Amerisafe Inc (AMSF) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Amerisafe second-quarter 2025 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 Amerisafe 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。

At this time I would like to turn the conference over to Kathryn Shirley. Please go ahead.

現在我想把會議交給凱瑟琳·雪莉。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good morning everyone. Welcome to the Amerisafe 2025 second-quarter investor call. If you have not received the earnings release, it is available on our website at Amerisafe.com.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。歡迎參加 Amerisafe 2025 年第二季投資者電話會議。如果您尚未收到收益報告，請造訪我們的網站 Amerisafe.com 取得。

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.

此通話正在錄音。今日電話會議將提供重播。重播詳情請參閱財報。

During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements intended to fall within the safe harbor provided under the securities laws. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to various risk and uncertainties.

在本次電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，旨在符合證券法規定的安全港規定。這些聲明是基於目前的預期和假設，受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 the result of risk, uncertainties, and other factors, including factors discussed in the earnings release, in the comments made during today's call, and in the risk factor section of our Form 10K, Form 10s, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

如果基本假設被證明不正確或由於風險、不確定性和其他因素（包括收益報告中討論的因素、今天電話會議中的評論以及我們 10K 表、10s 表和向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他報告和文件的風險因素部分）的影響，實際結果可能與這些聲明中表達或暗示的結果存在重大差異。

We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement.

我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

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

現在我將把電話轉給 Amerisafe 總裁兼執行長 Janelle Frost。

Thank you, Katherine, and good morning everyone. I am pleased to begin today's call highlighting our continued success in growing premiums by increasing policy count, exhibiting pricing discipline, and strong renewal retention. Our risk selection, coupled with working more effectively with our agents generated 12.8% growth in voluntary premiums for policies written in the quarter.

謝謝你，凱瑟琳，大家早安。我很高興在今天的電話會議上強調，我們透過增加保單數量、嚴格定價以及強勁的續保留存率，持續提升了保費收入。我們的風險選擇，加上與保險代理人更有效率的合作，使本季自願承保保費增加了12.8%。

Our enforced policy count grew 3.4% in the quarter, supported by new business growth, and 93.8% renewal retention. These accomplishments took place in the competitive market where workers' compensation remains the most profitable in the property and casualty space. According to NCCI, the industry's combined ratio remained below 100% for 2024. However, it did not improve over 2023, unlike the other PNC lines, which are getting rate increases.

本季度，我們的強制執行保單數量增加了3.4%，這得益於新業務的成長和93.8%的續保率。這些成就是在競爭激烈的市場中取得的，工傷賠償仍然是財產和意外險領域利潤最高的險種。根據NCCI的數據，2024年該產業的綜合成本率仍低於100%。然而，與其他 PNC 線路的費率上調不同，2023 年的情況並沒有改善。

Workers' compensation approved loss costs on average are down mid single digits, with California being a significant outlier with an 8.7% increase. While Amerisafe only has ancillary exposure in California, we cannot ignore the potential for this dramatic increase to signal a shift in the cycle. Another potential sign for a shift with NCCI's reported 6% increase in medical severity for 2024. Regardless if the market remains soft or begins to harden, Amerisafe is well positioned both operationally and with a strong balance sheet to respond and generate consistent underwriting profitability.

工傷賠償核准損失成本平均下降了中等個位數，其中加州的增幅顯著，為8.7%。雖然Amerisafe僅在加州有輔助業務，但我們不能忽視這一大幅成長可能預示著週期的轉變。 NCCI報告稱，2024年醫療嚴重程度將增加6%，這也是轉變的另一個潛在訊號。無論市場持續疲軟或開始走強，Amerisafe在營運和強勁的資產負債表方面都處於有利地位，能夠應對並產生持續的承保盈利能力。

As for Amerisafe's loss experience, frequency was down compared to the 2nd quarter of 2024, and severity trends are within our expectations. Our current accident year loss ratio was 71% as of the end of the second quarter.

就Amerisafe的損失經驗而言，與2024年第二季相比，事故發生頻率有所下降，嚴重程度趨勢也符合我們的預期。截至第二季末，我們本年度事故損失率為71%。

In addition, we had $8.6 million of favorable development in the quarter as our claims team continues to demonstrate expertise in finding opportunities to close claims effectively and efficiently. This quarter accident years 2020 and prior drove most of the favorable case development. Further, on July 23, 2025, our board of directors approved the reauthorization of a $25 million share repurchase program, replacing the prior program.

此外，本季我們取得了860萬美元的良好進展，這得益於我們的理賠團隊在有效高效地尋找理賠機會方面持續展現的專業技能。本季大部分有利的案件進展都源自於2020年及之前的事故年份。此外，2025年7月23日，我們的董事會批准了一項2,500萬美元的股票回購計畫的重新授權，以取代先前的計畫。

Since the inception of our initial program in February of 2010, we have repurchased approximately $1.75 million shares at an average cost of $25.69 per share, totaling $44.8 million.

自 2010 年 2 月啟動初始計畫以來，我們已回購了約 175 萬股股票，平均成本為每股 25.69 美元，總計 4,480 萬美元。

In addition, the company's Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.39 per share payable on September 26, 2025 to shareholders of record as of September 12, 2025. These ongoing capital management strategies reflect our confidence in the long-term value of our business and our commitment to delivering to shareholder returns.

此外，公司董事會宣布定期向 2025 年 9 月 26 日登記在冊的股東派發每股 0.39 美元的季度現金股利。這些持續的資本管理策略反映了我們對業務長期價值的信心以及我們對股東回報的承諾。

I'll now turn the call over to Andy to discuss financial results surrounding our underwriting profitability and investment.

現在我將把電話轉給安迪，討論我們的承保盈利能力和投資的財務結果。

Thank you, Janelle. Good morning, everyone. For the 2nd quarter of 2025, Amerisafe reported net income of $14 million or $0.73 per diluted share. And operating that income of $10 million or $0.53 per diluted share.

謝謝你，珍妮爾。大家早安。2025 年第二季度，Amerisafe 報告淨收入為 1,400 萬美元，即每股收益 0.73 美元。營業收入為 1,000 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.53 美元。

During the second quarter of 2024, net income was $11 million or $0.57 per diluted share, and operating net income was $11.1 million or $0.58 per diluted share.

2024 年第二季度，淨收入為 1,100 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.57 美元，營業淨收入為 1,110 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.58 美元。

The higher reported net income was primarily driven by stronger valuations across our equity holdings, which resulted in a net unrealized gain on equity securities of $1.8 million during the quarter. In addition to $3.1 million of realized gains also primarily from equity securities.

報告淨收入的增加主要得益於我們持有的股票估值的提高，這導致本季股票證券的淨未實現收益為 180 萬美元。此外，310 萬美元的已實現收益也主要來自股權證券。

Gross premiums were $79.7 million in the quarter compared with $76.4 million in Q2 of 2024, increasing 4.3%. Audit premiums continued to moderate, which increased the top line by $1.5 million compared with $7.3 million in the year ago period. Despite the audit premium headwinds, voluntary premium growth on policies written in the quarter was 12.8% fueled by new business production and strong retention.

本季毛保費為 7,970 萬美元，而 2024 年第二季為 7,640 萬美元，成長 4.3%。審計保費持續放緩，導致營業收入較去年同期的 730 萬美元成長 150 萬美元。儘管面臨審計保費方面的不利因素，但受新業務產生和強勁保留率的推動，本季簽發的保單自願保費增長率仍達到 12.8%。

Our total underwriting and other expenses were $21.7 million in the quarter compared with $20.4 million recognized in the prior year quarter. This increase resulted in an expense ratio of 31.3% compared with 29.8% in the year ago quarter. The expense ratio reflects ongoing investment in AmeriSafe's growth.

本季我們的承保和其他費用總額為 2,170 萬美元，而去年同期為 2,040 萬美元。這一增長導致費用率達到 31.3%，而去年同期的費用率為 29.8%。費用率反映了對 AmeriSafe 成長的持續投資。

Further, audit premium, which is earned immediately, has declined in comparison to the prior year but is still a material contributor to net premiums earned. While voluntary premiums are earned over time, creating an expense premium mismatch that elevates the ratio. Lastly, 100 basis points of the current quarter's expense ratio is due to increase in insurance-based assessments. We anticipate the full year expense ratio to be in line with previous years. Our effective tax rate was 20.1% compared to 20% in the prior year quarter.

此外，立即賺取的審計保費與前一年相比有所下降，但仍是淨保費收入的重要貢獻者。雖然自願保費是隨著時間的推移而獲得的，但費用保費不匹配會提高該比率。最後，本季費用率上升100個基點，是由於保險評估費用增加。我們預計全年費用率將與往年持平。我們的有效稅率為20.1%，而去年同期為20%。

Turning to our investment portfolio. In the second quarter, net investment income decreased 10.2% to $6.7 million driven by a decrease in investable assets following the payment of the special dividend.

轉向我們的投資組合。第二季度，由於支付特別股息後可投資資產減少，淨投資收入下降 10.2% 至 670 萬美元。

At quarter end, we had approximately $807 million in investments, cash and cash equivalents compared to $884 million at June 30, 2024. On a consecutive quarter basis, net investment income increased by 60 basis points.

截至本季末，我們的投資、現金和現金等價物約為 8.07 億美元，而 2024 年 6 月 30 日為 8.84 億美元。淨投資收益連續一個季度成長60個基點。

The reinvestment rate environment remains strong this quarter, with yields on new investments exceeding portfolio roll off by 230 basis points, contributing to a tax equivalent book yield of 3.85% compared to 3.79% in the second quarter of 2024.

本季再投資利率環境依然強勁，新投資收益率超過投資組合收益率 230 個基點，稅收等值帳面收益率為 3.85%，而 2024 年第二季為 3.79%。

Our investment portfolio remains high quality, carrying an average minus credit rating with the duration of 4.5 years. The composition of the portfolio is 62% in municipal bonds, 21% in corporate bonds, 4% in US treasuries and agencies, 7% in equity securities, and 6% in cash and other investments. Approximately 50% of the portfolio is classified as health and maturity. As a reminder, these securities are carried at amortized costs and therefore unrealized gains and losses are not reflected in our reported book value. Our capital position is strong with a high quality balance sheet, solid loss reserve position, and conservative investment portfolio.

我們的投資組合仍保持高品質，平均信用評級為負，期限為 4.5 年。此投資組合的構成為：市政債券佔62%，公司債佔21%，美國國債和機構債券佔4%，股票證券佔7%，現金及其他投資佔6%。約 50% 的投資組合被歸類為健康和成熟。提醒一下，這些證券以攤銷成本計價，因此未實現的損益不會反映在我們報告的帳面價值中。我們的資本狀況強勁，擁有高品質的資產負債表、穩固的損失準備金狀況和保守的投資組合。

During the second quarter, the company repurchased 63,000 shares at an average cost of $44.55 totalling $2.8 million. And finally, a couple of other topics. Book value per share increased to $13.96 up 3.3% year-to-date. Statutory surplus was $257 million compared to $235 million at year end 2024. And lastly, we will be filing our thank you with the SEC later today after the close of the market.

第二季度，該公司回購了 63,000 股，平均成本為 44.55 美元，總計 280 萬美元。最後，還有幾個其他話題。每股帳面價值年初至今上漲 3.3% 至 13.96 美元。法定盈餘為 2.57 億美元，而 2024 年底為 2.35 億美元。最後，我們將在今天稍後市場收盤後向美國證券交易委員會提交感謝信。

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

接線員，現在我想開始這次電話會議的問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Mark Hughes, Trust.

（操作員指示）馬克·休斯，信託。

13% pretty impressive. You described it in the usual way, good retention and strong new business, but could you give a Something is gooder or stronger than last quarter so I'm just sort of curious what you saw in the quarter that.

13% 相當令人印象深刻。您以通常的方式描述了它，良好的保留率和強勁的新業務，但您能否給出一些比上一季更好或更強的東西，所以我只是有點好奇您在本季度看到了什麼。

Drove that business.

推動該業務。

Yeah, Mark, I'll start by saying this, shout out to the AmeriSafe team.

是的，馬克，首先我要說的是，向 AmeriSafe 團隊致敬。

The employees have truly been focused on ease of doing business, agent effectiveness, and creating scalability. I've been talking about it for, gee, I should probably look back and see how many earnings calls now, and they really are seeing the fruits of their labor, coming into this year and at the end of last year we said we were looking for small incremental growth. We're achieving that. We've grown policy count 5.8% since year end, 3.4% in the quarter, but yet sticking to our knitting, sticking to our risk selection process starting from the beginning of the sales process with our sales folks on the ground working with agents, making sure that we are working with the right agents that fit AmeriSafe's profile.

員工們真正專注於簡化業務、提高代理效率和創造可擴展性。我一直在談論它，哎呀，我應該回顧一下，看看現在有多少個財報電話會議，他們真的看到了他們的勞動成果，進入今年，而在去年年底，我們說我們正在尋求小幅增量增長。我們正在實現這一目標。自年底以來，我們的保單數量增長了 5.8%，本季度增長了 3.4%，但我們仍堅持我們的主線，堅持從銷售過程開始的風險選擇流程，我們的銷售人員在當地與代理商合作，確保我們與符合 AmeriSafe 形象的合適代理商合作。

On to safety being part of that process, still, 93% of our accounts are still getting that pre-quote safety inspection or safety visit with our safety folks out on the ground visiting with prospects, understanding those risks, providing that information back to my underwriters, and then our underwriters do what they do best in terms of risk selection, understanding risk, pricing it appropriately.

安全是流程的一部分，但 93% 的帳戶仍然需要接受報價前的安全檢查或安全訪問，我們的安全人員會親自到現場，拜訪潛在客戶，了解這些風險，並將這些資訊回饋給我的承銷商，然後我們的承銷商會在風險選擇、理解風險、合理定價方面做他們最擅長的事情。

I know we don't give pricing information anymore on this call, but I'll say this about our risk selection process. If I look at that enforced policy count, 83% to 85% of that is still within those hazard groups E, S, and G, which is where we consider our specialty, where we consider our sweet spot. So that's a very long answer to say that I just feel like all of those things collectively are coming together with the intention of finding ways to address this very competitive market that we're in, for the longest time, AmeriSafe probably took more of a defensive position in terms of the market price.

我知道我們在這次電話會議上不再提供定價信息，但我會說一下我們的風險選擇過程。如果我看一下強制執行的政策數量，其中 83% 到 85% 仍然在危險組 E、S 和 G 內，這是我們認為的我們的專長，也是我們認為的最佳點。所以，這是一個很長的答案，我只是覺得所有這些事情都是為了找到方法來解決我們所處的這個競爭非常激烈的市場，長期以來，AmeriSafe 可能在市場價格方面採取了更多的防禦立場。

And now we look at, the stock market has been gone for, I think we're in our 10th, maybe 10th or 11th year of approved loss costs continuing to go down with some improvement and we're not in double digit declines anymore, we're at mid single digits, but finding a way to respond to that market and still.

現在我們來看看，股市已經走了，我想我們已經進入了第 10 年，也許是第 10 年或第 11 年，批准的損失成本繼續下降，並有一些改善，我們不再處於兩位數的下降，我們處於中等個位數，但正在尋找應對市場的方法。

Still, keep our risk selection profile and what we know we want to underwrite to in terms of profitability, top of mind and finding ways to get that done.

儘管如此，我們仍要維持風險選擇概況，並將獲利能力作為我們想要承保的重點，並尋找實現這一目標的方法。

Very good. How about the average policy size? I think policy count up 6%, written up 13%, and I know that's kind of apples and oranges, but any change in the average policy size.

非常好。平均保單規模如何？我認為保單數量增加了 6%，書面增加了 13%，我知道這有點不著邊際，但平均保單規模有任何變化。

A slight change, I would say, again, proved loss costs, I think, are down mid single digits in that 5 to 6 range.

我想說，再次，微小的變化證明了損失成本，我認為，在 5 到 6 的範圍內下降了中等個位數。

I do know I can say this. I know that wage inflation, at least for this past quarter, wages were up roughly around 5%, and even NCCI I mentioned for 2024 that wage growth did not exceed the lost cost changes, for the longest time we were receiving.

我確實知道我可以這麼說。我知道薪資通膨，至少在過去這個季度，薪資上漲了大約 5% 左右，甚至我提到的 NCCI 2024 年的薪資成長也沒有超過我們所收到的最長時間的成本損失變化。

A premium dollars basically quasi rate from just wage inflation stand-alone that has sort of balanced out now in terms of wage growth being somewhere around the 5% range, lost cost being in that 5 to 6% range. So the average premium size may have changed ever so slightly, maybe be slightly down, but you know our sweet spot is still in that 25 to 35%, $1000 dollar range.

保費基本上是僅由工資通膨決定的準利率，現在已經達到平衡，工資增長在 5% 左右，成本損失在 5% 到 6% 左右。因此，平均保費規模可能會發生輕微變化，甚至可能略有下降，但您知道我們的最佳點仍然在 25% 到 35%、1000 美元的範圍內。

Got you. How about medical inflation and maybe I'll just a general comment there and then the Medicare fee schedules. Whether any of these updates are impacting your view on inflation.

明白了。醫療通膨怎麼樣？我可能只是泛泛地評論一下，然後談談醫療保險的收費標準。這些更新是否影響了您對通膨的看法？

I think there's a lot of detail that I assume folks are still working through, but maybe some of the The reimbursement arrangements for specialists maybe they've gone up I'm just curious if you have any observations there.

我認為還有很多細節需要大家研究，但也許一些專家的報銷安排可能已經提高了，我只是好奇您是否有任何觀察。

Yeah, as I said in my opening remarks, NCCI reported for 20,204, medical severity had gone up 6%. Now they do a workers' comp medical index, and that number was 2.8% up. So the remainder of that they really NCCI really attributed to the utilization, which I think is something everybody in the industry has been talking about for some time now and how we view that what is actually happening and then how we view that in terms of reserves. Going back to my claims team, I feel like this is where they shine the most in terms of how they initially set up those reserves, how they view those claims on a long term basis.

是的，正如我在開場白中所說，NCCI 報告稱，20,204 例病例的病情嚴重程度上升了 6%。現在他們做了一個工人補償醫療指數，這個數字上升了 2.8%。因此，NCCI 確實將剩餘部分歸因於利用率，我認為這是業內每個人都在談論的事情，以及我們如何看待實際發生的事情，以及我們如何從儲備的角度看待這個問題。回到我的索賠團隊，我覺得這是他們最出色的地方，包括他們最初如何設立這些儲備金，以及他們如何從長期角度看待這些索賠。

We haven't really changed our view again because we use long term averages when we think about medical severity, so we have not changed our reserving practices in terms of some of the noise that, I think people are starting to see in the data we Probably 2 years ago, we're talking about home health for as an example of just pockets of medical costs where we were seeing inflation, right? It was harder to find providers in certain parts of the country and then we were able to find providers, the rates had gone up significantly. I think there are in the industry again, pockets of where we're seeing that probably a little bit more surgical procedures in terms of maybe increased hospitalizations.

我們並沒有真正改變我們的觀點，因為當我們考慮醫療嚴重程度時，我們使用的是長期平均值，因此，我們並沒有改變我們的儲備做法，因為我認為人們開始在數據中看到這些噪音，大概兩年前，我們談論家庭健康作為醫療成本的一個例子，我們看到了通貨膨脹，對嗎？在該國某些地區尋找供應商比較困難，而當我們能夠找到供應商時，費率已經大幅上漲。我認為，我們再次看到，在行業中，有些地方的手術量可能會增加，住院人數可能會增加。

Nothing that I can point to in our particular data right now that would say that I feel like we need to change our reserving practices. Again, kudos to my claims team because they really have taken a long term view of that and we have very consistent book of injury types and, the severity of our injuries, there's not many things that we haven't seen at this point, for lack of a term, knock on wood. I don't need that to happen today. So I feel very confident in our case reserving process.

目前，我無法從我們的特定數據中指出任何跡象表明我們需要改變我們的儲備做法。再次向我的索賠團隊表示敬意，因為他們確實對此進行了長遠的考慮，並且我們對傷害類型和傷害嚴重程度有非常一致的記錄，目前我們還沒有看到很多事情，由於缺乏術語，所以敲木頭。我不希望今天發生這樣的事。所以我對我們的案件保留流程非常有信心。

Very good. Any stance on new business, like new business production year over year in the quarter? I know that's something you haven't historically.

非常好。對於新業務有何看法，例如本季新業務產量年比如何？我知道這是你們歷史上從未發生過的事。

Yeah.

是的。

We, I hear you. We're very excited about the new business growth, not a number I would necessarily want to put out there because my competitors listen to this call, but we are having success and I'll say this. If you look, and I'll TRY to back into what I what I mean in terms of the new business growth, I mentioned real retention at 93.8% and that was on a policy count basis and yet policy count grew.

我們，我聽到了。我們對新業務的成長感到非常興奮，我並不想公佈這個數字，因為我的競爭對手也聽到了這個消息，但我們正在取得成功，我會這麼說。如果你看一下，我會嘗試回到我所說的新業務成長方面，我提到實際保留率為 93.8%，這是基於政策數量，但政策數量卻增加了。

3.4% in the quarter so you can back into that math, but I'll say this as far as new business and talking about initially when I said ease of doing business and making and having more effective relationships with our agents. If you look at our agent count at the end of 2023, 2,200 agents at the end of 2024, roughly 1,700 agents. By second quarter we were down to almost 1,500 agents, yet policy count has gone up. So that is, I think that speaks to how we've been able to find new business and be more effective with fewer agents.

本季成長了 3.4%，所以你可以回到那個數學公式，但就新業務而言，我會這麼說，最初我談到做生意的便利性以及與我們的代理商建立更有效的關係。如果你看一下我們 2023 年底的代理商數量，你會發現 2024 年底的代理商數量為 2,200 名，大約為 1,700 名。到第二季度，我們的代理人數量已降至近1500人，但保單數量卻增加。所以，我認為這說明我們能夠以更少的代理人數量拓展新業務，並提高效率。

The addition by subtraction method. I'll ask you one final question. Construction, what's the vibe in construction?

減法加法。我最後問你一個問題。建築，建築的氛圍怎麼樣？

Great question. We're still seeing wage growth there in terms of the payrolls that are being reported to us. Interestingly enough, this past quarter, we did not see an increase in new employee count. We actually saw maybe even a slight decrease. So something we're keeping our eye on there. That that can go a couple of different ways. If new, obviously we feel like new employees tend to drive up claim counts tend to drive up frequency, so we, if we have our druthers, we'd rather extend work hours and anecdotally we're hearing that we're hearing things about extended work hours, same employees working longer hours. There's my thought process behind it, particularly in construction and our agriculture book of business, is somehow, immigration and undocumented workers affecting those numbers to be seen, but it was an interesting data point for this particular quarter.

好問題。從我們報告的工資單來看，那裡的工資仍在增長。有趣的是，上個季度，我們並沒有看到新員工數量的增加。我們實際上甚至看到了輕微的下降。因此我們正在密切關注此事。這可以有幾種不同的方式。如果是新員工，顯然我們覺得新員工往往會推高索賠數量，從而推高頻率，所以，如果我們有選擇的話，我們寧願延長工作時間，而且我們聽說我們聽到有關延長工作時間的消息，同樣的員工工作時間更長。我對此有自己的想法，特別是在建築業和農業業務方面，移民和無證工人以某種方式影響了這些數字，但對於這個特定季度來說，這是一個有趣的數據點。

So if you think about it in terms of it let's play that through and say, okay, well it is immigration or something to do with immigration, so. Not adding on incremental staff, new workers, extended work hours could be good for frequency.

所以，如果你從這個角度來思考，我們來仔細分析一下，好吧，這跟移民有關，或是跟移民有關。不增加員工、不增加新進員工、不延長工作時間，或許對提高工作頻率有好處。

If indeed those workers do get replaced, undocumented workers do get replaced with higher wage earners, that could be a boost in premium dollars. At the same time, if they're replaced with higher wage earners and they're new to that industry, could also drive up frequency. So I gave you a lot of different scenarios there, but I definitely think that impacts.

如果這些工人確實被取代，無證工人確實被更高收入者取代，那麼保費收入可能會增加。同時，如果他們被收入更高的人取代，並且他們是該行業的新人，也可能會提高頻率。所以我給了你很多不同的場景，但我確實認為這會產生影響。

Or has the potential to impact construction and our agriculture books in particular.

或有可能對建築業和農業書籍產生特別的影響。

(Operator Instructions) Bob Farnam, Janney.

（操作員指示）鮑勃·法納姆，詹尼。

Just I think one more question in line of kind of what Mark was asking about. I just wanted to know in terms of caseload per per per claimed personnel. I don't know if there's been any changes to the caseloads over the last, few years.

我認為還有一個問題與馬克所問的類似。我只是想知道每個索賠人員的案件數量。我不知道過去幾年案件數量是否有任何變化。

No, sir, a great question and good morning Bob. We're still at below we're still at below 50 claims per on on average per adjuster, so no shifts there.

不，先生，這是一個很好的問題，早安，鮑伯。我們的平均每位理賠員的理賠數仍低於 50 項，因此沒有變更。

Okay, and you've been at the 71% active in your loss ratio assumption for a few years now, given the changes in the loss cost, is it, am I right to assume that there's been some upward pressure there that if anything that might go up at some point in the future?

好的，幾年來，您的損失率假設一直保持在 71%，考慮到損失成本的變化，我可以正確地假設那裡存在一些上行壓力，如果有的話，未來某個時候可能會上升嗎？

Yeah, I think that's a good assumption that there's definitely pressure there as to your point, as lost costs continue to be declined, one of the things, one of the beauties I think of AmeriSafe, again, shout out to my claims department and the way we think about reserving and we put those reserves up to ultimate relatively quickly, it does help us. In terms of how we price our product and how we think about profitability and on the risk selection side of things, but there's no question in terms of just the absolute claim number of claims and the claims dollars that we're having to spend that there's pressure on that 71% on a go forward basis unless something changes in the marketplace. I was like, I throw that out there just in case, unless something, yeah, in case something changes, but if continued trends. A happen in terms of lost costs themselves. Definite pressure there.

是的，我認為這是一個很好的假設，就你的觀點而言，肯定存在壓力，因為損失成本持續下降，其中一件事，我認為 AmeriSafe 的優點之一，再次向我的索賠部門大喊，我們考慮儲備的方式，我們相對較快地將這些儲備提高到最終水平，這確實對我們有幫助。就我們如何為產品定價、如何考慮盈利能力以及風險選擇方面而言，毫無疑問，就索賠的絕對數量和我們必須花費的索賠金額而言，除非市場發生變化，否則 71% 的索賠在未來會面臨壓力。我當時想，我把它拋出來只是為了以防萬一，除非發生什麼事情，是的，以防萬一發生什麼變化，但如果趨勢持續下去。就成本損失而言，這是必然的。那裡確實存在壓力。

Right, okay. And in terms of capital management, how are you balancing kind of share repurchases versus the special dividend? Is there any thought process behind how much you're allocating to each?

好的，好的。在資本管理方面，您如何平衡股票回購和特別股利？您在為每個人分配多少資金時，是否有任何思考過程？

Bob, it's Andy. How are you? Right now, we looked at, the buyback, so of course we want to buy back our stock at the right time. So, we did go to the board as Janelle said, and it was reauthorized up to $25 million.

鮑勃，我是安迪。你好嗎？現在，我們正在考慮回購，所以我們當然希望在合適的時間回購我們的股票。因此，正如 Janelle 所說，我們確實去了董事會，並且重新授權金額高達 2500 萬美元。

And then again, if the inquiry is how we balance out, does that mean they have any connotations towards the special dividend? We assume there will be a special dividend. The recommendation is there and you know there is capital sufficiency. I mean that's probably the best way I can answer it for you.

再說了，如果詢問我們如何平衡，這是否意味著它們對特別股息有任何意義？我們假設將會有特別股利。有建議，而且你知道資本充足。我的意思是這可能是我能回答您的最佳方式。

Okay, alright, got it. Last question that I had here was, here, so it sounds like the expense ratio this year is going to be 30-ish, maybe a little under. Do you have a kind of a long term target that you want to keep your expense ratio around? I'm not sure if it's it's at 30 or above or below.

好的，明白了。我上一個問題是，聽起來今年的費用率會在30%左右，可能略低。您是否有長期目標，希望維持費用率不變？我不確定它是在 30 以上還是以下。

So, for the sake of not being too forward-looking, what we assume is, and for this year as well that we will be within the range that, we have been historically.

因此，為了不至於太過前瞻性，我們假設，對於今年而言，我們的成長仍將處於歷史範圍內。

And the historical range, you don't expect any changes at least for now without, without.

而歷史範圍，你預計至少目前不會有任何變化。

Getting it and if I can if I can add just one other, if you look at the quarter we're at 31.3. Look at the year we're at 30.6. So again, the assumption is that we'll be within the historical range.

得到它，如果可以的話，我可以再添加一個，如果你看一下本季度，我們是 31.3。看看今年我們已經是 30.6 了。因此，我們再次假設我們將處於歷史範圍內。

Mark Hughes, Trust.

馬克·休斯，信託。

Yeah, I just want to follow up. The policyholder dividends were up a bit in the quarter. What drove that?

是的，我只是想跟進一下。本季度保單持有人紅利略有增加。原因是什麼？

Mark, I mean, the policyholder dividend is, some of our policyholders do qualify for it, and it isn't linear, it's lumpy. So if you recollect for even from last year, it goes up and down each quarter. So for com that's all I can say is there's really not. Any, spike, it's just that we had more policies qualify for the policyholder dividends.

馬克，我的意思是，保單持有人紅利是，我們的一些保單持有人確實有資格獲得它，而且它不是線性的，而是不均勻的。因此，如果您回想一下，即使從去年開始，它每個季度都會上下波動。所以對於com來說，我只能說真的沒有。史派克，只是我們有更多的保單符合保單持有人紅利的條件。

Yeah, is that, can it be interpreted as a competitive issue that on some policies you.

是的，這可以解釋為某些政策上的競爭問題嗎？

Are motivated to pay out higher dividends from a competitive standpoint, or is it a reflection of better loss experience and that's what's driving it? How to think about that?

從競爭角度來看是否有動力支付更高的股息，或者這是否反映了更好的損失經驗，這就是推動它的原因？該如何思考這個問題？

Probably it's probably a combination of both mark, I'll say this about policyholder dividends for Amerisave, it's really made up of three states Florida, which happens to be our largest state. There's something you can read into that, Wisconsin and Virginia.

可能是兩者的結合，關於 Amerisave 的保單持有人紅利，我想說的是，它實際上是由三個州組成的，佛羅裡達州恰好是我們最大的州。威斯康辛州和維吉尼亞州的情況值得我們深思。

And so some of, yeah, obviously in Florida, as is administrative administrative pricing state, so policyholder dividends is certainly a way to compete, but it also involves loss experience.

是的，顯然在佛羅裡達州，由於它是一個行政定價州，因此保單持有人紅利當然是一種競爭方式，但它也涉及損失經驗。

Yeah, would one say maybe a Florida race being flat this year instead of down that there was Little more competition by way of policyholder dividends is that one could say.

是的，有人會說今年佛羅裡達州的競選可能會持平而不是下滑，可以說保單持有人紅利方面的競爭稍微激烈一些。

Thank you, Mark. It appears there are no further questions at this time. I'll turn the call back to Janelle Frost, CEO, for any additional or closing remarks.

謝謝，馬克。目前看來沒有其他問題了。我將把電話轉回給執行長 Janelle Frost，讓她發表任何補充或結束語。

We are pleased with this quarter's continued top line growth and industry leading operating ROE of 14.9%, supported by our investment in our people and technology and delivering on our commitment to our stakeholders. Thank you for joining us today.

我們對本季持續的營收成長和業界領先的14.9%的營運股本回報率感到欣慰，這得益於我們對人才和技術的投入，以及我們對利害關係人承諾的兌現。感謝您今天的參與。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That will conclude today's call. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at this time.

謝謝各位，女士們，先生們。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。