HCI Group, Inc.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the HCI Group's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is John, 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 April 6, 2024, starting later today. The call is also being broadcast live via webcast and available via webcast replay until March 7, 2025. on the investor information section of the HCI Group's website at www.hcigroup.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Matt Glover, Gateway Investor Relations. Matt, please proceed.

Thank you, John, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to HCI Group's fourth quarter 2023 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 fourth quarter of 2023, 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'd 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. H.I. Group disclaims all 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. HCI Group wrapped up 2023 by reporting another excellent quarter with pre-tax income of $54.2 million and diluted earnings per share of $3.40. In-force premiums increased 30% in the quarter to approximately $1 billion. Similar to prior quarters, each of our business segments had a positive contribution to our results. At our insurance divisions, Homeowners Choice generated another quarter of consistent earnings and TipTap Insurance Group reported its fourth straight quarter of GAAP profitability. HCI continued to deliver on its commitment to shareholders, paying a dividend of 40 cents per share, our 53rd consecutive quarterly dividend. On our last earnings call in November, we discussed several initiatives underway. They included both of our existing carriers were in the process of assuming policies from citizens. We said we expected those to total between $150 to $250 million of in-force premium. I'm pleased to announce we completed three depopulations from citizens, totaling $273 million of in-force premium. We also spoke about plans to form a new reciprocal carrier to be named Condo Owners Reciprocal Exchange, or CORE for short, with the intention of it writing Commercial Residential Insurance in Florida. In five months, CORE went from being a concept to now being a fully licensed carrier with a Demotech rating, has fully placed its reinsurance, and last week completed its first citizen's assumption of $38 million of in-force premium. This is in addition to the $273 million I just mentioned. CORE also has been approved for an April assumption and has applied for a June assumption as well. I look forward to providing updates on these in the future. In addition to these significant accomplishments, we took an opportunity to retire the Centerbridge preferred shares in TipTap a year ahead of schedule. We also successfully raised $85 million through a common stock offering. To summarize, in a few short months, we were able to add a significant amount of premium, improve our gross loss ratio, launch a new carrier, and simplify our balance sheet. Now, I'll turn it over to Mark to provide more details on our financial results.