NASDAQ:AMSF AMERISAFE Q3 2024 Earnings Report $24.62 -0.05 (-0.20%) Closing price 09/18/2026 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$24.64 +0.02 (+0.06%) As of 09/18/2026 07:30 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast AMERISAFE EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.58Consensus EPS $0.56Beat/MissBeat by +$0.02One Year Ago EPS$0.61AMERISAFE Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$78.70 millionExpected Revenue$75.38 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$3.32 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AAMERISAFE Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2024Date10/23/2024TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, October 24, 2024Conference Call Time10:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsAMERISAFE's Q3 2026 earnings is estimated for Wednesday, October 28, 2026, based on past reporting schedules, with a conference call scheduled on Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 10:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by AMERISAFE Q3 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrOctober 24, 2024ShareShareShare This ReportLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Special Dividend: Amerisafe declared a one-time $3 per share special dividend for shareholders of record December 6, 2024, in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of $0.37. Premium Growth: Gross written premiums rose 8.8% year-over-year to $74.9 million in Q3, driven by an 5.8% increase in policies in force and a strong renewal retention rate of 93.6%. Loss Experience: The accident-year loss ratio remained stable at 71% with $8.5 million of favorable prior-year development, reflecting consistent loss cost trends and effective claims management. Profitability: Net income increased to $14.3 million ($0.75/share) from $10.0 million ($0.52/share) last year, while the expense ratio improved to 31.7% from 33.6% as underwriting expenses declined. Investment Performance: Yield on new investments rose by about 119 basis points, driving a tax-equivalent book yield of 3.84%, and the portfolio posted $3.9 million of net unrealized gains in equity securities. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallAMERISAFE Q3 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Good day, and welcome to the AMERISAFE Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Kathryn Shirley, Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead. Kathryn ShirleyChief Administrative Officer at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:00:15Good morning. Welcome to the AMERISAFE 2024 Q3 investor call. If you have not received the earnings release, it is available on our website at amerisafe.com. This call is being recorded. A replay of today's call will be available. Details on how to access the replay are in the earnings release. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these statements if the underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect or as a result of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including factors discussed in the earnings release, in the comments made during today's call, and in the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kathryn ShirleyChief Administrative Officer at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:01:11We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement. I will now turn the call over to Janelle Frost, AMERISAFE's President and CEO. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:01:21Thank you, Kathryn, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased with AMERISAFE's quarterly financial results, particularly in response to a competitive marketplace driven by declining rates and industry-wide profitability. The workers' compensation industry has benefited from multi-year declines in frequency, moderate severity, and growing wages. AMERISAFE's trends have been no different. However, I would argue our specialist nature and the history of underwriting discipline better position AMERISAFE for consistent returns and a strong balance sheet throughout market cycles, which brings stability to our policyholders and agents and value to our shareholders. As such, our board of directors declared a special dividend of $3 for shareholders of record as of December sixth, 2024. This special dividend reflects long-term operational excellence and our commitment to shareholder returns. The special dividend is in addition to our regular quarterly dividend of $0.37. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:02:25Our capital strength is created by our long-term profitability and our current strategic priorities centered on achieving targeted, profitable growth. This quarter, similar to the second, we have maintained positive momentum in terms of production and top-line performance. For policies written in the quarter, premium grew 8.8% over last year's Q3. I've spoken over the last few quarters about the effectiveness of our agent engagement in creating internal efficiencies to enhance agent experience. Through employee-led initiatives and collaboration, we are seeing wins. And as the saying goes, success breeds success. Working with agents and without changing our appetite, we are improving our ability to incrementally add new business among strong competition. New business growth, coupled with a strong renewal retention of 93.6%, led to higher in-force policy count and gross written premium growth of 5.8%. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:03:29While audit premiums remain positive and additive to premiums earned, their contribution is moderating compared to the same period last year. Payroll growth and wage inflation are leveling off within the industries we insure. Regarding losses, our accident year loss ratio was consistent with last year at 71%. Loss cost trends remain stable. I believe the threats to the current loss trends for the industry are medical inflation and the viability of current fee schedules. That being said, we have not noted any significant changes. The company also saw $8.5 million in favorable development on prior accident years, stemming from favorable case development in accident years 2017 through 2022. To summarize, we are pleased to see premium growth in the quarter and continued favorable loss experience through our claims management efforts. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:04:28I will now turn the call over to Andy to discuss expenses, investments, and other financial metrics. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:04:33Thank you, Janelle, and good morning to everyone. For the Q3 of 2024, AMERISAFE reported net income of $14.3 million, or $0.75 per diluted share, and operating net income of $11.1 million, or $0.58 per diluted share. During the Q3 of 2023, net income was $10 million or $0.52 per diluted share, and operating net income was $11.7 million or $0.61 per diluted share. Gross written premiums were $74.9 million in the quarter, compared with $70.8 million in Q3 of 2023. The increase in the top line was driven by a combination of increased sales efforts with agents, which drove increased new business and strong retentions. Audit premiums increased the top line by $4 million and remain a material contributor to overall premiums. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:05:24In the Q3 of 2023, audit premiums were $5.6 million. Our total underwriting and other expenses were $21.3 million in the quarter, as compared to $22.4 million in the prior year, resulting in an expense ratio of 31.7% versus 33.6% in the prior year. As we continue to invest in our business, expense outlays may precede growth in earned premiums, leading to quarterly expense ratio fluctuations. However, we expect our full-year expense ratio to be within historical ranges. During the quarter, our claims handling practices drove better-than-expected outcomes, resulting in favorable prior year development of $8.5 million, or a 12.6% loss ratio, ratio points... These reserves were primarily released from accident years 2017 through 2022. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:06:13For the quarter, our tax rate was 19.5%, in line with the prior year. Turning to the investment portfolio. In the Q2, net investment income decreased 7.6% to $7.5 million due to the reduced portfolio size, partially offset by increased reinvestment rates. For the quarter, yield on new investments increased approximately 119 basis points in relation to roll-off, driving our tax equivalent book yield to 3.84% or 7 basis points higher than the prior Q3 of 2023. Net unrealized gains for the portfolio in equity securities was $3.9 million in the quarter due to a strong equity market returns, compared to an unrealized loss of $7.3 million in the Q3 of 2023. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:06:58The investment portfolio is high quality, carrying an average double A minus credit rating with a duration of 4.1 years. The composition of the portfolio is 59% in municipal bonds, 24% in corporate bonds, 3% in U.S. Treasuries and agencies, 6% in equity securities, and 8% in cash and other investments. Approximately 56% of our bond portfolio is comprised of held-to-maturity securities. As a reminder, these held-to-maturity securities are carried at amortized cost, and therefore unrealized gains or losses on these securities are not reflected in our book value. Our capital position is strong with a high-quality balance sheet, solid loss reserve position, and conservative investment portfolio. At quarter end, AMERISAFE carried roughly $900 million in investments, cash and cash equivalents. A couple of other topics. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:07:47Book value per share was $16.50, and operating return on average equity was 14.2%. Our statutory surplus was $294.1 million at quarter end, up from $254.9 million at December 31st, 2023. During the quarter, roughly 22,000 shares were repurchased at an average price of $46.79, for a total of $1 million. Since the inception of the initial share repurchase program in 2010, we have repurchased roughly 1.7 million shares at an average cost of $24.99 per share, for a total of $42 million. And finally, Friday, October 25th, 2024, we will be filing our Form 10-Q with the SEC after market close. With that, I would like to open the call for the Q&A portion of the call. Operator? Operator00:08:37Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, you may signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, star one for questions. We'll go fast, first to Matt Carletti with Citizens JMP. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:08:58Hey, thanks. Good morning. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:09:00Good morning, Matt. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:09:02Janelle, I was hoping I could start with the top line. I mean, obviously, there's been a nice acceleration for a few quarters now, particularly the voluntary, you know, kind of the underlying growth. Can you... You've talked a lot for several quarters about kind of the efforts you're making at the agency level. Can you just give us an idea of maybe what inning you're in there? I mean, I know Ray only joined you a little over a year ago, so I'd imagine he's still, you know, getting going in what he wants to do, but any sort of high-level perspective would be helpful. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:09:34Absolutely. You know, Matt, we have really done considerable efforts internally to find ways to better respond to this workers' comp environment that we find ourselves in. We have a tremendous amount of focus, as you mentioned. We've talked about it over the last few quarters about our agent engagement, our agent experience, how we're handling the effectiveness of our underwriting in terms of our time and process, and just a number of things. I think the thing I'm most proud of is that it's really an employee-led initiative. From that regard, in talking about how much trajectory is there related to that, I use the comment in my opening remarks about success breeds success. I think as we get these wins, the momentum builds for us, but I want to be very clear about the underwriting discipline that surrounds that. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:10:27We are trying to be more efficient. We are attempting to be more effective, at the same time, not changing our appetite. All of the things that you think about when you think about AMERISAFE and our underwriting discipline and our pre-quote safety, all of those things are still in place and still working effectively, and I would even argue, maybe working more effectively for us. If you look at our pre-quote number, it's still well north of 90%. Those things are still happening. We're just finding ways to engage our agents a little bit differently, and more importantly, clarifying our appetite so that we are working effectively with those agents, so they understand the types of accounts that we want to underwrite and the types of business that we feel like we can get the appropriate price for. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:11:12So I think it's a combination of all of those things. I love that it's starting to show in the top-line numbers that we're releasing publicly. I think internally, we've been filling those small wins for a number of quarters now, but it's nice to see it coming to fruition in the numbers that we report publicly. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:11:31Great. That's super helpful. You know, kind of staying on top line, but maybe a little more nuanced or in the weeds. You know, as I think about the hurricanes that have occurred in the past couple of months, I look at kind of your footprint and see, you know, Florida's 13% of the book, Georgia 11%, North Carolina 6%, kind of all top five states, construction's 50% of your book. And what have you seen in past events? Like, am I right in thinking that as reconstruction efforts take place, that sort of footprint and your exposure to construction, you tend to benefit from the work activity? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:12:06Yes, I think you're right on, Matt. Obviously, being in Louisiana, our first thought is we feel for those people, we understand, we know what that feels like, and we hope for a quick recovery. From a business perspective, a quick recovery for us could mean, to your point, it could be somewhat of a boost for us. Our Southeastern footprint is very important, and the mix of business there is very much like our overall book, a lot of construction, trucking, getting those materials in and out, I think would be somewhat beneficial to us. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:12:39Great. And then lastly, just my typical numbers question, do you have the LCM for the quarter handy? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:12:47I do. 1.57 is the ELCM for the quarter. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:12:52Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for the color, and congrats on nice quarter. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:12:55Thank you, Matt. Operator00:12:59As a reminder, star one, if you would like to ask a question. We'll go next to Mark Hughes with Truist. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:13:07Yeah, thank you. Good morning. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:13:10Good morning, Mark. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:13:12Janelle, I'll ask the question another way. Why now on the engagement? You've been talking about this for a while. You have seen some building momentum, but this seemed like another step up. Was there something in the broader market environments, some new steps that you implemented that led to the uptick this quarter? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:13:40Yes, I would love to answer that question and say, yes, the competition level has changed. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The competition level is still quite strong, quite intense. I believe AMERISAFE is trying, we're positioning ourselves a little bit differently in that marketplace. Again, really reinforcing what our appetite is and trying to figure out how we work best with our agents. And again, as I talked about with Matt, these efforts have been going on for over a year now. I love that it's starting to gain ground, and we're being able to see it in the top line growth. But internally, being focused on small incremental growth, adding to our policy count, has been a strategic priority for us for a little while now. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:14:27I'll say this. I believe that the policy count focus is extremely important to what we're trying to achieve here. If we've always. Our renewal retention has been quite strong. This quarter, 93.6%, and that is, you know, if you look at premium dollars, that's 80% of our premium dollars, so that's extremely important to us. Where I felt like we were lacking, and I've talked about this for at least a year now, where we could put forth a better effort, was on the new business side. How do we add incremental new business to AMERISAFE to help build up that renewal retention? I think we're getting. The top line would say we're achieving some success there. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:15:12It is. It's not a silver bullet. It is the small blocking and tackling, but it's making a difference, and it's making a difference with our agents. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:15:23Is there some... You say you haven't changed your appetite or underwriting. Are you finding that there is, there are certain end markets or customer sizes or hazard classes that are responding better to this engagement initiative? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:15:42Yeah, that's a really good question. I was actually looking right before the call. If I look at our mix of business, so again, you mentioned hazard classes, so I'll use that as an example. Hazard classes A through G. If you look at our overall in-force policy count, we hover between 84% and 85% of our book is in that E, F, and G classes. That is true today at 9:30. It was true at 9:30. And if I look back over the last 10 years, it was true then. It's still somewhere when that 84%-85% percentage of our in-force policy count is in those classes of E, F, and G. So from that aspect, we're still writing the same hazard groups, same classes of business. We haven't veered that much. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:16:33And if you look at the 10-K, and you look at how much of our book comes from construction or trucking or logging and lumber, those percentages haven't varied a lot. I think the premium dollars have shifted ever so slightly, but some of that is really where wages are coming from, not necessarily our mix of business, which is why I was using policy count as the proxy. So I don't know that we're achieving more success in any particular policy group than we were previously. I think we're just being more effective about it. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:17:06Yeah. Okay. Any nuance in the, you know, issue of multi-line or package writers that obviously bundle comp, whereas your monoline, have you seen the... I assume your engagement maybe involves some changes there, that the brokers are, you know, more open to giving you the comp business, but do you see any evolution in that question of package versus monoline? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:17:42I, you know, I would say globally, the answer to that, Mark, is probably no. We haven't seen package carriers sort of pull away from comp. What we're selling is the value proposition of AMERISAFE. You know, the, our safety services, our claim services, the fact that we're not in and out of those markets, and we add stability. For an agent, we're adding stability to their clients, I think is really where we're ringing a little bit true. But, you know, I'm not naive to think that what's happening in the other P&C lines are not impactful to us. It certainly is. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:18:20And from an agent perspective, going back to really refining with the agents understanding our appetite, it's extremely important right now because most agents, when their commercial clients are coming in the door, they are really focused on where they're gonna place their property, where they're gonna place their liability, where they're gonna place the commercial auto. Workers' comp is not probably top of mind unless that particular client has had an issue of some kind. And if they've had an issue of some kind, that's usually a win for AMERISAFE, right? Because we, I think from a service perspective, we do rise to the top. So making sure that agents understand our appetite and that we're remaining top of mind for them is extremely important. However, from a competition standpoint, I would say that really hasn't... Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:19:08I haven't seen a shift happen in the marketplace yet. Still hopeful, but haven't seen it happen yet. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:19:16Yeah. I had a couple more. I can get back in the queue if there's anybody else in line, or should I keep going, Janelle? Operator00:19:23Keep going, Mark. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:19:25Okay. You mentioned the medical inflation, the risk of medical inflation, maybe based on the viability of the current fee schedules. I think you said you're not seeing any change yet, not noticed any change yet. Have you seen in the past a breakdown in the fee schedules? You know, where does it start to go off the rails? And is that- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:19:56Yeah, good question. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:19:57Is that even possible? Yeah. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:19:59Right. Last quarter, I believe in the earnings call, I should have looked back. I believe in the earnings call last quarter, we briefly touched on Florida. Florida had some rate changes come through in regards to reimbursement rates for surgeries and physicians. That hasn't. It's effective 1/1/2025, so it should be built into the Florida rate going into next year, which we haven't seen yet. So, fingers crossed that Florida, 'cause Florida, if you recall, Florida had, like, a 15% rate decline for 2024. So, hopefully, those fee changes will be reflected in the rate change for Florida going into the 2025 policy year. So, that's an example of, I think, a fee schedule change that was built into the rate. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:20:52Typically, if it's something major or if there's an expansion of benefits that come through state legislatures, they'll have, like, a law. There'll be a law-only filing for a rate change. Otherwise, depending on the effective date, they'll just build it into the rate filing. So it'll be interesting to see going in when we start seeing the 2025 loss cost changes or the approved loss cost changes coming through with the states, if there are any others. Florida is the one that I think caught everyone's attention last quarter. I don't know of any larger ones as of yet that are happening, but the pressure will come from the provider side. And I'll use Florida as my example. When the providers start pushing back, saying, "These rates are not adequate for our reimbursement," that's typically when the changes happen. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:21:40Harkening back to the broader P&C line, however, I will say this: I don't know of workers' comp being on the top of any insurance department's list right now in terms of rates and things happening in the marketplace. Because of all the catastrophes that we've seen and the impacts to the other lines of business, I think workers' comp is probably not the top priority from that regard, so I don't anticipate any major changes, at least that are popped up on my radar. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:13Yeah. Correct me, a lot of the fee schedules are tied to government reimbursement. I don't know that they're gonna- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:23You're correct. You're correct. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:24That they're gonna change direction or be so influenced- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:29Right Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:29state by state. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:29I think the latest was between 2% and 3%- Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:33Yeah Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:33Coming out of those schedules, so that's pretty in line with the industry and relatively benign, if you think about it, which, going back to my opening remarks. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:41Yeah Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:41I mean, that's one of the things that's driving the profitability in workers' comp, right? Severity has been relatively moderate. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:48Yeah. I'm sorry, how many large claims year to date? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:55We ended the quarter with 13 claims in excess of $1 million. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:01Okay, and that's below long-term trend. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:06Yeah, that's pretty much on track with where we were- Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:08Okay Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:08I think last year or the last. If you look at the last few accident years, it's in that range. So nothing from that aspect that gives me pause. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:17Yeah. You mentioned the NCCI loss cost numbers for 2025. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:23Mm-hmm. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:24Any change in trajectory on those, where you've seen them lately? Has anything caught your eye or is that kind of steady she goes still down? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:31Yeah, I think we're still anticipating upper single-digit declines. I was looking this morning at the chart that shows, I think it's the rate changes back to 2004. And it's funny, when you look at that chart, 'cause sometimes I lose track of how many years we've actually been at. So from 2018 on, the rate of the declines, and this is all NCCI states, not just AMERISAFE's classes. So you, Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:24:07Yeah. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:24:07When you think about it from that perspective, that is a large number of rate, big number of rate decreases over sequential years. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:24:15Yeah, the cumulative. I think your answer- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:24:18You're exactly right. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:24:21Matt had asked about the top-line growth here, and is this just the beginning? I mean, do you does this carry through for the next four quarters? Does that... Would that be the natural tempo? You know, you've hit this new level of effectiveness and engagement, and so therefore, one would kind of assume that it's gonna have some staying power for the near to medium term. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:24:49Yes. I do not have a crystal ball, but I can assure you our strategic priority is to add incremental profitable growth each quarter. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:00Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then the new money yields. Last question. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:07New money yields were about 5%. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:11And the portfolio yield, two point eight four, I think you said? Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:15Three point eight four. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:173.84. Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for indulging me. I appreciate it. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:25Thank you, Mark. Nice talking to you. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:27Yeah. Operator00:25:30Thank you. With no additional questions in queue, I would like to turn the call back over to Janelle Frost for any additional or closing remarks. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:39AMERISAFE's long-standing presence in the high-hazard workers' compensation space positions us well for delivering long-term value to our stakeholders and stability to our policyholders, agents, and employees. Thank you for joining us today. Operator00:25:55Thank you. That will conclude today's call. We appreciate your participation.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesJanelle FrostPresident and CEOKathryn ShirleyChief Administrative OfficerAnastasios OmiridisCFOAnalystsMark HughesAnalyst at Truist SecuritiesMatthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMPPowered by Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) AMERISAFE Earnings HeadlinesTop 10 small-cap financial stocks with the lowest momentum gradesSeptember 18 at 1:35 PM | msn.comAMERISAFE Inc.September 15, 2026 | marketwatch.comTicker Revealed: Pre-IPO Access to "Next Elon Musk" CompanyWe’ve found The Next Elon Musk… and what we believe to be the next Tesla. It’s already racked up $26 billion in government contracts. Peter Thiel just bet $1 Billion on it.September 19 at 1:00 AM | Banyan Hill Publishing (Ad)Analysts Conflicted on These Financial Names: Amerisafe (AMSF), Ally Financial (ALLY) and East West Bancorp (EWBC)July 23, 2026 | theglobeandmail.comA Look at AMERISAFE Inc (AMSF) After 8.3% Decline -- GF Value $39.74 vs Price $31.15July 22, 2026 | gurufocus.comAMERISAFE Earnings Call Highlights Growth Amid HeadwindsJuly 22, 2026 | tipranks.comSee More AMERISAFE Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like AMERISAFE? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on AMERISAFE and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About AMERISAFEAMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) (NASDAQ: AMSF) is a specialty workers’ compensation insurance company headquartered in DeRidder, Louisiana. Through its insurance subsidiaries, the company provides workers’ compensation coverage to small and mid-sized employers whose operations involve relatively high workplace risks. The company focuses on industries such as construction, trucking, logging, agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas, and other hazardous occupations. Its services include workers’ compensation underwriting, claims administration, workplace safety and loss-control services, and premium auditing. AMERISAFE primarily serves employers across the southeastern and other selected regions of the United States. The company was founded in 1985 and became a publicly traded company in 2005. Its business model emphasizes specialized underwriting, direct relationships with policyholders, and risk-management support designed to help reduce workplace injuries and insurance claims.View AMERISAFE ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Latest Articles J.B. 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PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Good day, and welcome to the AMERISAFE Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Kathryn Shirley, Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead. Kathryn ShirleyChief Administrative Officer at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:00:15Good morning. Welcome to the AMERISAFE 2024 Q3 investor call. If you have not received the earnings release, it is available on our website at amerisafe.com. This call is being recorded. A replay of today's call will be available. Details on how to access the replay are in the earnings release. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these statements if the underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect or as a result of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including factors discussed in the earnings release, in the comments made during today's call, and in the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kathryn ShirleyChief Administrative Officer at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:01:11We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement. I will now turn the call over to Janelle Frost, AMERISAFE's President and CEO. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:01:21Thank you, Kathryn, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased with AMERISAFE's quarterly financial results, particularly in response to a competitive marketplace driven by declining rates and industry-wide profitability. The workers' compensation industry has benefited from multi-year declines in frequency, moderate severity, and growing wages. AMERISAFE's trends have been no different. However, I would argue our specialist nature and the history of underwriting discipline better position AMERISAFE for consistent returns and a strong balance sheet throughout market cycles, which brings stability to our policyholders and agents and value to our shareholders. As such, our board of directors declared a special dividend of $3 for shareholders of record as of December sixth, 2024. This special dividend reflects long-term operational excellence and our commitment to shareholder returns. The special dividend is in addition to our regular quarterly dividend of $0.37. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:02:25Our capital strength is created by our long-term profitability and our current strategic priorities centered on achieving targeted, profitable growth. This quarter, similar to the second, we have maintained positive momentum in terms of production and top-line performance. For policies written in the quarter, premium grew 8.8% over last year's Q3. I've spoken over the last few quarters about the effectiveness of our agent engagement in creating internal efficiencies to enhance agent experience. Through employee-led initiatives and collaboration, we are seeing wins. And as the saying goes, success breeds success. Working with agents and without changing our appetite, we are improving our ability to incrementally add new business among strong competition. New business growth, coupled with a strong renewal retention of 93.6%, led to higher in-force policy count and gross written premium growth of 5.8%. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:03:29While audit premiums remain positive and additive to premiums earned, their contribution is moderating compared to the same period last year. Payroll growth and wage inflation are leveling off within the industries we insure. Regarding losses, our accident year loss ratio was consistent with last year at 71%. Loss cost trends remain stable. I believe the threats to the current loss trends for the industry are medical inflation and the viability of current fee schedules. That being said, we have not noted any significant changes. The company also saw $8.5 million in favorable development on prior accident years, stemming from favorable case development in accident years 2017 through 2022. To summarize, we are pleased to see premium growth in the quarter and continued favorable loss experience through our claims management efforts. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:04:28I will now turn the call over to Andy to discuss expenses, investments, and other financial metrics. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:04:33Thank you, Janelle, and good morning to everyone. For the Q3 of 2024, AMERISAFE reported net income of $14.3 million, or $0.75 per diluted share, and operating net income of $11.1 million, or $0.58 per diluted share. During the Q3 of 2023, net income was $10 million or $0.52 per diluted share, and operating net income was $11.7 million or $0.61 per diluted share. Gross written premiums were $74.9 million in the quarter, compared with $70.8 million in Q3 of 2023. The increase in the top line was driven by a combination of increased sales efforts with agents, which drove increased new business and strong retentions. Audit premiums increased the top line by $4 million and remain a material contributor to overall premiums. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:05:24In the Q3 of 2023, audit premiums were $5.6 million. Our total underwriting and other expenses were $21.3 million in the quarter, as compared to $22.4 million in the prior year, resulting in an expense ratio of 31.7% versus 33.6% in the prior year. As we continue to invest in our business, expense outlays may precede growth in earned premiums, leading to quarterly expense ratio fluctuations. However, we expect our full-year expense ratio to be within historical ranges. During the quarter, our claims handling practices drove better-than-expected outcomes, resulting in favorable prior year development of $8.5 million, or a 12.6% loss ratio, ratio points... These reserves were primarily released from accident years 2017 through 2022. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:06:13For the quarter, our tax rate was 19.5%, in line with the prior year. Turning to the investment portfolio. In the Q2, net investment income decreased 7.6% to $7.5 million due to the reduced portfolio size, partially offset by increased reinvestment rates. For the quarter, yield on new investments increased approximately 119 basis points in relation to roll-off, driving our tax equivalent book yield to 3.84% or 7 basis points higher than the prior Q3 of 2023. Net unrealized gains for the portfolio in equity securities was $3.9 million in the quarter due to a strong equity market returns, compared to an unrealized loss of $7.3 million in the Q3 of 2023. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:06:58The investment portfolio is high quality, carrying an average double A minus credit rating with a duration of 4.1 years. The composition of the portfolio is 59% in municipal bonds, 24% in corporate bonds, 3% in U.S. Treasuries and agencies, 6% in equity securities, and 8% in cash and other investments. Approximately 56% of our bond portfolio is comprised of held-to-maturity securities. As a reminder, these held-to-maturity securities are carried at amortized cost, and therefore unrealized gains or losses on these securities are not reflected in our book value. Our capital position is strong with a high-quality balance sheet, solid loss reserve position, and conservative investment portfolio. At quarter end, AMERISAFE carried roughly $900 million in investments, cash and cash equivalents. A couple of other topics. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:07:47Book value per share was $16.50, and operating return on average equity was 14.2%. Our statutory surplus was $294.1 million at quarter end, up from $254.9 million at December 31st, 2023. During the quarter, roughly 22,000 shares were repurchased at an average price of $46.79, for a total of $1 million. Since the inception of the initial share repurchase program in 2010, we have repurchased roughly 1.7 million shares at an average cost of $24.99 per share, for a total of $42 million. And finally, Friday, October 25th, 2024, we will be filing our Form 10-Q with the SEC after market close. With that, I would like to open the call for the Q&A portion of the call. Operator? Operator00:08:37Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, you may signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, star one for questions. We'll go fast, first to Matt Carletti with Citizens JMP. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:08:58Hey, thanks. Good morning. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:09:00Good morning, Matt. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:09:02Janelle, I was hoping I could start with the top line. I mean, obviously, there's been a nice acceleration for a few quarters now, particularly the voluntary, you know, kind of the underlying growth. Can you... You've talked a lot for several quarters about kind of the efforts you're making at the agency level. Can you just give us an idea of maybe what inning you're in there? I mean, I know Ray only joined you a little over a year ago, so I'd imagine he's still, you know, getting going in what he wants to do, but any sort of high-level perspective would be helpful. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:09:34Absolutely. You know, Matt, we have really done considerable efforts internally to find ways to better respond to this workers' comp environment that we find ourselves in. We have a tremendous amount of focus, as you mentioned. We've talked about it over the last few quarters about our agent engagement, our agent experience, how we're handling the effectiveness of our underwriting in terms of our time and process, and just a number of things. I think the thing I'm most proud of is that it's really an employee-led initiative. From that regard, in talking about how much trajectory is there related to that, I use the comment in my opening remarks about success breeds success. I think as we get these wins, the momentum builds for us, but I want to be very clear about the underwriting discipline that surrounds that. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:10:27We are trying to be more efficient. We are attempting to be more effective, at the same time, not changing our appetite. All of the things that you think about when you think about AMERISAFE and our underwriting discipline and our pre-quote safety, all of those things are still in place and still working effectively, and I would even argue, maybe working more effectively for us. If you look at our pre-quote number, it's still well north of 90%. Those things are still happening. We're just finding ways to engage our agents a little bit differently, and more importantly, clarifying our appetite so that we are working effectively with those agents, so they understand the types of accounts that we want to underwrite and the types of business that we feel like we can get the appropriate price for. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:11:12So I think it's a combination of all of those things. I love that it's starting to show in the top-line numbers that we're releasing publicly. I think internally, we've been filling those small wins for a number of quarters now, but it's nice to see it coming to fruition in the numbers that we report publicly. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:11:31Great. That's super helpful. You know, kind of staying on top line, but maybe a little more nuanced or in the weeds. You know, as I think about the hurricanes that have occurred in the past couple of months, I look at kind of your footprint and see, you know, Florida's 13% of the book, Georgia 11%, North Carolina 6%, kind of all top five states, construction's 50% of your book. And what have you seen in past events? Like, am I right in thinking that as reconstruction efforts take place, that sort of footprint and your exposure to construction, you tend to benefit from the work activity? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:12:06Yes, I think you're right on, Matt. Obviously, being in Louisiana, our first thought is we feel for those people, we understand, we know what that feels like, and we hope for a quick recovery. From a business perspective, a quick recovery for us could mean, to your point, it could be somewhat of a boost for us. Our Southeastern footprint is very important, and the mix of business there is very much like our overall book, a lot of construction, trucking, getting those materials in and out, I think would be somewhat beneficial to us. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:12:39Great. And then lastly, just my typical numbers question, do you have the LCM for the quarter handy? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:12:47I do. 1.57 is the ELCM for the quarter. Matthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMP00:12:52Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for the color, and congrats on nice quarter. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:12:55Thank you, Matt. Operator00:12:59As a reminder, star one, if you would like to ask a question. We'll go next to Mark Hughes with Truist. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:13:07Yeah, thank you. Good morning. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:13:10Good morning, Mark. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:13:12Janelle, I'll ask the question another way. Why now on the engagement? You've been talking about this for a while. You have seen some building momentum, but this seemed like another step up. Was there something in the broader market environments, some new steps that you implemented that led to the uptick this quarter? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:13:40Yes, I would love to answer that question and say, yes, the competition level has changed. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The competition level is still quite strong, quite intense. I believe AMERISAFE is trying, we're positioning ourselves a little bit differently in that marketplace. Again, really reinforcing what our appetite is and trying to figure out how we work best with our agents. And again, as I talked about with Matt, these efforts have been going on for over a year now. I love that it's starting to gain ground, and we're being able to see it in the top line growth. But internally, being focused on small incremental growth, adding to our policy count, has been a strategic priority for us for a little while now. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:14:27I'll say this. I believe that the policy count focus is extremely important to what we're trying to achieve here. If we've always. Our renewal retention has been quite strong. This quarter, 93.6%, and that is, you know, if you look at premium dollars, that's 80% of our premium dollars, so that's extremely important to us. Where I felt like we were lacking, and I've talked about this for at least a year now, where we could put forth a better effort, was on the new business side. How do we add incremental new business to AMERISAFE to help build up that renewal retention? I think we're getting. The top line would say we're achieving some success there. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:15:12It is. It's not a silver bullet. It is the small blocking and tackling, but it's making a difference, and it's making a difference with our agents. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:15:23Is there some... You say you haven't changed your appetite or underwriting. Are you finding that there is, there are certain end markets or customer sizes or hazard classes that are responding better to this engagement initiative? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:15:42Yeah, that's a really good question. I was actually looking right before the call. If I look at our mix of business, so again, you mentioned hazard classes, so I'll use that as an example. Hazard classes A through G. If you look at our overall in-force policy count, we hover between 84% and 85% of our book is in that E, F, and G classes. That is true today at 9:30. It was true at 9:30. And if I look back over the last 10 years, it was true then. It's still somewhere when that 84%-85% percentage of our in-force policy count is in those classes of E, F, and G. So from that aspect, we're still writing the same hazard groups, same classes of business. We haven't veered that much. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:16:33And if you look at the 10-K, and you look at how much of our book comes from construction or trucking or logging and lumber, those percentages haven't varied a lot. I think the premium dollars have shifted ever so slightly, but some of that is really where wages are coming from, not necessarily our mix of business, which is why I was using policy count as the proxy. So I don't know that we're achieving more success in any particular policy group than we were previously. I think we're just being more effective about it. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:17:06Yeah. Okay. Any nuance in the, you know, issue of multi-line or package writers that obviously bundle comp, whereas your monoline, have you seen the... I assume your engagement maybe involves some changes there, that the brokers are, you know, more open to giving you the comp business, but do you see any evolution in that question of package versus monoline? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:17:42I, you know, I would say globally, the answer to that, Mark, is probably no. We haven't seen package carriers sort of pull away from comp. What we're selling is the value proposition of AMERISAFE. You know, the, our safety services, our claim services, the fact that we're not in and out of those markets, and we add stability. For an agent, we're adding stability to their clients, I think is really where we're ringing a little bit true. But, you know, I'm not naive to think that what's happening in the other P&C lines are not impactful to us. It certainly is. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:18:20And from an agent perspective, going back to really refining with the agents understanding our appetite, it's extremely important right now because most agents, when their commercial clients are coming in the door, they are really focused on where they're gonna place their property, where they're gonna place their liability, where they're gonna place the commercial auto. Workers' comp is not probably top of mind unless that particular client has had an issue of some kind. And if they've had an issue of some kind, that's usually a win for AMERISAFE, right? Because we, I think from a service perspective, we do rise to the top. So making sure that agents understand our appetite and that we're remaining top of mind for them is extremely important. However, from a competition standpoint, I would say that really hasn't... Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:19:08I haven't seen a shift happen in the marketplace yet. Still hopeful, but haven't seen it happen yet. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:19:16Yeah. I had a couple more. I can get back in the queue if there's anybody else in line, or should I keep going, Janelle? Operator00:19:23Keep going, Mark. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:19:25Okay. You mentioned the medical inflation, the risk of medical inflation, maybe based on the viability of the current fee schedules. I think you said you're not seeing any change yet, not noticed any change yet. Have you seen in the past a breakdown in the fee schedules? You know, where does it start to go off the rails? And is that- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:19:56Yeah, good question. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:19:57Is that even possible? Yeah. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:19:59Right. Last quarter, I believe in the earnings call, I should have looked back. I believe in the earnings call last quarter, we briefly touched on Florida. Florida had some rate changes come through in regards to reimbursement rates for surgeries and physicians. That hasn't. It's effective 1/1/2025, so it should be built into the Florida rate going into next year, which we haven't seen yet. So, fingers crossed that Florida, 'cause Florida, if you recall, Florida had, like, a 15% rate decline for 2024. So, hopefully, those fee changes will be reflected in the rate change for Florida going into the 2025 policy year. So, that's an example of, I think, a fee schedule change that was built into the rate. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:20:52Typically, if it's something major or if there's an expansion of benefits that come through state legislatures, they'll have, like, a law. There'll be a law-only filing for a rate change. Otherwise, depending on the effective date, they'll just build it into the rate filing. So it'll be interesting to see going in when we start seeing the 2025 loss cost changes or the approved loss cost changes coming through with the states, if there are any others. Florida is the one that I think caught everyone's attention last quarter. I don't know of any larger ones as of yet that are happening, but the pressure will come from the provider side. And I'll use Florida as my example. When the providers start pushing back, saying, "These rates are not adequate for our reimbursement," that's typically when the changes happen. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:21:40Harkening back to the broader P&C line, however, I will say this: I don't know of workers' comp being on the top of any insurance department's list right now in terms of rates and things happening in the marketplace. Because of all the catastrophes that we've seen and the impacts to the other lines of business, I think workers' comp is probably not the top priority from that regard, so I don't anticipate any major changes, at least that are popped up on my radar. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:13Yeah. Correct me, a lot of the fee schedules are tied to government reimbursement. I don't know that they're gonna- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:23You're correct. You're correct. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:24That they're gonna change direction or be so influenced- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:29Right Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:29state by state. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:29I think the latest was between 2% and 3%- Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:33Yeah Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:33Coming out of those schedules, so that's pretty in line with the industry and relatively benign, if you think about it, which, going back to my opening remarks. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:41Yeah Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:41I mean, that's one of the things that's driving the profitability in workers' comp, right? Severity has been relatively moderate. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:22:48Yeah. I'm sorry, how many large claims year to date? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:22:55We ended the quarter with 13 claims in excess of $1 million. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:01Okay, and that's below long-term trend. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:06Yeah, that's pretty much on track with where we were- Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:08Okay Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:08I think last year or the last. If you look at the last few accident years, it's in that range. So nothing from that aspect that gives me pause. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:17Yeah. You mentioned the NCCI loss cost numbers for 2025. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:23Mm-hmm. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:23:24Any change in trajectory on those, where you've seen them lately? Has anything caught your eye or is that kind of steady she goes still down? Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:23:31Yeah, I think we're still anticipating upper single-digit declines. I was looking this morning at the chart that shows, I think it's the rate changes back to 2004. And it's funny, when you look at that chart, 'cause sometimes I lose track of how many years we've actually been at. So from 2018 on, the rate of the declines, and this is all NCCI states, not just AMERISAFE's classes. So you, Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:24:07Yeah. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:24:07When you think about it from that perspective, that is a large number of rate, big number of rate decreases over sequential years. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:24:15Yeah, the cumulative. I think your answer- Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:24:18You're exactly right. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:24:21Matt had asked about the top-line growth here, and is this just the beginning? I mean, do you does this carry through for the next four quarters? Does that... Would that be the natural tempo? You know, you've hit this new level of effectiveness and engagement, and so therefore, one would kind of assume that it's gonna have some staying power for the near to medium term. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:24:49Yes. I do not have a crystal ball, but I can assure you our strategic priority is to add incremental profitable growth each quarter. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:00Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then the new money yields. Last question. Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:07New money yields were about 5%. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:11And the portfolio yield, two point eight four, I think you said? Anastasios OmiridisCFO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:15Three point eight four. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:173.84. Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for indulging me. I appreciate it. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:25Thank you, Mark. Nice talking to you. Mark HughesAnalyst at Truist Securities00:25:27Yeah. Operator00:25:30Thank you. With no additional questions in queue, I would like to turn the call back over to Janelle Frost for any additional or closing remarks. Janelle FrostPresident and CEO at AMERISAFE, Inc.00:25:39AMERISAFE's long-standing presence in the high-hazard workers' compensation space positions us well for delivering long-term value to our stakeholders and stability to our policyholders, agents, and employees. Thank you for joining us today. Operator00:25:55Thank you. That will conclude today's call. We appreciate your participation.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesJanelle FrostPresident and CEOKathryn ShirleyChief Administrative OfficerAnastasios OmiridisCFOAnalystsMark HughesAnalyst at Truist SecuritiesMatthew CarlettiAnalyst at Citizens JMPPowered by