Employers Holdings Inc

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Employers Holdings Incorporated's fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in 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'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Lori Brown, General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Norma. Good morning and welcome, everyone, to the fourth quarter 2023 earnings call for employers. Today's call is being recorded in webcast from the investor section of our website, where a replay will be available following the call. Presenting today on the call will be Kathy Antonello, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mike Paquette, our Chief Financial Officer. Statements made during this conference call that are not based on historical facts are considered forward-looking statements. These statements are made in reliance on the safe harbor provision of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995. Although we believe the expectations expressed in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to be materially different from our expectations. including the risks set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All remarks made during the call are current only at the time of the call and will not be updated to reflect subsequent developments. The company also uses its website as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with disclosure obligations under SEC's Regulation FD. Such disclosures will be included in the investor section of the company's website. Accordingly, investors should monitor that portion of the company's website in addition to following the company's press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, and webcasts. In our earnings press release and in our remarks or responses to questions, we may use non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to our GAAP results are included in our financial supplement as an attachment to our earnings press release. our investor presentation, and any other materials available in the investor section on our website. Now I'll turn the call over to Kathy.

Thank you, Lori. Good morning to everyone, and thank you for joining us today. To start this morning, I will provide some highlights of our fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results. I'll then hand it over to Mike for more details on our financials And prior to Q&A, I'll speak to you about our focus for 2024. The fourth quarter was a strong end to a very successful year for employers. We finished the year with impressive revenue growth, driven by strong increases in both premium writings and investment income. Our steady growth in written premium in 2023 resulted from a 20% increase in new business a 9% increase in renewal business, and continued solid audit premium recognition. Gross written premium excluding final audit premium and the change in audit accrual increased 12% for both the full year and fourth quarter. Our investment performance was also a boost to revenue, with net investment income increasing by 19% in 2023. In addition, the partial recovery of last year's unrealized losses from common stock and other investments benefited our income statement. The impact of numerous initiatives led to year-over-year increases in our XLPT underwriting income of 38% in the fourth quarter and 128% for the full year. Our adjusted net income for the same periods increased 5% and 26% with even stronger increases when expressed on a per share basis. The entry year volatility in market interest rates throughout 2023 enabled us to buy and sell fixed maturity securities opportunistically, which contributed to a $59 million after tax reversal of last year's unrealized bond losses. As a result, our book value per share, including the deferred gain, increased 16% for the year after considering dividends declared. We also hit an all-time high in terms of our policies in force, which we expect will serve us well in 2024. I want to thank our highly dedicated employees for their outstanding efforts in 2023. They are our most valued asset and have successfully positioned the company for even better results in the coming years. With that, Mike will now provide a deeper dive into our impressive financial results, and then I'll return to provide my closing remarks. Mike?