Trisura Group Ltd.

Good morning. Welcome to the Trishura Group Limited's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. On the call today are David Clare, Chief Executive Officer, and David Scotland, Chief Financial Officer. David Clare will begin by providing a business and strategic update, followed by David Scotland, who will discuss financial results for the period. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following formal comments, lines will be open for analyst questions. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. To remove yourself from the queue, you may press star 11 again. I'd like to remind participants that in today's comments, including in responding to questions and in discussing new initiatives related to financial and operating performance, Forward-looking statements may be made, including forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. These statements reflect predictions of future events and trends and do not relate to historic events. They are subject to known and unknown risk in future events, and results may differ materially from such statements. For further information on these risks and their potential impacts, please see Trishura's filings with securities regulators. Thank you. I'll now turn the call over to David Clare.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome. We continue to see the benefits of our focus strategy in specialty insurance, and we started the year strong. Underwriting and structuring the niche segments drove profitability and growth in Q1. Momentum in our primary lines, surety, corporate insurance, and warranty continued, growing 28% with particular strength in surety, growing 38% as we expand in the U.S. and build out our Canadian practice. Our portfolio of ongoing U.S. programs grew 17%, showing the continued potential of the core platform. Net insurance revenue, which is similar to net premiums earned, increased 13%, and importantly, our combined ratio was a strong 82.7%, with profitability across all segments. Book value per share grew 24% to a record $17.16, and equity exceeded $819 million, continuing our track record of capital generation. Our Canadian surety platform continues to perform, supported by an established market presence and building momentum from our team focused on larger limit bonding. We see continued growth in our larger practice, contract surety, as we acknowledge an expected slower developer environment. In the U.S., our surety platform is gaining traction. We hold 33 state licenses, plus Washington, D.C., up from a handful last year. This quarter marks an inflection point. U.S. surety is contributing to profitability with comparable combined ratio to our Canadian practice. We're seeing increasing broker engagement and submission volume, which gives us confidence in the scalability of the platform. Corporate insurance sustained momentum in the quarter and, despite competitive conditions, continued to demonstrate growth alongside profitable underwriting. U.S. programs showed the benefit of actions taken last year, and our ongoing program portfolio grew 17% while achieving a 76% combined ratio, supporting expectations for continued growth and profitability. Exit lines had no material impact in the quarter. Investment income rose 9% to $18.2 million. Our $1.6 billion portfolio remains conservatively positioned, with 96% of bond holdings rated investment-grade. we continue to benefit from higher reinvestment yields in the U.S. where rates and corporate spreads have increased. The surety market remains competitive with significant opportunity for us in U.S. expansion as well as continued growth in Canada accessing larger bonding opportunities. We see balancing and in some cases softening trends in corporate insurance that are confident in our ability to grow profitably through the cycle. In the U.S., excess and surplus markets continue to expand growing faster again last year than the traditional market. We see firmness in casualty lines and some rationalization in property, depending on both region and line. Sophisticated MGAs are increasingly central to distribution, and Tresure is well-positioned to support leaders in this industry. Our structured model, with disciplined retention and strong reinsurance support, enables us to participate with scale and selectivity. While we're optimistic about the business, we're mindful of the broader backdrop. Trade policy and geopolitical volatility have introduced uncertainty. These factors can influence capital markets, executive sentiment, and rate expectation. It is important to remember our insurance products are non-discretionary, and we operate within countries, not across borders. Tresure's conservative balance sheet and increasingly diversified platform help us navigate. Our approach, grounded in underwriting discipline, capital efficiency, and a long-term view of gives us flexibility in volatile conditions and the ability to move decisively when opportunities emerge. Our capital base is stronger than ever, with a 10.7% debt-to-capital ratio. This provides capacity for established organic opportunities and flexibility to consider other initiatives. Our strategy remains to focus on growing profitably in primary lines, scaling U.S. infrastructure, and building a larger program portfolio that balances fee income and underwriting results. We continue to deepen our bench and broaden our capabilities. The formal launch of our Treasury-listed surety balance sheet last month was a milestone in our U.S. surety ambition. We are growing meaningfully in areas we have proven expertise, deepening relationship with distribution partners, and building on a foundation that supports sustainable profitability. Our optimism for 2025 has reinforced our expectations for premium growth, operating ROE, and book value per share growth in excess of 15%. with significant progress made towards our goal of $1 billion in book value by the end of 2027. We're building a specialty insurer of scale in North America that requires discipline, adaptability, and a measured approach to risk, all of which the team is demonstrating. We are grateful for the support of our partners, shareholders, and employees, and look forward to what lies ahead. With that, I'll turn it over to David Scotland for a detailed review of financial results. Thanks, David.

I'll now provide a walkthrough of financial results for the quarter. Operating EPS, which reflects core performance from the business, was $0.70 a share for the quarter, reflecting growth of 2.9% over the prior year. This contributed to operating ROE on a rolling 12-month basis of 18% for Q1 2025, which exceeded our mid-teens target. GPW was $711 million for the quarter, reflecting a slight reduction over the prior year, primarily as a result of non-renewed U.S. programs in 2024. which was offset by growth in primary lines. Treasurer's primary lines grew by 28% in the quarter, which are the lines where the profit margin on GPW was the highest. Net insurance revenue, which approximates net premiums earned, was $172 million for the quarter, reflecting growth of 12.8% over the prior year. The combined ratio for the group was 82.7% in the quarter, which was slightly higher than the prior year, primarily as a result of a higher loss ratio from Treasurer Specialty, which reflected a more normalized result from our surety operations compared to a particularly low Q1 2024. The loss ratio from U.S. programs decreased for the period, reflecting prudent reserving action taken in 2024. The expense ratio was slightly higher than the prior year as a result of shift in the mix of business towards tertiary specialty, which has a higher expense ratio. Underwriting income for the quarter was greater than the prior year as a result of growth in the business and foreign exchange movement, offset by slightly higher combined ratio. Net investment income of $18 million increased by 8.6% in the quarter as a result of an increase in the size of the investment portfolio. Our operating effective tax rate was 25.4% for the quarter, reflecting the compensation of taxable income between Canada and the U.S. Overall, operating income was $34.2 million in the quarter, which was greater than the prior year as a result of growth in the business, offset by a slightly higher combined ratio. Non-operating results consisted primarily of net losses associated with share-based compensation hedging and ECL adjustment, as well as market yield adjustment. compared to the prior year when non-operating results were positive consisting of larger unrealized gains. Exited lines have had an immaterial impact to net income in the quarter. Earnings per share contributed to a 4.4% increase in book value for the quarter, resulting in a book value per share of $17.16 at March 31st, 2025. Book value per share also increased as a result of unrealized gains on the investment portfolio as positive movement in the fixed income portfolio through other comprehensive income positively impacted book value. Book value has grown at an average rate of 26% over the past five years. Book value at March 31st, 2025 was $820 million, which is greater than the prior year end as a result of positive net income in the period as well as unrealized gains on the investment portfolio. As of March 31, debt to capital was 10.7%, which was lower than the year end as a result of significant increase in book value. The company remains well capitalized, and we expect to have sufficient capital to meet our regulatory capital requirements. David, I'll now turn things back over to you. Thanks, Dave.