Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) Q1 2023 Results Conference Call April 27, 2023 3:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Joe Calabrese - IR
Craig Smiddy - President and CEO
Frank Sodaro - CFO
Carolyn Monroe - President and CEO of Title Holding Company
Conference Call Participants
Matt Carletti - JMP Securities
Greg Peters - Raymond James
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Brent, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Old Republic International First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call [Operator Instructions].
It is now my pleasure to turn today's call over to Mr. Joe Calabrese with the Financial Relations Board. Sir, please go ahead.
Joe Calabrese
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you for joining us for the Old Republic conference call to discuss first quarter 2023 results. This morning, we distributed a copy of the press release and posted a separate financial supplement, which we assume you have seen and/or otherwise have access to during the call. Both of the documents are available at Old Republic's Web site, which is which is www.oldrepublic.com. Please be advised that this call may involve forward-looking statements as discussed in the press release and financial supplement dated April 27, 2023. Risks associated with these statements can be found in the company's latest SEC filings. This afternoon's conference call will be led by Craig Smiddy, President and CEO of Old Republic International Corporation and several other senior executive members as planned for this meeting. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Craig Smiddy. Please go ahead, sir.
Craig Smiddy
Okay. Thank you, Joe and good afternoon, everyone. And welcome again to Old Republic's first quarter earnings call. With me today is Frank Sodaro, CFO of ORI; and Carolyn Monroe, President and CEO of the Title Insurance segment. Well, despite the headwinds in Title Insurance, we're off to a good start to '23 with consolidated pretax operating income of $223 million for the quarter. General Insurance produced significantly greater income while Title Insurance produced considerably less income due to the effects of higher mortgage interest rates. Underwriting results, of course, are the cornerstone of how we create value. So we're pleased with our consolidated combined ratio of 92.7%. Consolidated net premiums and fees earned for the quarter were lower with General Insurance increasing 6% and Title Insurance decreasing 42%. Our conservative reserving practices are again, clearly visible with the favorable reserve development reported in all three segments led by General Insurance. And our balance sheet remains strong even as we continued to return capital to shareholders during the quarter through both dividends and share repurchases. So I will now turn the discussion over to Frank and then Frank will turn things back to me to cover General Insurance, which will be followed by Carolyn who will discuss Title Insurance. And then we'll open things up for conversation and Q&A. So with that, Frank.