Donegal Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DGICA) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 27, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Karin Daly - Investor Relations

Kevin Burke - President and Chief Executive Officer

Jeff Miller - Chief Financial Officer

Jeff Hay - Chief Underwriting Officer

Tony Viozzi - Chief Investment Officer

Karin Daly

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today.

This morning, Donegal Group issued its Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Release, outlining its results. The release and a supplemental investor presentation are available in the Investor Relations section of Donegal's website at www.donegalgroup.com.

Please be advised that today's conference was pre-recorded and all participants are in listen-only mode. Additionally, we requested and received questions in advance of today's call and have worked answers to these questions into our prepared remarks, as appropriate.

Speaking today will be President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Burke; Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Miller; Chief Underwriting Officer, Jeff Hay; and Chief Investment Officer, Tony Viozzi.

Please be aware that statements made during this call that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements and necessarily involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially. These factors can be found in Donegal Group's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The company disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce the results of any revisions that they may make to any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

With that, it is my pleasure to turn it over to Mr. Kevin Burke. Kevin?

Kevin Burke

Thank you Karin, and welcome everyone.

I'll begin with a few comments on industry market conditions that will provide some perspective before we discuss our quarterly results.

A number of our larger industry peers have announced significant impacts from catastrophic weather events, with some characterizing the industry impact of the quarterly cat losses as historic, or at least, the highest for any second quarter since 2011. The timing of that elevated weather impact was particularly challenging in light of ongoing inflationary pressures on auto and property loss costs, with a continuation of elevated claim severity as the costs for auto repairs and replacement vehicles remain historically high, in spite of some indications that those pressures are beginning to ease.

While we are far from pleased with our quarterly results, some underlying factors provide a level of optimism that we are making progress toward our objective of sustained excellent financial performance.