1/28/2025

speaker
Conference Operator
Operator

We're standing by. This is the conference operator. Good morning and welcome to Qualitas' fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings results webcast. The conference will begin now. It is my pleasure to turn the call over to Raquel Litoi, Qualitas' IR coordinator.

speaker
Raquel Itoi
IR Coordinator

Good morning and thank you for joining Qualitas' fourth quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call. I'm Raquel Itoi, Qualitas' IR Coordinator. Our CEO and Chairman of the board is joining us today, José Antonio Correa, as well as our CFO, Roberto Araujo. As a reminder, information discussed on today's call may include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those discussed during today's call. Qualitas undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise. Let's give it over to José Antonio, our CEO, for his remarks.

speaker
José Antonio Correa
CEO & Chairman of the Board

Thank you, Raquel. Good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you all again to review the results of the 2024 year. And let me tell you that I wish you the best for you and your families during this year. To begin, let me start with 2024. That will be a year to remember at Qualitas, and not only for the fact that we celebrated our 30 year anniversary, of which we have been leaders for the past 18 years by maintaining our focus, agility, flexibility, while continuing to provide the best in class service, actively listening to our agents and policyholders, but also for the significant accomplishments we made this year. One example of this continues to be the latest available auto insurance industry figures, which reflect that Qualitas is the leader not only in market share in terms of written premiums, with 32.9%, and 35.9% in earned premiums, but also showed that Qualitas represents 97% of the total underwriting industry results and 42.2% of the industry net result, posting the best combined ratio within the top five companies, and we still believe in the potential of more profitable growth to come. Our top line closed 29% up with a notable growth in profits, delivering once again an ROE of about 20%, which is in line with our long-term goal. And to provide some perspective of order of magnitude, Qualitas' absolute growth in 2024 is equivalent to Qualitas' annual sales after 20 years in the market, keeping in mind that in the last three years we almost doubled our premium in size. Also, Qualitas surpassed the 5.7 million insured units, adding over 400,000 units throughout the year, a 7.5% increase versus 2023. The growth in units this year is equivalent to what it took us eight years to acquire as customers in the early years of the company. Obviously, growing at this pace represents a continuous opportunity to provide outstanding customer service and meet their expectations. Therefore, throughout the year, we increased our workforce and successfully integrated over 600 positions with the company while strengthening our onboarding process to ensure that Qualitas DNA is lived by everyone. Proving outstanding service is at the center of everything we do. Let me talk about our call center, which continues to show remarkable improvement, fulfilling our commitment to being efficient and offering the best service to our customers. In 2024, we received 3.3 million calls, from which the average response time decreased from eight to six seconds, equivalent to a ring when dialing, ensuring faster service under stressful situations. This progress is reflected in the satisfaction rate of 95% for the year surpassing the rate achieved a year ago, which confirms our ongoing efforts to optimize service quality. The attention and service provided by claim officers have also experienced significant improvements in 2024, both in response times and satisfaction levels. We have managed to reduce the adjuster's arrival time, which optimizes service and reduces wait times for policyholders, while also fostering a sense of trust. Additionally, the satisfaction rate with in-person claim officers has increased two percentage points year over year, while the satisfaction rate with express adjusters has also improved, reaching 94.2% compared to 90% in 2023. These results reflect the trust placed in us by our policyholders and the success of our business model. Our strategy to generate growth by prioritizing our service has fully translated into being the most elected option, not because of price, but because of the value provided by our products and by our team. We honor our work. I am especially grateful to all Qualitas team members who have played an important role in setting us on this path. Given the momentum we see, we believe we can continue to drive healthy growth in 2025 and beyond, including our next year's expectation to deliver top-line growth of high single digits to low teens, along with healthy ratios within our target ranges. And Roberto will elaborate further. During 2024, Qualitas corporate development plan progressed as well, reaching two important milestones, whilst executing in line with our three pillar strategy that we deployed a couple of years ago, by which we aim to further diversify our business to fuel sustainable growth for the mid and long term. First, by the end of 2024, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia authorized the operation in the field of automobile insurance to Qualitas Compañía de Seguros Colombia. And just a few days ago, we successfully issued our first policy in the country. Being able to serve a market with a vehicle fleet of more than 17 million units will represent a big challenge, one we look forward to, while also recognizing it will require resources, attention to detail, and incorporating Qualitas DNA, but certainly something that we are excited about. Furthermore, we completed the acquisition of a company that has more than 50 years of experience in the sale and installation of windshields and all types of automobile glass, also the supply of spare parts, automotive paint and repairing products, with a network of more than 130 branches across Mexico. This acquisition confirms our differentiation strategy through vertical integration by strengthening and complementing the potential of our subsidiary FLEC. Another key achievement this year has been strengthening our organization. During 2024, We secure key senior leadership positions such as our CFO and CIO, in addition to effective succession transitions in critical areas such as human resources, treasury, valuation, allowing for the internal talent development and growth within the company. Furthermore, our turnover rate was reduced by 4.1 percentage points versus 2023. These accomplishments have been crucial in driving our growth and ensuring we are well prepared for the challenges ahead, always alongside the right people who share our values and help us continue to permeate our DNA throughout the organization. Back when we started the year, and together with Bernardo, we mentioned that we envisioned 2024 as the year of a perfect trifecta. Today, I am pleased to share that not only did we continue the momentum on growing the top line, We achieved the inflection point in our loss ratio, something very important, and we delivered on the investment portfolio by taking advantage from attractive interest rates. But also we were able to continue investing in strategic projects that will transform Qualitas in the years to come. To conclude my remarks, I feel proud to take part in a Mexican company that is contributing as an industry leader to the economics of our country and other regions as well. Taken as a whole, we have a lot to be proud of, both from a financial and value creation standpoint. As we look into 2025 and beyond, we are confident in our continued ability to drive sustained growth and create shareholder value through our best-in-class service. And with that, let's move to the financial details and take a deeper dive into the quarter and year results.

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