HCI Group, Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to HCI Group's first quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is Kelly and I will be your conference operator. At this time, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Before we begin today's call, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay through June 7, 2024, starting later today. The call is also being broadcast live via webcast and available via webcast replay until May 8, 2025, on the Investor Information section of HCI Group's website, www.hcigroup.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Matt Glover, Gateway Investor Relations. Matt, please go ahead.

Thank you, Kelly, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to HCI Group's first quarter 2024 earnings call. On today's call is Karen Coleman, HCI's Chief Operating Officer, Mark Harmsworth, HCI's Chief Financial Officer, and Parish Patel, HCI's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Following Karen's operational update, Mark will review our financial performance for the first quarter of 2024, and then Parish will provide a strategic update. To access today's webcast, please visit the investor information section of our corporate website at www.hcigroup.com. Before we begin, I would like to take the opportunity to remind our listeners that today's presentation in response to questions may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as anticipate, estimate, expect, intend, plan, and project, and other similar words and expressions are intended to signify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions, but rather are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Some of these risks and uncertainties are identified in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should any risks or uncertainties develop into actual events, these developments could have material adverse effects on the company's business, financial conditions, and results of operations. HCI Group disclaims all the obligations to update any forward-looking statements. Now, with that, I would like to turn the call over to Karen Coleman, Chief Operating Officer. Karen.

Thank you, Matt, and welcome, everyone. In the first quarter, HTI Group reported pre-tax income of $77.4 million and earnings per share of $3.81. Similar to my comments last quarter, each business unit made a positive contribution to our results, including another quarter of Homeowner's Choice and TipTap both being solidly profitable. In-force premiums grew in the first quarter and remained above $1 billion. We reported another quarter of improvement in our underwriting results, Despite modest weather losses in the quarter, our gross loss ratio improved to 31% compared to 34% in the prior year's quarter. HCI continued to deliver on its commitment to shareholders, paying a dividend of 40 cents per share, our 54th consecutive quarterly dividend. Also in the quarter, we completed our first assumption at Condo Owners Reciprocal Exchange, or as we call it CORE, which totaled $40 million of in-force premium. Following quarter end, CORE completed a second assumption in April, which brings total in-force premium to $55 million. Before I turn it over to Mark, I wanted to provide a quick update on the business that Homeowners Choice and TipTap has assumed from Citizens since November 2023. Overall, the power of the technology we've built is showing its value, and we've seen results exceed our expectations. We were able to evaluate citizens' entire portfolio and select the 70,000 policies that best met our underwriting standards. So far, what we have observed is we were able to offer the majority of policyholders a renewal offer that was comparable to or less than if they had stayed with citizens. We've retained more policyholders than we had expected. The loss ratio in the business we've assumed is better than anticipated, and we've added more than a quarter of a billion dollars of premiums in a few months with almost no added expense. Now I'll turn it over to Mark to provide more details on our financials.