American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) Q2 2023 Results Conference Call August 3, 2023 11:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Diane Weidner - VP, IR

Carl Lindner - Co-CEO

Craig Lindner - Co-CEO

Brian Hertzman - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Paul Newsome - Piper Sandler

Meyer Shields - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods

Michael Zaremski - BMO

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Financial Group 2023 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Diane Weidner, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Diane Weidner

Good morning and welcome to American Financial Group's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Results Conference Call. we released our 2023 second quarter results yesterday afternoon. Our press release, investor supplement and webcast presentation are posted on AFG's website under the Investor Relations section. These materials will be referenced during portions of today's call.

I'm joined this morning by Carl Lindner III and Craig Lindner, Co-CEOs of American Financial Group; and Brian Hertzman, AFG's CFO.

Before I turn the discussion over to Carl, I would like to draw your attention to notes on Slide 2 of our webcast. Some of the matters to be discussed today are forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and/or financial condition to differ materially from these statements. A detailed description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in AFG's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are also available on our website.

We may include references to core net operating earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, in our remarks or responses to questions. A reconciliation of net earnings attributable to shareholders to core net operating earnings is included in our earnings release.

If you are reading a transcript of this call, please note that it may not be authorized or reviewed for accuracy, and as a result, it may contain factual or transcription errors that could materially alter the intent or meaning of our statements.

Now I'm pleased to turn the call over to Carl Lindner III to discuss our results.

Carl Lindner

Good morning. We're pleased to share highlights of AFG's 2023 second quarter, after which, Craig, Brian and I will be happy to respond to your questions.

We reported an annualized second quarter core operating return on equity of 18%, which excludes accumulated other comprehensive income, alongside double-digit premium growth, a strong result in the quarter with elevated industry catastrophe activity. The higher interest rate environment contributed to meaningfully higher year-over-year investment income, and we continue to be pleased with the performance of our alternative investment portfolio where returns exceeded our expectations during the quarter.