Q1 2024 ProAssurance Corp Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- ProAssurance Corp reported an increase in operating earnings to $0.08 per share, with a 6-point improvement in the calendar year loss ratio and a 12% increase in investment income.
- The company achieved a three-point improvement in the current accident year loss ratio, indicating effective underwriting improvements.
- ProAssurance Corp saw strong retention of existing insurance and continued to enforce strict underwriting criteria, leading to solid progress toward long-term profitability goals.
- The Specialty P&C segment demonstrated disciplined underwriting and pricing, achieving an average rate increase of 7% and generating $10.4 million of new business.
- Net investment income rose by $4 million or 12% quarter over quarter, benefiting from the rising rate environment and contributing positively to the company's financial performance.
- The medical professional liability market remains challenging with pressures on claims costs due to social inflation and higher than anticipated severity trends.
- Despite improvements, the current market conditions continue to act as a headwind, delaying the achievement of underwriting profitability goals.
- The workers' compensation claims environment is seeing rising medical costs per claim, driven by healthcare wage inflation and higher utilization, which could impact future profitability.
- The company experienced a decline in gross premiums written by $3.6 million in the Specialty P&C segment due to the non-renewal of a large account.
- The increase in the quarter's expense ratio was primarily due to the absence of beneficial items present in 2023, such as a $3.8 million payroll tax refund, which negatively impacted comparison to the previous year.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to ProAssurance's conference call to discuss the company's first quarter 2024 results. I would like to remind you that the call is being recorded and there will be a time for questions after the conclusion of prepared remarks. Now I will turn the call over to Heather Westel.
Morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here today. Proassurance issued both its news release and report on Form 10-Q and first quarter results yesterday, May 6, 2024. Included in those documents were cautionary statements about the significant risks, uncertainties and other factors that are out of the company's control and could affect ProAssurance's business and alter expected results. Please review those statements this morning.
Our management team will discuss select selected aspects of the results on this call and investors should review the 10-Q and news release for full and complete information. We expect to make statements on this call dealing with projections, estimates and
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