American Financial Group, Inc.

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the American Financial Group 2022 third quarter 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. To ask a question at that time, please press star 1-1 on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference to your host, Ms. Diane Widener, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to American Financial Group's third quarter 2022 earnings results conference call. We released our 2022 third quarter 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's 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 condition 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 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 Lindner III to discuss our results.

Good morning. We're pleased to share highlights of AFG's 2022 third quarter results, after which Craig and Brian and I'll be glad to respond to any questions. We're very pleased with AFG's performance during the third quarter. We achieved an annualized core operating return of over 17% in the quarter, with strong underwriting results despite elevated industry catastrophe losses. Strategic positioning of our investment portfolio has continued to enable us to invest opportunistically, and the returns in our alternative investment portfolio, again, exceeded our expectations. Craig and I thank God, our talented management team, and all of our employees for helping us to achieve these exceptionally strong results. Returning capital to our shareholders is an important component of our capital management strategy. and reflects our strong financial position and our confidence in AFG's financial future. With our third quarter earnings release, we announced the special cash dividend of $2 per share payable on November 22nd, 2022 to shareholders of record on November 15th, 2022. This special dividend is in addition to the company's regular quarterly cash dividend of 63 cents per share, most recently paid on October 25th of this year. With this special dividend, the company has declared $12 per share in special dividends in 2022. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, we're reminded of the critical role that insurance plays in the wake of catastrophes such as this. Our claims teams continue to work with our agents and policyholders to identify and process covered claims quickly. and efficient way to help our customers restore their businesses and rebuild their communities. Our thoughts and prayers remain with those who have been affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian. I'll now turn the discussion over to Craig to walk us through AFG's third quarter results, investment performance, and our overall financial position at September 30th.