The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc.

Good morning, my name is Audra and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Hartford Financial first quarter 2024 results webcast. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Susan Spivak, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our call and webcast on first quarter 2024 earnings. Yesterday, we reported results and posted all of the earnings related materials on our website. Now, I'd like to introduce our speakers. To start, we have Chris Swift, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, followed by Beth Costello, our Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we will begin taking your questions. Also with us to assist with your questions are several members of our management team. Just a few comments before Chris begins. Today's call includes forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results could be materially different. We do not assume any obligation to update information or forward-looking statements provided on this call. Investors should also consider the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from these statements. A detailed description of those risks and uncertainties can be found in our SEC filings. Our commentary today includes non-GAAP financial measures. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to the comparable GAAP measures are included in our SEC filings, as well as in the news release and financial supplement. Finally, please note that no portion of this conference call may be reproduced or rebroadcast in any form without the Hartford's prior written consent. Replays of this webcast and an official transcript will be available on the Hartford's website for one year. I'll now turn the call over to Chris.

Good morning and thank you for joining us today. The Hartford had a strong start to the year, sustaining outstanding financial results through the first quarter. Our strategy and ongoing investments, combined with disciplined underwriting and pricing execution, exceptional talent, and innovative customer-centric technology continue to drive outperformance. Let me call your attention to some highlights achieved in the quarter. Top line growth in commercial lines of 8%, with an underlying combined ratio of 88.4. Strong renewal written pricing increases, in commercial and personal lines, group benefits, core earnings margin of 6.1%, and solid performance in our investment portfolio. All these contributed to an outstanding and industry-leading trailing 12-month core earnings ROE of 16.6%, reflecting consistency of our margins and continued growth generated by our businesses. Now let me share a few details from the quarter. Commercial lines performance reflects strong top line growth at highly profitable margins. In the marketplace, we are prudently taking advantage of elevated submission flow, in part driven by the investments we have made to expand our product capabilities and the efficiency of the broker and agent experience. From that flow, we are using our data science advancements, pricing expertise, and industry leading underwriting tools to drive profitable double-digit new business growth in each of our three businesses. In addition, retention is steady and exposure growth remains solid, although moderating from the elevated levels seen the past couple of years. In small commercial, we are shattering previous quarterly written premium records while sustaining underlying margins. New business growth was 11% in the quarter, driven by strong submission flow and growth in E&S binding. We are particularly pleased with E&S binding, a key area of focus, which is on track to grow annual written premiums by approximately 50% in 2024 to nearly 300 million. I remain incredibly pleased with the overall performance in small commercial and bullish on its outlook. We expect to sustain outstanding financial results by reliably serving agents and customers with industry-leading products, an unmatched ease of conducting business, and unrivaled pricing accuracy. Moving to middle and large commercial, the financial performance continues to be exceptional. Written premium growth reflects strong renewal rate execution and new business growth of 18%, and especially good quarter and guaranteed cost construction and general industries. We are building a track record of delivering meaningful growth while consistently maintaining underlying margins. The stellar performance in this business is a direct result of our underwriting discipline enabled by the investments we have made to enhance our capabilities. Combining these advantages with our best in class talent, and the strength of our distribution relationships, we remain well positioned to profitably grow this business. In global specialty, results were excellent with underlying margins consistent with last year and solid top line growth reflecting our competitive position, breadth of products, and strong renewal written pricing. Written premium growth was propelled by 20% increase in our wholesale business with significant contributions from primary and excess casualty lines. We are particularly pleased with wholesale construction activity found in the quarter, as well as overall increased emission flow, both meaningful drivers of new business growth. We remain excited about the global specialty business including our position in wholesale and reinsurance market, and from a broadened product portfolio. Looking across commercial lines, we continue to grow our property book, another key area of focus. We are capitalizing on favorable market conditions with a disciplined approach, including no change in our catastrophe risk appetite. Property written premium for the quarter was approximately 17% higher than in 2023. Turning to pricing, excluding workers' compensation, commercial lines renewal written pricing rose seven-tenths from the fourth quarter to 9%, with strong low double-digit pricing in property and auto and high single-digit in general liability. Public D&O pricing is still pressured, though relatively stable with the fourth quarter. ex-comp renewal written pricing in commercial lines remained comfortably above lost cost trends. In workers' compensation, renewal written pricing remained slightly positive in the quarter. In summary, commercial lines delivered an outstanding first quarter result with ongoing momentum in the market. Moving to personal lines, our first quarter financial performance demonstrates progress towards restoring targeted profitability in auto as we continue to address current loss trends. Auto renewal written price increases of nearly 26% have likely peaked given our view of moderating loss trends for the remainder of the year. In addition, we have achieved new business rate adequacy in the vast majority of states, and as a result, have resumed national advertising this month. In homeowners, renewal written pricing of 15% during the quarter comprised of net rate and insured value increases outpaced underlying lost cost trends. This year, we are celebrating our 40th anniversary with AARP. In 1984, we embarked on this journey with a shared vision and commitment to serve mature market customers. Our focus on this preferred segment Coupled with our modern, innovative, and digitally enhanced product and platform, Prevail is a competitive advantage. Our updated offering is currently available in 42 states and represents approximately 60% of our new business premium this quarter. With pricing gains, enhanced risk segmentation, and moderating loss trends, I expect Personalized to meaningfully contribute to core earnings as it returns to profitability in 2024 and reaches target margins in 2025. Turning to group benefits, our core earnings margin of 6.1% for the quarter included improved mortality trends from the prior year and continued strong long-term disability claim recoveries. Fully insured ongoing premium growth of 2% reflects strong but slightly lower persistency and a 6% decline in sales, primarily driven by group life, where we are being disciplined with pricing and underwriting in this competitive marketplace. We continue to strengthen our capabilities for customer service with an extensive suite of tools for HR platform integration, member enrollment, process simplification, and analytics. As part of our strategy to grow amongst small and mid-sized businesses, we are investing in our platform. This includes strengthening distribution relationships and actively seeking out new partnerships. Employers are more focused than ever on the needs of their employees, and our products and services are a key part of that value proposition. Moving to investments, the portfolio continues to support the Hartford's financial and strategic goals, performing well across a range of asset classes, and market conditions, and Beth will provide more details. In summary, Hartford delivered another strong quarter with sustained momentum heading into the remainder of the year. Let me reiterate why I am so bullish about the future. First, our financial results continue to prove the effectiveness of our strategy and the impact of ongoing investments in our business. Second, Personal lines results are showing improvement. We are achieving necessary rate increases and expect 2024 margins to progress towards targeted profitability. Third, with our disciplined underwriting and pricing execution, exceptional talent, and innovative customer-centric technology, we will continue to sustain superior results. Fourth, investment income remains solid supported by elevated yields and a diversified and durable portfolio of assets. And finally, we remain dedicated to enhancing shareholder value through supporting organic growth, continued investment in our business, and proactively managing our excess capital. All these factors contribute to my excitement and confidence about the future of the Hartford and our ability to extend our track record of delivering industry-leading financial performance. Now I'll turn the call over to Beth to provide more detailed commentary on the quarter.