Stewart Information Services Corporation

We stand by. Your program is about to begin. If you need audio assistance during your conference today, please press star zero. Hello, and thank you for joining the Steward Information Services third quarter 2020 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have an opportunity to ask a question during the question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. Please note this call may be recorded. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, please press star zero. It is now my pleasure to turn today's conference over to Nat Otis, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Catherine. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Stuart's third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. We will be discussing results that were released yesterday after the close. Joining me today are CEO Fred Eppinger and CFO David Hisey. Thank you for joining us today. are not limited to the risks and other factors detailed in our press release published yesterday evening. And in the statement regarding forward-looking information, risk factors, and other sections of the company's foreign 10K and other problems with the SEC. Let me now turn the call over to Fred.

Thanks, Dan. And thank you all for joining us today and for your interest in Stuart. In a minute, David will go through this quarter's financial results in more detail. But before, I would like to touch on a A few larger themes about our performance this quarter. While it feels like much longer given everything that has happened in 2020, this quarter represents the completion of a full year of financial results for Stewart since I took over as CEO in September of 2019. For that reason, I'd like to take a moment and reflect on a few things. First and foremost, I am proud of how this company and its employees have handled the change and turbulence of the past year. The terminated merger with Fidelity National last September feels like a minor speed bump when compared to the upheaval experienced by our country, our communities, our customers, employees, and their families because of COVID-19, as well as a very real and active real estate market. Through it all, our employees maintain their focus on delivering superior service in challenging conditions, while above all, ensuring the safety of their customers and coworkers. I constantly refer to what is taking place here at Stewart as a journey because it highlights that the work to achieve our mission will take time. That said, our results this quarter and year to date show that real progress has been made on the journey to become the premier title services company. Our growth is not simply the result of macro tailwinds of low rates and positive real estate market, but it's equally about those formal customers being reintroduced to the value of the Stewart brand. new hires joining forces with our existing employees to actively move forward and everyone here at Stewart going the extra mile to deliver added value and a better experience for our customers. Along with a focus on target growth is the foundation of greater operating discipline with this quarter's record operational profitability for reflection of our hard work in this area thus far. I believe that much more progress can be and will be made as we move into 2021 and beyond. In many ways, we remain structurally disadvantaged versus our peers with respect to business mix, scale, and geography. That said, I am pleased with our first steps in addressing these differences. Acquisition and core title and ancillary services have brought official scale and mix to Stewart with more to come on the horizon. And new hires have reminded us that Stewart is now an attractive destination for talent both from our industry and adjacent industries. We have made good progress so far, but there's much more to be done. David will now go through our financials for this quarter in more detail.