2021 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you would need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, to Diane Widener, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to American Financial Group's fourth quarter 2021 earnings results conference call. We released our 2021 fourth quarter and full year results yesterday afternoon. Our press release, investor supplement, and webcast presentation are posted on AFG's website under the Investor Relations section. These materials will be referenced during portions of today's call. I'm joined this morning by Carl Lindner III and Craig Lindner, co-CEOs of American Financial Group, and Brian Hertzman, AFG CFO. Before I turn the discussion over to Carl, I would like to draw your attention to the notes on slide two of our webcast. Some of the matters to be discussed today are forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and or financial conditions to differ materially from these statements. A detailed description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in AFG's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are also available on our website. We may include references to core net operating earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, in our remarks or in responses to questions. A reconciliation of net earnings attributable to shareholders to core net operating earnings is included in our earnings release. If you are reading a transcript of this call, please note that it may not be authorized or reviewed for accuracy. And as a result, it may contain factual or transcription errors that could materially alter the intent or meaning of our statements. Now, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Carl Linder III to discuss our results. Carl Linder III Good morning.

We're pleased to share highlights of AFG's 2021 fourth quarter and four-year results, after which Craig, Brian, and I will be glad to respond to your questions. AFG's financial performance during the fourth quarter was exceptional and a strong finish to an outstanding year. We're very pleased with the underwriting margins produced by our specialty property and casualty businesses and returns in our portfolio of alternative investments that continued to exceed our expectations. AFG's total shareholder return in 2021, representing the change in share price plus dividends, was a very impressive 89%. Our diversified portfolio of specialty insurance operations and entrepreneurial culture and disciplined operating philosophy have positioned us well in a hard P&C market and an improving economy. Craig and I thank God, our talented management team, and our employees for helping us to achieve these exceptionally strong results. And I'll turn the discussion over to Craig to walk us through AFG's fourth quarter and full year results, investment performance, and our overall financial position at December 31st.