Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (UVE) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Universal's second-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

早安，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加環球影業 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在錄音中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Arash Soleimani, Chief Strategy Officer.

我現在想將會議交給首席策略長阿拉什·蘇萊馬尼 (Arash Soleimani)。

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. Welcome to our quarterly earnings call. On the call with me today are Steve Donaghy, Chief Executive Officer; and Frank Wilcox, Chief Financial Officer.

早安.感謝您今天加入我們。歡迎參加我們的季度財報電話會議。今天與我通話的是執行長 Steve Donaghy；和首席財務官弗蘭克·威爾科克斯。

Before we begin, please note today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. For more information, please see the press release and Universal's SEC filings, all of which are available on the Investors section of our website at universalinsuranceholdings.com and on the SEC's website. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures is included in the quarterly press release and can also be found on Universal's website at universalinsuranceholdings.com.

在開始之前，請注意今天的討論可能包含前瞻性陳述和非公認會計準則財務指標。前瞻性陳述涉及假設、風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與這些陳述有重大差異。欲了解更多信息，請參閱新聞稿和環球向 SEC 提交的文件，所有這些文件均可在我們網站的投資者部分（universalinsuranceholdings.com）和 SEC 網站上獲取。非公認會計原則財務指標與可比較公認會計原則指標的調節表包含在季度新聞稿中，也可以在環球公司的網站universalinsuranceholdings.com上找到。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve.

這樣，我就把電話轉給史蒂夫。

Thank you, Arash. Good morning, everyone. In the quarter, we delivered a solid 30.5% annualized adjusted return on common equity and 35.6% adjusted diluted earnings per share growth year over year. Results were driven by strong underwriting performance, and we continue to see encouraging claims and litigation trends. Florida policies in force increased sequentially for the second quarter in a row, and overall policies in force increased year over year for the first time since 2021.

謝謝你，阿拉什。大家早安。本季度，我們實現了 30.5% 的年化調整普通股回報率和 35.6% 的調整後稀釋每股收益同比增長。強勁的承保業績推動了業績，我們繼續看到令人鼓舞的索賠和訴訟趨勢。佛羅裡達州生效的政策連續第二季度環比增加，總體生效政策自 2021 年以來首次同比增加。

As we mentioned previously, we completed the placement of our 2024/2025 reinsurance renewal for our insurance entities. We're very pleased with the outcome of the program and the support we received from our long-standing reinsurance partners and from new partners as well. Importantly, despite having substantially more demand for private market reinsurance following the expirations of the Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders later and our catastrophe bond, the overall cost of our program was only up modestly.

正如我們之前提到的，我們完成了保險實體 2024/2025 年再保險續保的安排。我們對該計劃的成果以及我們從長期再保險合作夥伴和新合作夥伴那裡得到的支持感到非常滿意。重要的是，儘管在援助投保人再保險和我們的巨災債券到期後，對私人市場再保險的需求大幅增加，但我們計劃的總體成本僅略有上升。

I'll turn it over to Frank to walk through our financial results. Frank?

我將把它交給弗蘭克來詳細介紹我們的財務表現。坦率？

Thanks, Steve. Good morning. Adjusted diluted earnings per common share was $1.18, up from $0.87 in the prior-year quarter. The increase mostly stems from higher underwriting and net investment income. Core revenue of $379.2 million was up 12.5% year over year, with growth primarily stemming from higher net premiums earned and net investment income, partially offset by lower commission revenue.

謝謝，史蒂夫。早安.調整後稀釋後每股普通股收益為 1.18 美元，高於去年同期的 0.87 美元。這一增長主要源於承保和淨投資收入的增加。核心收入為 3.792 億美元，年增 12.5%，成長主要源自於淨保費收入和淨投資收入的增加，但部分被佣金收入的減少所抵銷。

Direct premiums written were $578.3 million, up 5.7% from the prior-year quarter, including 0.9% growth in Florida and 30.1% growth in other states. Overall growth mostly reflects higher rates inflation adjustments and higher policies in force. Direct premiums earned were $490.6 million, up 5.9% from the prior-year quarter, reflecting direct premiums written growth over the last 12 months.

直接承保保費為 5.783 億美元，比去年同期增長 5.7%，其中佛羅裡達州增長 0.9%，其他州增長 30.1%。整體成長主要反映了更高的通膨率調整和更高的現行政策。賺取的直接保費為 4.906 億美元，比去年同期增長 5.9%，反映了過去 12 個月的直接保費承保增長。

Net premiums earned were $345 million, up 13.7% from the prior year quarter. The increase is primarily attributable to higher direct premiums earned and a lower-ceded premium ratio. The net combined ratio was 95.9%, down 3.2 points compared to the prior-year quarter. The decrease reflects a lower net loss ratio.

淨保費收入為 3.45 億美元，比去年同期成長 13.7%。這一增長主要歸因於所賺取的直接保費增加和分出保費比率降低。淨綜合成本率為95.9%，較去年同期下降3.2個百分點。這一下降反映出淨虧損率較低。

The 7.6% net loss ratio was down 3.2 points compared to the prior-year quarter, with the decrease primarily attributable to higher net premiums earned associated with lower reinsurance costs in the current-year quarter and a lack of reserve development in the current-year quarter. The net expense ratio was 25.3%, unchanged from the prior-year quarter.

The 7.6% net loss ratio was down 3.2 points compared to the prior-year quarter, with the decrease primarily attributable to higher net premiums earned associated with lower reinsurance costs in the current-year quarter and a lack of reserve development in the current-year四分之一.淨費用率為25.3%，與去年同期持平。

During the second quarter, the company repurchased approximately 274,000 shares at an aggregate cost of $5.3 million. The company's current share repurchase authorization program has approximately $14.7 million remaining. On July 11, 2024, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share of common stock payable on August 9, 2024, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 2, 2024.

第二季度，該公司回購了約 274,000 股股票，總成本為 530 萬美元。該公司目前的股票回購授權計畫還剩約1,470萬美元。2024 年 7 月 11 日，董事會宣佈於 2024 年 8 月 9 日向截至 2024 年 8 月 2 日收盤時登記在冊的股東派發每股普通股 0.16 美元的季度現金股利。

With that, I'd like to ask the operator to open the line for questions.

說到這裡，我想請接線生開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Paul Newsome, Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）Paul Newsome、Piper Sandler。

Good morning. Thanks for the call. Congrats on the quarter. I was going to ask sort of any updated thoughts on the impact of tort reform in Florida? And I've got just other -- just miscellaneous questions to ask.

早安.感謝您的來電。恭喜本季。我想問關於佛羅裡達州侵權改革的影響有什麼最新的想法嗎？我還有其他一些問題想問。

Hey, Paul, good morning. This is Steve Donaghy. Yeah, we continue to see the positive impacts of the legislation from December '22, and it continues to flow through primarily relative to represented and litigation affecting our book. So continue to see positive impacts, obviously turned from cautiously optimistic to optimistic a while back, and we continue to see positive outlook, which really leads us to be very positive on our share repurchases and happy with the position we're in right now.

嘿，保羅，早安。這是史蒂夫·多納吉。是的，我們繼續看到 22 年 12 月以來立法的積極影響，並且它繼續主要與影響我們書籍的代理和訴訟有關。因此，繼續看到積極的影響，顯然從不久前的謹慎樂觀轉變為樂觀，我們繼續看到積極的前景，這確實使我們對股票回購非常積極，並對我們目前所處的狀況感到滿意。

Great. Were there any movement in the reserves development wise in the quarter?

偉大的。本季儲備開發方面有任何變動嗎？

We had zero -- good morning, Paul, this is Frank. So no, we had zero net development this quarter on reserves.

我們的分數是零——早安，保羅，我是法蘭克。所以不，本季我們的儲備金淨開發量為零。

Okay. What about like the catastrophe losses? And I think in the past, you've talked about weather above plan. It looks like it was knock on wood, pretty good weather quarter, all things even?

好的。災難損失怎麼樣？我想在過去，你曾談論過超出計劃的天氣。看起來真是太棒了，天氣很好，一切都還好嗎？

Yeah, sure. I mean, we have water whether every quarter, but so it was well-contained within our loss pick.

是的，當然。我的意思是，我們每個季度都有水，但因此它被很好地控制在我們的損失選擇中。

Great. So back to the tort reform question, some questions about whether or not the industry is going to push back, and we're going to get a fairly quick level of competition coming in with fixed rate declines. Is that something that we should be watching? Any thoughts on maybe, if the regulators are asking for lower rates at this point given the tort reform?

偉大的。回到侵權改革問題，一些關於該行業是否會推遲的問題，我們將在固定費率下降的情況下獲得相當快的競爭水平。這是我們應該關注的事情嗎？鑑於侵權改革，監管機構是否現在要求降低利率，您有什麼想法嗎？

Yeah. Paul, it's an interesting question. We're not getting any pressure from anyone relative to rates or anything else. We are currently in the midst of analyzing our rates with our actuaries and external actuaries on what the impact will be to 2024. We do see the impacts of the tort reform, clearly, we're seeing -- expecting a reduction in what is supposed to be passed along. And then we'll weigh that as we always have with how we see the market as we take rate going forward.

是的。保羅，這是一個有趣的問題。我們沒有受到任何人在利率或其他方面的壓力。我們目前正在與我們的精算師和外部精算師一起分析我們的費率，以了解對 2024 年的影響。我們確實看到了侵權改革的影響，顯然，我們正在看到——預計應該傳遞的內容會減少。然後我們將權衡這一點，就像我們在未來利率調整時如何看待市場一樣。

But again, we're optimistic. And the hope is that the market will continue to be successful. But as a company, we don't worry a tremendous amount about the competition. We are really focused on rate adequacy, and our relationship with our agency force has proven to be stellar. So we have a high degree of confidence in our ability going forward relative to the market and where we'll be positioned.

但我們再次感到樂觀。希望市場能夠繼續取得成功。但作為一家公司，我們並不太擔心競爭。我們非常注重利率充足性，事實證明我們與代理商的關係非常好。因此，我們對我們相對於市場的未來發展能力以及我們的定位充滿信心。

Great. Appreciate the help as always and congratulations in the quarter.

偉大的。感謝一如既往的幫助並祝賀本季。

Thanks, Paul. Have a good day.

謝謝，保羅。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time, I'd like to turn the call back over to Steve Donaghy for any closing remarks.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題，我想將電話轉回給史蒂夫·多納吉 (Steve Donaghy)，讓其作結束語。

Thank you. I'd like to thank all of our associates, consumers, our agency force, and our stakeholders for their continued support of Universal. Have a great day.

謝謝。我要感謝我們所有的員工、消費者、我們的代理商和利害關係人對環球影業的持續支持。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you for your participation. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

感謝您的參與。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。大家，祝你有美好的一天。