CNO Financial Group, Inc.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to C&O Financial Group first quarter 2026 earnings results. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the call over to Adam Avil, VP of Investor Relations, for opening remarks. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on CNO Financial Group's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today's presentation will include remarks from Gary Bajwani, Chief Executive Officer, and Paul McDonough, Chief Financial Officer. Following the presentation, we will also have other business leaders available for the question and answer period. During this conference call, we will be referring to information contained in yesterday's press release. You can obtain the release by visiting the media section of our website at cnoinc.com. This morning's presentation is also available in the Investors section of the website and was filed in a form 8K yesterday. Let me remind you that any forward-looking statements we make today are subject to a number of factors which may cause actual results to be materially different than those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Today's presentation contains a number of non-GAAP measures which should not be considered as substitutes for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. you'll find a reconciliation of the non-GAP measures to the corresponding GAP measures in the appendix. Throughout the presentation, we will be making performance comparisons, and unless otherwise specified, any comparisons made will refer to changes between first quarter 2026 and first quarter 2025. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Gary.

Thanks, Adam. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. CNO is off to a strong start to the year, building on our excellent 2025 performance. First quarter operating earnings per diluted share were up 33% to $1.05 and up 42% excluding significant items. We also delivered our 15th consecutive quarter of sales growth and our 13th consecutive quarter of producing agent count growth. We remain pleased with the consistent results we're generating and we remain focused on growing earnings, improving profitability and reinvesting in the business. Our performance in the quarter once again illustrates the strength and resilience of our business model. We continue to perform well through economic uncertainty as we help middle income households achieve greater financial security and protection. Sales results in the quarter were strong across both divisions with total new annualized premiums up 11%. Our exclusive middle market focus and our last mile captive agent distribution model create our durable competitive moat. This difficult to replicate model is a clear advantage and a catalyst for profitable growth. Earnings continue to benefit from strong insurance product margin and investment results reflecting growth in the business and expansion of the portfolio book yield. We maintained a robust capital position while returning $77 million to shareholders. Book value per diluted share excluding AOCI was $38.98 up 5%. Turning to slide five and our growth scorecard. Nearly all of our growth scorecard metrics were up for the quarter with strong performance across production, distribution, and investments in capital. Turning to slide six in our consumer division. The consumer business delivered a strong start to the year. This marks our 14th consecutive quarter of sustained sales growth and includes a 9% three-year compound annual growth rate for life and health NAP. Consistent execution and our focus on the middle income market continue to drive our results. Life and health NAP was up 9% for the quarter. Total health NAP was up 20% marking 15 consecutive quarters of growth. Supplemental health was up 10%. Our Medicare business continues to perform well, building on the strong results our field leaders delivered during the fourth quarter 2025 annual enrollment period. Total Medicare policies sold were up 24%, with Medicare supplement NAF up 53%. Our results continue to reflect the shift in consumer preferences away from Medicare Advantage and towards Medicare Supplement. During the 2025 AEP, industry-wide MA enrollment growth slowed to about 3%, the weakest pace in 20 years. The broader MA market also continued to experience significant disruption as many leading carriers pared back plans and benefits over the last 18 months. Approximately 3 million MA members had their plans terminated for the 2026 plan year, requiring them to find new coverage. About one in five people with Medicare switched plans or carriers the highest rate ever recorded for an annual enrollment period. This environment underscores the value of offering both MedSupp and Medicare Advantage through our national agent distribution model. Medicare remains a flagship door-opening product for CNO, supporting our ability to expand the total number of households we serve. LifeNAP was up 1% for the quarter, with more than half of our live production being generated from direct sales. Our approach to the D2C live channel continued to benefit from technology-driven productivity enhancement and diversifying our direct marketing away from television to include more web, digital, and third-party channels. These non-television lead sources generated nearly 65% of all DSC life sales for the quarter. Annuity collected premiums of $434 million were down 2% on a strong comparable. Account values were up 7% over the prior year. We delivered our 12th consecutive quarter of brokerage and advisory growth. Client assets were up 27% to a new record and total accounts were up 13%. When combined with our annuity account values, our clients now entrust us with more than $18 billion of their assets, up 12%. Strong agent productivity and retention continue to fuel our sustained sales momentum. Agent recruiting is also up as our career path continues to resonate with applicants seeking financial stability and a career of purpose. Producing agent count was up 3%, our 13th consecutive quarter of growth. Registered agent count grew 7%. Investments in technology, data, and artificial intelligence are woven into our strategy to drive greater efficiency in agent productivity and to enhance our customer experience. One example is our Colonial Penn Call Center, where we are using AI to help answer and intelligently route customer calls to live agents. The early results are very encouraging. We're seeing shorter customer wait times and higher quality sales conversions. We have multiple initiatives underway across the company to advance our technology and AI roadmap. As these programs move from pilot to execution, we will continue to share examples of the value they deliver. Next, slide seven in our worksite division performance. The worksite business also started the year strong, with life and health NAP up 22%. This represents our 16th consecutive quarter of sales growth with a 20% four-year compound annual growth rate. Highlights from the quarter included life insurance up 56%, hospital indemnity insurance up 121%, and accident insurance up 18%. Our focus on small to mid-sized businesses and associations combined with our career agent model continues to drive meaningful sales growth. NAP from new clients increased 65%, largely driven by geographic expansion and further penetration into existing markets. Live sales, in particular, experience a significant uptick from these new client relationships. Our sales performance in the quarter was driven by strong agent productivity. Producing agent count was up for the 15th quarter and agent recruiting was up 8%. Across both divisions, we're pleased with the solid start to 2026. We're executing well and expect that momentum to carry through the remainder of the year. And with that, I'll turn it over to Paul.