Employers Holdings Inc

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the 2024 Second Quarter Employers Holdings, Inc. Earnings Call. At this time, all participants enlist in only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Lori Brown, General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Marvin. Good morning and welcome, everyone, to the second quarter 2024 earnings call for employers. Today's call is being recorded and webcast from the investor section of our website, where a replay will be available following the call. Presenting today are 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 the SEC's Regulation FD. Such disclosures will be included on the investor section of our website. Accordingly, investors should monitor that portion of our website in addition to following our 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. And now I'll turn the call over to Kathy.

Thank you, Lori. Good morning to everyone and welcome to our second quarter 2024 earnings call. Today, we will follow our typical agenda, where I'll begin by providing some highlights of our second quarter 2024 financial results. I'll then hand it over to Mike for more details on our financials. And prior to Q&A, I'll come back to you with some additional commentary. Our second quarter results were very strong. Our adjusted net income per share of $1.10 was the sixth highest quarterly result in our last 10 years of operations. higher new and renewal premiums, strong net investment income, and continued net investment gains drove year-over-year increases in revenue for both the quarter and the first six months of 2024. Our steady growth in written premium resulted from a 9% increase in new business and a 10% increase in renewal business, partially offset by lower final audit premium recognition. Excluding audit premium adjustments, our gross written premiums increased 10% for the quarter, with all major distribution channels contributing to the growth. Our investment performance was also a boost to revenue, with strong net investment income and further net unrealized gains from our common stocks and other investments. From an underwriting standpoint, our mid-year full reserve study led to the recognition of $9.3 million of net favorable prior year loss reserve development from our voluntary business. That action, coupled with a meaningful decrease in underwriting expenses, led to a combined ratio of 95.4%, excluding the LPT. And our current accident year combined ratio, excluding both the LPT and prior year development, with 100.2%, which is the lowest it's been since the fourth quarter of 2018. We believe that our accident year 2024 loss ratio of 64%, along with our existing provision for a potential increase in medical inflation, positions us well from a reserving standpoint. I'm particularly pleased with our underwriting and general and administrative expense ratio this quarter of 22%. which is down sharply from 26% a year ago, and is the lowest it's been since the third quarter of 2018. The decrease was primarily the result of the CERI integration plan, which we executed in the fourth quarter of 2023. With that, Mike will now provide a deeper dive into our financials, and then I'll return to provide my closing remarks. Mike?