Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) Q4 2023 Results Earnings Conference Call February 16, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Michael Kehoe - Chief Executive Officer and President

Bryan Petrucelli - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Brian Haney - Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

Bill Carcache - Wolfe Research

Michael Zaremski - BMO Capital Markets

Mark Hughes - Truist Securities

Andrew Andersen - Jefferies

Pablo Singzon - J.P. Morgan

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Abbie, and I will be your conference operator today.

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Fourth Quarter 2023 Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. Earnings Conference Call.

Before we get started, let me remind everyone that, through the course of the teleconference, Kinsale's management may make comments that reflect their intentions, beliefs and expectations for the future. As always, these forward-looking statements are subject to certain risk factors which could cause actual results to differ materially. These risk factors are listed in the company's various SEC filings, including the 2022 annual report on Form 10-K, which should be reviewed carefully. The company has furnished a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission that contains the press release announcing its fourth quarter results.

Kinsale's management may also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures in the call today. A reconciliation of GAAP to these measures can be found in the press release which is available on the company's website at www.kinsalecapitalgroup.com.

I will now turn the conference over to Kinsale's President and CEO, Mr. Michael Kehoe. Please go ahead, sir.

Michael Kehoe

Thank you, operator. And good morning everyone. Bryan Petrucelli, our CFO, and Brian Haney, our President and COO, and I will each offer a few remarks. And then we'll move on to any questions you may have.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Kinsale's operating earnings per share increased by 49% and gross written premium grew by 33.8% over the fourth quarter 2022.

For the quarter, the company posted a combined ratio of 72.1% and posted an operating ROE of 31.8% for the full year of 2023.

Company strategy of disciplined E&S underwriting and technology enabled low costs drive these results and allows us to have returns and to take market share from competitors at the same time.

Specifically for those newer to the company, Kinsale focuses exclusively on the E&S market [Technical Difficulty] on writing smaller accounts. We provide our brokers with the broadest risk appetite and the best customer service in the business. And we use our low expense ratio to offer our customers competitively priced insurance, while also delivering best-in-class margins to our stockholders.