United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) Q4 2022 Results Conference Call February 16, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Eric Martin - SVP and CFO

Kevin Leidwinger - President and CEO

Conference Call Participants

Paul Newsome - Piper Sandler

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the UFG Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2022 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to UFG, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Eric Martin. Please go ahead, sir.

Eric Martin

Good morning, and thank you for joining this call. Yesterday afternoon, we issued a press release on our results. To find a copy of this document, please visit our website at ufginsurance.com. Press releases and slides are located under the Investors tab.

Joining me today on the call is UFG President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Leidwinger. Before I turn the call over to Kevin, a couple of reminders. First, please note that our presentation today may include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties and are not a guarantee of future performance. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. The actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, which are described in our press release and SEC filings.

Also, please note that in our discussion today, we may use some non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are also available in our press release and SEC filings.

At this time, I will turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Leidwinger, CEO of UFG Insurance.

Kevin Leidwinger

Thanks, Eric. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter conference call. I'll begin this morning by providing insight into the fourth quarter results, then provide an overview of our full year performance.

First, let me say I'm pleased with the progress I've seen since joining UFG in August. We continue to position our company for superior financial and operational performance. Over the past year, we have further diversified our portfolio, improved its underlying fundamentals and intensified our focus on reducing the expense ratio. I'm proud of the work our team has done in executing our strategic plan.

Turning now to fourth quarter results. We're pleased to report net written premium increased 6.3% to $235 million compared to $221 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. This marks the third consecutive quarter of net written premium growth as the business gains momentum following the re-underwriting exercise of the last several years. Growth was driven by our specialty, surety and assumed reinsurance businesses.