American Financial Group, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Financial Group 2026 First Quarter Results 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 during the session, you would need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. And to withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Diane Widener, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to American Financial Group's first quarter 2026 earnings results conference call. We released our 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. Joining me this morning are 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 our 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 in responses to questions today. A reconciliation of net earnings to core net operating earnings is included in our earnings release. And finally, if you're 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 statement. Now I'm pleased to turn the call over to Carl to discuss our results.

Well, good morning, and I'll begin by sharing a few highlights of AFG's 2026 first quarter results, after which Craig and I will walk through more details. We'll then open it up for Q&A, where Craig, Brian, and I will respond to your questions. We are pleased to report an annualized core operating return on equity of 17% for the first quarter, which was driven by strong underwriting margins. Our compelling mix of specialty insurance businesses, entrepreneurial culture, disciplined operating philosophy, and an astute team of in-house investment professionals continue to position us well for the future, enable us to continue to create value for our shareholders. Craig and I thank God, our talent and management team, and our great employees for helping us to achieve these results. And I'll turn the discussion over to Craig to walk us through some of these details.