Amerisafe Inc (AMSF) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Amerisafe 2024 second quarter earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Kathryn Shirley, Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Amerisafe 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。現在，我想將會議交給首席行政官 Kathryn Shirley。請繼續。

Good morning. Welcome to the Amerisafe 2024 second quarter 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.

早安.歡迎參加 Amerisafe 2024 年第二季投資者電話會議。如果您尚未收到收益報告，可以在我們的網站 amerisafe.com 上取得。此通話正在錄音。今天的電話會議將重播。有關如何存取重播的詳細信息，請參閱收益報告。在本次電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述。這些陳述是基於目前的預期和假設，受到各種風險和不確定性的影響。

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 comment made during today's call and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

如果基本假設被證明不正確，或者由於風險、不確定性和其他因素（包括收益報告中討論的因素、今天電話會議期間發表的評論中討論的因素），實際結果可能與這些聲明中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表、10-Q 表以及其他報告和文件的風險因素部分。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的責任。

I will now turn the call over to Janelle Frost, Amerisafe President and CEO.

我現在將把電話轉給 Amerisafe 總裁兼執行長 Janelle Frost。

Thank you, Kathryn, and good morning, everyone. The state of the workers' compensation market remains profitable despite continued rate softening. Industry-wide data published by NCCI in May was similar to what we've seen over the last few years, an accident year combined ratio below 100, and redundant reserve driving approved loss cost declines. These conditions translate to a competitive marketplace, one in which Amerisafe disciplined underwriting is critical to long-term profitability.

謝謝凱瑟琳，大家早安。儘管利率持續疲軟，但工人賠償市場的狀況仍然有利可圖。NCCI 5 月發布的全行業數據與我們過去幾年看到的情況類似，事故年綜合比率低於 100，冗餘準備金推動批准的損失成本下降。這些條件轉化為競爭激烈的市場，在這個市場中，Amerisafe 嚴格的承保對於長期獲利能力至關重要。

For several quarters, we have discussed our investment in profitable growth through greater agent engagement and pipeline efficiency. These actions drove year-over-year gross premiums written growth of 6.6% in the quarter. We saw policy count growth in the quarter and we continue to see strong retention for policies for which we offer renewal with 93.3% retention audit premiums supported by wage inflation was also a boost to top line.

幾個季度以來，我們一直在討論透過提高代理商參與度和通路效率來投資獲利成長。這些措施推動本季毛保費年增 6.6%。我們看到本季的保單數量有所增長，我們繼續看到我們提供續保的保單的強勁保留率，保留率高達 93.3%，薪資通膨也推動了營收成長。

Turning to losses, our accident year loss ratio was in line with the prior year at 71%. Loss cost trends remain in line with previous quarters. We continue to see -- we continue to monitor medical inflation. However, medical fee schedules are in general containing costs. The company experienced $8.1 million in favorable development on prior accident years, primarily from accident years 2020, 2021 and 2022.

至於損失，我們的事故年損失率與前一年持平，為 71%。損失成本趨勢與前幾季保持一致。我們繼續觀察—我們繼續監測醫療通膨。然而，醫療費用表通常包含費用。該公司在先前的事故年份（主要是 2020 年、2021 年和 2022 年事故年份）獲得了 810 萬美元的有利發展。

We attribute our favorable development to lower claim severities and proactive claims handling. Despite challenging market conditions, Amerisafe focus on providing protection too small to midsize businesses and caring for their workers has a track record of strong retention and delivering robust returns to shareholders throughout the cycle.

我們將良好的發展歸功於較低的索賠嚴重性和積極主動的索賠處理。儘管市場條件充滿挑戰，Amerisafe 仍專注於為中小型企業提供保護，並關心其員工，擁有良好的保留記錄，並在整個週期中為股東帶來豐厚的回報。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Andy, to discuss the financials.

這樣，我會將電話轉給安迪，討論財務問題。

Thank you, Janelle, and good morning, to everyone. For the second quarter of 2024 Amerisafe reported net income of $11 million or $0.57 per diluted share and operating net income of $11.1 million or $0.58 per diluted share. During the second quarter of 2023, net income was $15.6 million or $0.81 per diluted share and operating net income was $14 million or $0.73 per diluted share.

謝謝你，珍妮爾，大家早安。Amerisafe 報告 2024 年第二季淨利為 1,100 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.57 美元，營運淨利為 1,110 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.58 美元。2023 年第二季度，淨利為 1,560 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.81 美元，營業淨利為 1,400 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.73 美元。

Gross written premiums were $76.4 million in the quarter compared with $71.7 million in the second quarter 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. Auto premiums increased the top line by $7.3 million compared with $4.8 million in the second quarter of 2023.

該季度的總保費為 7,640 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 7,170 萬美元。收入的成長是由代理商加大銷售力度推動的，這推動了新業務的增加和強勁的保留。汽車保費收入增加了 730 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 480 萬美元。

Our total underwriting and other expenses were $20.4 million in the quarter compared with $20 million in the second quarter of 2023, resulting in an expense ratio of 29.8% compared with 30.4% in the prior year. We continue to invest in our business, leveraging Amerisafe, disciplined approach to take advantage of attractive market opportunities. For the quarter, our tax rate was 20% compared to 20.1% in the prior year.

本季我們的承保和其他費用總額為 2,040 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 2,000 萬美元，費用率為 29.8%，而前一年為 30.4%。我們繼續投資我們的業務，利用 Amerisafe 嚴格的方法來利用有吸引力的市場機會。本季度，我們的稅率為 20%，而前一年為 20.1%。

Turning to our investment portfolio. In the second quarter, net investment income decreased 3.6% to $7.4 million due to lower asset base versus the prior year. On a consecutive quarter basis, net investment income increased 1.1% for Q2 of 2024 versus Q1 of 2024. For the quarter, the yield on new investments increased approximately 165 basis points in relation to roll-off driving our tax equivalent book yield to 3.79% or 17 basis points higher than the second quarter of 2023.

轉向我們的投資組合。第二季度，由於資產基礎較前一年減少，淨投資收入下降 3.6% 至 740 萬美元。與 2024 年第一季相比，2024 年第二季的淨投資收益連續季成長 1.1%。本季度，與滾存相關的新投資收益率增加了約 165 個基點，推動我們的稅等帳面收益率達到 3.79%，即比 2023 年第二季度高出 17 個基點。

The investment portfolio is high quality, carrying an average AA- credit rating with a duration of 3.9 years. The composition of the portfolio is 58% of municipal bonds, 20% in corporate bonds, 3% in US treasuries and agencies, 6% in equity securities and 5% in cash and other investments. Approximately 57% 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.

投資組合品質高，平均信用評等為AA-，久期為3.9年。投資組合的構成為：58%為市政債券，20%為公司債，3%為美國公債和機構債券，6%為股本證券，5%為現金及其他投資。我們的債券投資組合中約 57% 由持有至到期證券組成。提醒一下，這些持有至到期證券以攤餘成本計量，因此，這些證券的未實現收益或損失不會反映在我們的帳面價值中。

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 $884 million in investments cash and cash equivalents. Company's Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.37 per share on Friday, July 26, 2024, to shareholders of record of September 6, 2024.

我們的資本狀況強勁，擁有高品質的資產負債表、穩健的損失準備金和保守的投資組合。截至季末，Amerisafe 持有約 8.84 億美元的投資現金和現金等價物。公司董事會於 2024 年 7 月 26 日星期五宣布向 2024 年 9 月 6 日登記在冊的股東派發每股 0.37 美元的定期季度現金股息。

And finally, a couple of other topics. Book value per share was $15.78 and operating great return on average equity was 14.4%. Our statutory surplus was $280.6 million at quarter end, up 10.1% from $254.9 million at December 31, 2023. And finally, today, July 30, 2024, we will be filing our Form 10-Q with the SEC after market close.

最後，還有其他幾個主題。每股帳面價值為 15.78 美元，平均股本營運報酬率為 14.4%。截至季末，我們的法定盈餘為 2.806 億美元，比 2023 年 12 月 31 日的 2.549 億美元成長 10.1%。最後，今天，即 2024 年 7 月 30 日，我們將在收盤後向 SEC 提交 10-Q 表格。

With that, I would like to open the call for the question and answer portion of the call. Operator?

至此，我想開始電話問答部分的通話。操作員？

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

Matt Carletti, Citizens JMP.

Matt Carletti，公民 JMP。

Good morning, Janelle. Good morning, Andy.

早上好，珍妮爾。早安，安迪。

Morning, Matt.

早安，馬特。

I guess my first question, I was hoping Janelle, maybe you could expand a little bit on the growth in the quarter. I know you made a comment in your opening comments about some of the recent efforts and investments you've made and kind of agency relationships. Yeah, I'm hoping maybe you can just give a little more color. I mean, noted it was the of the voluntary grew nicely in the press release referenced PFI growth. Just kind of how you feel about the sustainability of that as we move forward or kind of the ability to build that going forward?

我想我的第一個問題是，我希望 Janelle，也許你可以稍微擴展一下本季的成長。我知道您在開場白中評論了您最近所做的一些努力和投資以及代理關係。是的，我希望你能給更多一點顏色。我的意思是，在提到 PFI 成長的新聞稿中指出，自願成長良好。您對我們前進過程中的可持續性有何看法，或者是否有能力繼續前進？

Certainly, Matt. This is our fourth quarter. I want to say, of either slight growth in voluntary deck premium or relatively flat. So that's something that we have made a concerted effort on and with our employees and with our agents and just trying to make the pipeline more efficient in terms of ease of doing business and building on that agent relationship.

當然，馬特。這是我們的第四季。我想說的是，自願甲板保費要么略有增長，要么相對持平。因此，我們與我們的員工和代理商共同努力，努力使管道在開展業務的便利性和建立代理商關係方面更加高效。

So I do feel like we're gaining some momentum there through our employee effort. It's really not a change in Amerisafe approach to the business at all. It's really just about creating efficiencies and valuing those relationships. So I feel pretty good about the growth, you're absolutely right. We've had voluntary debt growth of 2.7% in the quarter. We've grown policy count, I believe, for the last five quarters. So those are all signs they're pointing to the efforts that we're putting in place are generating business growth for us.

所以我確實覺得透過員工的努力我們正在獲得一些動力。這其實根本不是 Amerisafe 業務方式的改變。這其實只是為了提高效率並重視這些關係。所以我對成長感覺非常好，你是完全正確的。本季我們的自願債務增加了 2.7%。我相信，過去五個季度我們的保單數量有所增加。因此，這些跡像都表明我們所做的努力正在為我們帶來業務成長。

Wonderful. And then there's a couple of numbers questions, if I could. One is, what was the ELCM in the quarter?

精彩的。如果可以的話，還有幾個數字問題。一是，本季的 ELCM 是多少？

148.

148.

184, okay. And then on audit premium, do you have handy what third quarter of '23 audit premium was just to get an idea of kind of (inaudible) .

184，好吧。然後關於審計保費，您是否知道 23 年第三季的審計保費只是為了了解一下（聽不清楚）。

Exactly. Third quarter last year was $5.6 million, second quarter was $4.8 million.

確切地。去年第三季為560萬美元，第二季為480萬美元。

Wonderful. Thank you so much.

精彩的。太感謝了。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Mark Hughes, Truist.

馬克‧休斯，真理主義者。

Good morning, Janelle. Good morning, Andy.

早上好，珍妮爾。早安，安迪。

Good morning Mark.

早上好，馬克。

Janelle, if I heard you properly, it sounds like the 148, I think that's up year-over-year, which I think you had a flat result in 3Q, but then that's the first positive number, still scrolling, still scrolling quite a while.

Janelle，如果我沒聽錯的話，聽起來像是148，我認為這個數字同比增長，我認為你在第三季度的結果持平，但這是第一個正數，仍在滾動，仍在滾動相當長的時間。

Yeah, that's right, Mark. I mean, when I think when we report the ELCM, I have to remind myself, I'd like to remind others that really that's really an index over the underlying loss costs. So as we all know, the underlying loss cost, the approved rates coming on the states continue to decline because we individually underwrite every account, we have to make sure that we are doing so profitably and to as we were back just like every other carrier right now, we're battling the fact that the rates continue to soften.

是的，沒錯，馬克。我的意思是，當我想到我們報告 ELCM 時，我必須提醒自己，我想提醒其他人，這實際上是一個關於潛在損失成本的指數。因此，眾所周知，潛在的損失成本，各州的批准費率繼續下降，因為我們單獨承保每個帳戶，我們必須確保我們這樣做是有利可圖的，並且當我們回來時，就像所有其他承運人一樣目前，我們正在應對利率持續走軟的事實。

The results for the industry, you know, well below 100. If you look at accident year combined ratios for the industry as a whole each year, the and there is some deterioration there. So I'd just like we are reaching that point where we have to be very protective of that.

您知道，該行業的結果遠低於 100。如果你看看每年整個行業的事故年綜合比率，你會發現那裡有一些惡化。所以我希望我們已經達到了必須對此採取非常保護措施的地步。

Right. Yeah. Any details on the approved loss costs, obviously, are there down any trend of new state data in the quarter that's worth noting?

正確的。是的。顯然，有關批准的損失成本的任何詳細信息，本季度新州數據是否有任何值得注意的下降趨勢？

No, the overall approved loss cost is somewhere around 8% to 9% decrease for the year for the 2024 filing. So I think that's pretty much, on course, with what Intentia was predicting. And again, because at this point, the industry has -- even on an accident year basis, the industry is below 100% combined.

不會，2024 年申請的年度總體批准損失成本大約下降 8% 至 9%。所以我認為這當然與 Intentia 的預測基本上一致。再說一次，因為在這一點上，即使以事故年為基礎，該行業的綜合利用率也低於 100%。

Yeah. You talked about medical inflation that the fee structures or the fee schedules continue to restrain that. Is that ever going to separate? I mean is there ever any reason to think that's not going to just keep a lid on it and you'll continue to benefit from kind of the government rate suppression one might say?

是的。您談到了醫療通膨，費用結構或費用表繼續抑制這種情況。難道就這樣永遠分開嗎？我的意思是，是否有任何理由認為這不會只是限制它，並且您將繼續從人們可能會說的政府利率抑制中受益？

Mark, I believe that's actually where we're going to see pressure. For the most part fee schedules have been doing their job in terms of containing costs. But I do believe there are pressure and particularly in certain types of services. There is pressure from the provider side of what they're being reimbursed for workers' compensation.

馬克，我相信這實際上是我們會看到壓力的地方。在很大程度上，費用表在控製成本方面發揮了作用。但我確實相信有壓力，特別是在某些類型的服務中。供應商方面對他們獲得的工傷補償施加了壓力。

And when I talk about, we're keeping our eye on medical inflation. That's actually what I'm referring to. The fact that at some point, the rubber hits the road in terms of what providers, whether it's hospitals, physicians, surgeons, whatever the case they are being reimbursed for workers' compensation and what fits within their own operating models. There will be, in my opinion, in my humble opinion, there will continue to be pressure there.

當我談論時，我們正在密切關注醫療通膨。這其實就是我指的。事實上，在某些時候，橡膠會在哪些供應商方面出現問題，無論是醫院、內科醫生、外科醫生，無論在什麼情況下他們都會獲得工人賠償，以及什麼適合自己的營運模式。在我看來，以我的愚見，那裡將繼續存在壓力。

Yeah, Does the uptick in the ELCM, does that reflect a little less competition? I know you're being disciplined around.

是的，ELCM 的上升是否反映了競爭的減少？我知道你正在受到紀律處分。

I wish. No, it does not reflect less competition. It is still a very competitive marketplace.

我希望。不，這並不反映競爭減少。它仍然是一個競爭非常激烈的市場。

Yeah. And then anything on the large claims, how they trended through the six months.

是的。然後是關於大額索賠的任何事情，以及它們在六個月內的趨勢。

Through the six months we are at four claims over $1 million. So that's -- again, I have to -- every time I threw out that number. I have to caution that is lumpy. I never know what quarters are going to happen. It is or is not going to happen. But at this point, we haven't had a frequency of severity in terms of million dollar claims.

在這六個月裡，我們收到了四起超過 100 萬美元的索賠。所以，每次我扔掉這個數字時，我都必須這樣做。我必須警告說，這是塊狀的。我永遠不知道會發生什麼季度。它會發生或不會發生。但目前，我們還沒有出現百萬美元索賠的嚴重頻率。

Yeah. And then on the reserve development, you guys are still performing tremendously, but no deed going unpunished, it winds down a little bit from an even more stellar performance in recent quarters. Anything you would say as to why just sort of -- so from a very simplistic perspective, that was a little bit lower this quarter compared to the last couple of years?

是的。然後在後備隊的發展上，你們仍然表現出色，但沒有不受到懲罰的行為，與最近幾季更加出色的表現相比，情況有所下降。您有什麼想說的，為什麼從一個非常簡單的角度來看，這個季度與過去幾年相比有點低？

Yeah. I like how you phrased that. Reserve development at lease for Amerisafe, reserve development is not linear. I often talk about the favorable case development that we have -- or the favorable development that we recognize is truly coming from individual cases. I'm I can't predict when the which quarter those are not going to happen. It's hard for me to bulk add $8 million of favorable development, even though to your point, it is less than the 10.9 that we had in the second quarter of last year.

是的。我喜歡你的措詞。至少對 Amerisafe 來說，儲備開發是非線性的。我經常談論我們所擁有的有利的案例發展，或者我們認識到的有利的發展確實來自個別案例。我無法預測這些不會在哪一個季度發生。我很難大量增加 800 萬美元的有利發展，儘管按照你的觀點，它低於我們去年第二季的 10.9 美元。

I still consider that to be a very healthy number. I can certainly assure you from Amerisafe standpoint, our reserving philosophy has not changed. And I do feel like my claims adjusters because of their practices and the way they reserve claims and the way they intimately know their claims are truly reflecting in our reserves at what we believe is the most likely outcome. And have their flag for lack those harm their finger on the pulse of what's happening in terms of survivability and procedures and the and the assumed inflation that goes into that.

我仍然認為這是一個非常健康的數字。從 Amerisafe 的角度來看，我當然可以向您保證，我們的預訂理念沒有改變。我確實覺得我的理賠員很像我的理賠員，因為他們的做法、他們保留理賠的方式以及他們密切了解他們的理賠真正反映在我們的儲備中的方式，我們認為這是最有可能的結果。並讓他們的旗幟缺乏那些傷害他們的手指在生存和程序方面正在發生的事情以及與之相關的假設的通貨膨脹的脈搏。

So I believe that's built into my case reserves so that when we find the opportunities to help an injured worker and move on and return to work and have their medical care taking care of, we find those opportunities. And for us at least that has resulted in favorable development. I don't see that pattern that from a philosophy has not changed.

因此，我相信這已納入我的案例儲備中，以便當我們找到機會幫助受傷工人並繼續工作並重返工作崗位並照顧他們的醫療護理時，我們就會找到這些機會。至少對我們來說，這帶來了良好的發展。我不認為這種哲學模式沒有改變。

Understood. And then how about the construction end market? The question about the next job, if we talked about many times over the years, but how does that stand today?

明白了。那麼建築終端市場又如何呢？關於下一份工作的問題，多年來我們多次談論過，但今天情況如何？

Our insureds are working. Hence, why we have it. We're having this favorable audit premium. We're still experiencing wage inflation within our industry groups. For the quarter, wage inflation was around 6%, 5% almost all of that really came from increased wages, less so from a new employees. So on and that's been very consistent. So the fact that we're not seeing a large influx of new employees doesn't really surprise me, given that we insure small and midsize employers. But they're obviously working and wages and payroll insured payrolls are going up. So I think that's positively for our industry group.

我們的被保險人正在工作。因此，我們為什麼擁有它。我們有這樣優惠的審計溢價。我們的產業集團內仍在經歷薪資上漲。本季薪資上漲約 6%，其中 5% 幾乎全部來自薪資上漲，較少來自新員工。如此下去，這是非常一致的。因此，考慮到我們為中小型雇主提供保險，我們沒有看到大量新員工湧入這一事實並不讓我感到驚訝。但他們顯然正在工作，工資和工資保險工資都在上漲。所以我認為這對我們的行業集團來說是積極的。

Great. Thank you, very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Thank you, Mark.

謝謝你，馬克。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Gregory Peters, Raymond James.

格雷戈里彼得斯，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

Good morning, everyone.

大家早安。

Good morning, Greg.

早安，格雷格。

Good morning,

早安,

Just I was looking at the six-month result on the expense ratio versus last year and it's up a little bit, say, 90 basis points. Just curious if there's anything structural that's going on driving that expense ratio higher?

我剛剛查看了六個月的費用比率結果，與去年相比，它上升了一點，例如 90 個基點。只是好奇是否有任何結構性因素導致費用比率上升？

Greg, how are you? The growth that you're seeing in the expenses for the six months is really just further investing in the sales side, underwriting just the front of the house. But again, based on the fact that you know expenses are never linear either. The investment is probably more upfront now in these first six months and then it should level off and then we assume to be back in what the ranges for us for an annual expense ratio.

格雷格，你好嗎？您在這六個月的支出中看到的增長實際上只是對銷售方面的進一步投資，僅承保房子的前面。但同樣，基於您知道費用也不是線性的事實。現在，在前六個月，投資可能會更加提前，然後應該趨於平穩，然後我們假設會回到我們的年度費用率範圍內。

Okay. And then just pivoting back to that growth comment. I thought you said in the comment and the call policy count growth has been positive for the last five consecutive quarters. I don't want to misquote you, but has it been concentrated with certain distribution partners or certain geographies? Or maybe you can give us some color on where the growth is coming from?

好的。然後回到成長評論。我想您在評論中說過，呼叫保單數量在過去連續五個季度一直呈正增長。我不想錯誤地引用你的話，但它是否集中在某些分銷合作夥伴或某些地區？或者您可以告訴我們一些關於成長來自何處的資訊嗎？

Yeah. Great question. And the answer is no, it's not coming from a particular distribution network. As you know, we use independent agents that hasn't changed. Actually, if you look at our agent counts are probably slightly down. And that's really because, as I mentioned earlier, we're really working on pipeline efficiency, making sure that we're doing business with the right agents and the age that we can serve best. So that's been a very positive thing for us.

是的。很好的問題。答案是否定的，它不是來自特定的分銷網絡。如您所知，我們使用未發生變化的獨立代理。事實上，如果你看看我們的代理商數量可能略有下降。這確實是因為，正如我之前提到的，我們確實致力於提高通路效率，確保我們與合適的代理商和我們能夠提供最佳服務的年齡開展業務。所以這對我們來說是一件非常正面的事情。

The policy growth has really been I'm going to attribute this to what I just mentioned, which is just the pipeline efficiency, trying to make things a little bit more efficient for our agents in terms of ease of doing business, the time we turn around quotes on making sure that we're giving -- we are making the most of the opportunities that we have. And because of those things and the efforts of our employees and we have been able to grow policy count, but it's not to your point about industry groups or state. It's not particular to an industry group. It's not particular to a certain type or particular agents in distribution.

政策的成長確實是我將其歸因於我剛才提到的，這只是管道效率，試圖使我們的代理商在開展業務的便利性方面變得更加高效，我們轉向的時候圍繞確保我們給予的引言——我們正在充分利用我們所擁有的機會。由於這些事情以及我們員工的努力，我們已經能夠增加保單數量，但這與您關於行業團體或國家的觀點無關。這並不是某個產業群體所特有的。它並不特定於某種類型或特定的分銷代理。

And I guess, it goes back to what I was saying earlier in the call, it's not -- I wouldn't say it's nothing -- it's anything new that Amerisafe is doing. It's really just being better at the way we're handling our agency relationships.

我想，這又回到了我之前在電話中所說的，這不是——我不會說這沒什麼——而是 Amerisafe 正在做的任何新事情。這實際上只是我們更好地處理代理關係的方式。

And I'm going to come at the severity question again. I know you were addressing it in your previous answers, but one on some of the other conference calls, the concept -- the fact that Florida is raised its reimbursement schedules, Medicare reimbursement rate schedules beginning next year, that's come up in a couple of other calls. So I'm just curious, as we look forward, what you think about -- how are you measuring out gauging what your outlook is on severity.

我將再次討論嚴重性問題。我知道你在之前的回答中談到過這個問題，但在其他一些電話會議上，這個概念——佛羅裡達州提高了報銷時間表，從明年開始的醫療保險報銷率時間表，這在幾個問題中都出現過其他電話。所以我只是好奇，當我們展望未來時，你的想法是什麼——你如何衡量你對嚴重性的看法。

Right. That's -- yeah. So Florida is certainly top of mind for everyone, because they've made adjustments to both physician charges and surgical procedures, and that that seems to be the two everyone is talking about. Because when you look at the percentages increases, you think, wow, that's pretty significant. I believe a couple of things about that. Those are the kinds of things that I mentioned when I was talking earlier about medical inflation and things, we're keeping our eyes on, that exactly the kinds of things that we're talking about.

正確的。那是——是的。因此，佛羅裡達州肯定是每個人最關心的，因為他們對醫生費用和手術程序都進行了調整，而這似乎是每個人都在談論的兩個。因為當你看到百分比增加時，你會想，哇，這非常顯著。我相信關於這一點的一些事情。這些是我之前在談論醫療通膨時提到的事情，我們正在密切關注，這正是我們正在談論的事情。

Now when you look at the large percentages, one of the things that you do have to keep in mind is that we do have networks within each state that work on containing costs as well. So even it's not a dollar for dollar in terms -- or the reimbursement rates gone up from 100% -- 110% to 175% for physician services. We also have to keep in mind that we have other cost savings mechanism on top of that within our provider networks and those type of things. So it's not dollar for dollar. And so that's one caveat.

現在，當你看到很大的百分比時，你必須記住的一件事是，我們確實在每個州內都有網路來控製成本。因此，即使這不是一美元對一美元，或者醫生服務的報銷率從 100% - 110% 上升到 175%。我們還必須記住，除了我們的供應商網路和此類事物之外，我們還有其他成本節約機制。所以這不是一美元對一美元。這是一個警告。

The second thing I'll say is, I think one of the beauties of Amerisafe and how we think about severity and case reserving, I'm using this Florida example -- Florida, as an example. I think really speaks to our how our model works so efficiently. Because my claims adjusters are experts in their fields and they are wholly focused on the workers' compensation reserve because we're a monoline carrier a, they're very attuned to what's happening in terms of their individual states. And reflecting that in our initial reserves really, really quickly. So we're not it's not playing out over a long period of time in terms of Amerisafe loss experience, we're building that into our case or our initial case reserves whenever that accident happens.

我要說的第二件事是，我認為 Amerisafe 的優點之一以及我們如何看待嚴重性和案件保留，我使用佛羅裡達州的例子 - 佛羅裡達州作為例子。我認為這確實說明了我們的模型如何如此有效率地運作。因為我的理賠員是各自領域的專家，而且他們完全專注於工人賠償儲備金，因為我們是單一航空公司，所以他們非常了解各自州發生的事情。並非常非常快地將這一點反映在我們的初始儲備中。因此，就 Amerisafe 損失經驗而言，我們並不是不會在很長一段時間內發揮作用，每當事故發生時，我們都會將其納入我們的案件或我們的初始案件儲備中。

That's important to us in terms of the severity and our recognition in the loss ratio. But keep in mind, it also helps us in terms of our pricing because then when we are underwriting a Florida account. We're taking all of that into account as to our real loss costs live and reflecting that in our individual rate. That was a very long answer to your severity question.

就損失的嚴重性和我們對損失率的認識而言，這對我們很重要。但請記住，它也對我們的定價有幫助，因為當我們承保佛羅裡達州帳戶時。我們正在將所有這些因素考慮到我們的實際損失成本，並將其反映在我們的個人費率中。對於你的嚴重性問題，這是一個很長的答案。

Excellent. Well, thank you both for the detailed answers.

出色的。嗯，謝謝兩位的詳細解答。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Bob Farnam, Jamie.

法納姆、傑米.

Hi, there. Good morning.

你好呀。早安.

Good morning Bob.

早安，鮑伯。

I've got more of a philosophical question. I'm thinking of the lost costs and they keep going down. And I'm wondering what is it going to take or what's the market conditions going to look like to have the loss cost bottom out? And how much of a lag where it will be for the actual filings to catch up with the actual need to hit or raising rates?

我有更多的哲學問題。我正在考慮損失的成本，而且它們一直在下降。我想知道需要什麼或市場條件如何才能使損失成本觸底？實際提交的文件要趕上實際的加息或加息需要有多少滯後？

Yeah, great question. So what's it going to take, as I mentioned earlier, that accident year combined ratio for the industry continuing to tick up and eventually break 100 that will help at least, I believe, slow the bleeding in terms of the rate decreases because then accident years will not be considered profitable.

是的，很好的問題。那麼，正如我之前提到的，該行業的事故年綜合比率繼續上升並最終突破 100 需要什麼，我相信，這至少將有助於減緩比率下降的速度，因為事故年不會被視為有利可圖圖。

To your point about the changes in using -- again using Florida as an example. Typically, what happens when there's a major change going on -- and I'll use Florida as an example in NCCI state. NCCI will take those costs like it is in trying to figure out what was actually going to cost the industry. And even if it's off cycle from a normal rate filing and because each state has their own rate filing dates and they can make like a law only filings or something change in the law that needs to be reflected in the rate. And that should theoretically that happened.

關於您關於使用變化的觀點—再次以佛羅裡達州為例。通常，當發生重大變化時會發生什麼 - 我將使用佛羅裡達州作為 NCCI 州的例子。NCCI 將像嘗試找出行業實際成本一樣對待這些成本。即使這是正常費率申請的非週期，並且因為每個州都有自己的費率申請日期，並且他們可以像法律一樣僅進行申請或需要在費率中反映的法律變更。理論上這應該會發生。

But what happens immediately is when a carrier is aware of it, they start trying to reflect that in their pricing, so hence in their ELCM. So forget if the underlying loss cost, let's use as an example, ported, it wouldn't change anything at all. Then I would assume carriers within their Florida -- within Florida we've tried to within their own pricing, of course, [for sport is] administrative pricing base is a little tricky.

但當營運商意識到這一點時，他們會立即開始嘗試在定價中反映這一點，從而在 ELCM 中反映這一點。因此，請忘記，如果潛在的損失成本（讓我們以移植為例），它根本不會改變任何事情。然後我會假設佛羅裡達州內的運營商——在佛羅裡達州內，我們試圖在自己的定價範圍內，當然，[對於體育]行政定價基礎有點棘手。

But through their own competitive methods, so majors use it that way, tried to make sure that they're building that into their premium dollars, the fact that they're going to be paying out more on the loss cost side, I believe that pressure will continue, and we're going to see more and more examples of that, which hopefully will slow the rate of decline or even flatten out the depth of the declines in approved loss costs, because I think those pressures are going to continue to happen.

但透過他們自己的競爭方法，所以各大公司都以這種方式使用它，試圖確保他們將其納入他們的保費中，事實上他們將在損失成本方面支付更多，我相信壓力將繼續存在，我們將看到越來越多的例子，這有望減緩下降速度，甚至壓平批准損失成本下降的深度，因為我認為這些壓力將繼續發生。

For the very reason I was speaking of earlier, physicians have an operating model for which they have a profit margin that they're trying to. And even if they're getting reimbursed by workers' compensation for something less than that, there's going to be either a shortage of providers and others are going to say, You know what, I don't want your workers' compensation patients or there's going to have to be some adjustment to the pricing.

正是出於我之前談到的原因，醫生有一個他們正在努力獲得利潤率的營運模式。即使他們從工傷賠償中得到的補償低於這個數字，也會出現供應商短缺的情況，其他人會說，你知道嗎，我不想要你的工傷賠償病人，或者有定價必須進行一些調整。

Right. So I mean, it sounds like, yes, despite the fact that loss costs are going down, the fact that even just this quarter, for example, your ELCM increased, it's kind of taking away some of that loss cost pressure just because you're getting more rate there. Is there happy point with your retention that you'd be willing to go to, if you keep raising rates and customers choose to go elsewhere?

正確的。所以我的意思是，聽起來是的，儘管損失成本正在下降，即使就在這個季度，例如，您的 ELCM 也有所增加，這在某種程度上消除了一些損失成本壓力，因為您在那裡獲得更多的利率。如果你繼續提高價格而顧客選擇去其他地方，你願意去保留你的保留率嗎？

That's a really great quick way to look at it. If I try to rephrase that, how low would I let my retention go. (inaudible) that's a great question. We've always had really strong retention numbers simply because we -- if you think about loss ratios or loss experience, typically, you have better loss ratios and better loss experience on the renewal account than you would on a new account because you know the accounts.

這是一種非常快速的查看方式。如果我嘗試重新表達的話，我的保留率會降低到多低？ （聽不清楚）這是一個很好的問題。我們一直擁有非常強大的保留數字，僅僅是因為我們- 如果您考慮損失率或損失體驗，通常情況下，您在續訂帳戶上比在新帳戶上有更好的損失率和更好的損失體驗，因為您知道帳戶。

And then Amerisafe case, not only do we know the accounts really well, and we've been providing safety services to that account. So we know what their attitude towards safety is. And so retention is extremely important to us. Do we test the market or do we think about when we do know, hey, we have to right underwrite something at a profitable level and that's going to affect our retention. Yes, we pay attention, but I will say underwriting profit above all other things.

然後是 Amerisafe 的案例，我們不僅非常了解這些帳戶，而且我們一直為該帳戶提供安全服務。所以我們知道他們對安全的態度是什麼。因此，留住人才對我們來說極為重要。我們是否測試市場，或者我們是否考慮當我們確實知道時，嘿，我們必須以盈利水平正確承保某些東西，這將影響我們的保留。是的，我們注意到了，但我會說承保利潤高於一切。

Right. And I'm not saying you should start reading your rate significantly I don't want to say dragging adverse selection in the well. So it's just something that -- I was curious, as you hopefully start to tweak your ELCM up. I just want to make sure your retention stays where it is.

正確的。我並不是說你應該開始大幅閱讀你的利率，我不想說把逆向選擇拖入井中。所以這只是——我很好奇，因為你希望開始調整你的 ELCM。我只是想確保你的保留率保持在原來的水平。

Absolutely. And the other thing I'll say this about rates, I have I don't think I've really talked about on this call, Bob, one of the things we yes we have to consider is the fact that, wage inflation has been really strong for over a year now. And is starting to wane a little bit, but it's still 6% is nothing to mock at. And that, in some way, has effectively acted as rate for lack of a better term. If you have the same employees, but they're making higher wages, and that's the basis of premium is sort of how to help bridge the gap a little bit in terms of the approved loss cost declines.

絕對地。我要說的另一件事是關於利率的，我認為我在這次電話會議上沒有真正談論過，鮑勃，我們必須考慮的事情之一是，工資通膨已經一年多了，真的很強大。雖然開始有所下降，但 6% 仍然沒什麼好嘲笑的。在某種程度上，這實際上充當了缺乏更好術語的利率。如果你有相同的員工，但他們的薪水更高，那麼保費的基礎就是如何在批准的損失成本下降方面幫助縮小差距。

Right. Okay. Thanks for all the color.

正確的。好的。感謝所有的顏色。

Thank you.

謝謝。

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Janelle Frost, CEO for any additional or closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。現在，我將把會議轉交給執行長 Janelle Frost，讓其發表補充或結束語。

I'd like to highlight Amerisafe's inclusion in the Ward's 50 top-performing property and casualty companies for the 16th consecutive year. This recognition underlies our employees' ability to use their expertise in high hazard workers' compensation niche to produce financial strength and stability for the company's stakeholders. Congratulations to the Amerisafe team and thank you for joining us today.

我想強調的是，Amerisafe 連續 16 年被列入沃德 50 家表現最佳的財產和傷亡公司。這項認可奠定了我們員工能夠利用其在高風險工人賠償領域的專業知識為公司利害關係人帶來財務實力和穩定性的能力。恭喜 Amerisafe 團隊，感謝您今天加入我們。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。