Kinsale Capital Group, Inc.

Before we get started, let me remind everyone that throughout the course of the teleconference, Kin Sales Management may make comments that reflect their intentions, beliefs, and expectations for the future. As always, these forward-looking statements are subject to certain risk factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially. These risk factors are listed in the company's various SEC filings, including the 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which should be reviewed carefully. The company has furnished a Form 8K with the Securities and Exchange Commission that contains the press release announcing its fourth quarter results. Kinsale's management may also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures in the call today. A reconciliation of GAAP of these measures can be found in the press release, which is available at the company's website at www.kinsalecapitalgroup.com. I will now turn the conference over to Kinsale's President and CEO, Mr. Michael Kehoe. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Brian Haney, Kinsale's Chief Operating Officer, and Brian Petrucelli, Chief Financial Officer, are both with me. Each of us will make a few comments, and then we'll move on to any questions that you may have for us. In the fourth quarter, Kinsale's operating earnings per share increased by 48%, and gross written premium grew by 45%. The company posted a 72.4% combined ratio for the quarter and an operating return on equity for all of 2022 of 25%. We believe these results are principally driven by Kinsale's unique business model of disciplined underwriting and technology-driven low costs. The results are also boosted by the favorable E&S market which continues to experience a strong inflow of new business that allows for meaningful rate increases and exposure growth. ConSale continues to raise rates above loss-cost trend, as we have been doing for four years now, and we continue to establish reserves for future losses in a conservative fashion. Investors should have a high level of confidence in ConSale's balance sheet and reserve positions. As an E&S company, part of Kinsale's long-term success is reacting quickly to market disruptions and turning those disruptions into opportunities. Over the last couple of years and continuing even today, Kinsale is taking advantage of disruption in the property market to grow our book of business at a rapid rate. As always, we are mindful of the volatility associated with property accounts, especially hurricane-exposed properties in the southeastern United States. Although we are writing more property business than ever, we maintain strict limits on the geographic concentration of business. We model the portfolio regularly. We manage our policy limits carefully. We purchase a substantial reinsurance program. And most importantly, we are being well paid for the risks we are taking. All of these steps allow us to write the business and capture an attractive return while continuing to limit the volatility of the book. In 2022, property amounted to just under 23% of our gross written premium, with below 10% of our overall gross written premium having any meaningful hurricane exposure. We announced in late December that Consale had acquired two office buildings and 29 acres of land. for just over $76 million. This property is adjacent to our existing headquarters building. One of the office buildings is subject to a long-term lease. The other is mostly vacant, and we are planning to renovate that property. The purchase gives Kinsale expansion space next to our existing building and also provides an interesting investment opportunity as we consider selling parts of that property to real estate developers over the next several years. Lastly, we continue to have an optimistic outlook for the market for the balance of 2023, at this point halfway through the first quarter. The property market is quite favorable, but we also see opportunities across our casualty product line as well. Regardless of where the market goes in the next couple of years, and given Kinsale's competitive advantages, we expect the company to continue to grow and generate best-in-class returns under any market conditions. Now I'll turn the call over to Brian Petruccelli.

Thanks, Mike. Again, just a really strong quarter and close to the end of the year with a 45% growth in written premium and net income and operating income increasing by 39% and 48% respectively. 72.4% combined ratio for the quarter includes three points from net favorable prior year loss reserve development compared to four points last year, and a negligible impact from CAT losses in either period. Most of the improvement in the quarterly expense ratio, so 19.9% this quarter compared to 21.4% last year, related to seating commissions from the company's casualty and commercial property proportional reinsurance agreements. Net investment income increased by 107% over the fourth quarter last year. as a result of continued growth in the investment portfolio and higher interest rates, with a gross return of 3% for the year compared to 2.5% last year. We're investing new money in shorter duration securities, with new money yields averaging close to 5% during the quarter, and duration has decreased at 3.5 years down from 4.3 years at the end of 2021. Book value was positively impacted in Q4 from a combination of net income, an increase in the fair value of our fixed income securities during the quarter, and the $47.5 million equity raise in November. Notwithstanding the positive fourth quarter movements, our fixed income portfolio continues to be an overall unrealized loss position, resulting from the higher interest rate environment. The company continues to generate strong, positive operating cash flows, which gives us the ability to hold these securities to maturity, and the higher interest rate environment allows us to invest new money at the better yields that I just touched on. As it relates to capital, as I mentioned, we raised approximately $47 million in our fourth quarter equity offering to fund the expected growth of the company. We continuously monitor our needs as market conditions change. Given the continued favorable market conditions and related premium growth, there's always the possibility that we'll need additional supporting capital. Support can come in the form of debt or equity with a bias towards debt given our current modest debt-to-capital position. And lastly, diluted earnings per share was $2.60 per share for the quarter compared to $1.76 per share last year. And with that, I'll pass it over to Brian Haney.