AII American Integrity Insurance Group, Inc.
$28.42
American Integrity Insurance Group, Inc. Q3 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript
AI Conference Call Analysis
Sign in or subscribe to read.Joel
Operator
Good morning and welcome to American Integrity Insurance Group's third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. My name is Joel and I will be your operator today. All lines are muted. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. This call is being recorded. But before we begin, Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP measures is included in the company's quarterly press release and can also be found on its website at www.aii.com. References to American Integrity or the company prior to the consummation of the IPO refer to American Integrity Insurance Group, LLC. And after the consummation of the IPO, refer to American Integrity Insurance Group, Inc. With that, I'll turn the call over to American Integrity's founder and chief executive officer, Bob Ritchie. Please go ahead.
Bob Ritchie
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before I discuss our performance, I want to acknowledge the families and the communities affected by Hurricane Isaias. Insurance is a promise made long before it's tested. And following the storm, our team quickly mobilized to the Panhandle within 48 hours, meeting our policyholders face-to-face and helping them to begin the claims process and the recovery. I want to thank all of our employees, are agents, our claims partners for doing that important work. Their response reflects what American Integrity was built to do. Now, turning to our results. This quarter tells an important story about the company we have built over the past 20 years. We are continuing to grow our voluntary business. We're retaining more of the economics that we create. And importantly, we're maintaining the underwriting discipline and a more competitive market. Our net income has more than doubled year over year to $28.4 million in the third quarter. Net premiums earned increased approximately 95% to $101.2 million. Revenue grew 83% year over year. Our combined ratio was 70.6% and our annualized return on equity was 29.8%. More importantly, our results demonstrate how our operating strategy is translating to very strong financial performance. Within our results, the continued growth of our voluntary business is very encouraging. We wrote approximately 41,000 new voluntary policies in this quarter. Now that's 57% more than the quarter a year ago. and it follows record production in the second quarter. Our total policies in force have increased 18.6% to more than 481,000 and our in force premium increased 17.4% to nearly 1.1 billion compared to the prior year period. So as we continue to grow and build scale, we have maintained our focus on sound risk selection, We are not pursuing policy count for its own sake. We're pursuing business that we know we can underwrite responsibly and serve well. Let's talk about the couple segments where we're growing. Tri-County is one example of where we see room to grow continuously. We have historically been underrepresented there, yet we now have considerable underwriting experience in the region and longstanding relationships with agents serving it. improved market conditions, have allowed us to expand our appetite and put that experience to work. We believe we can build our presence in Tri-County by being the dependable partner to agents while selecting business that meets our underwriting requirements. The next segment is middle-aged homes. This provides another opportunity, as we've talked about, to apply the experience we already have. This was a core part of our business before Florida's litigation crisis changed the economics of this business. And it prompted us to reduce our participation during the crisis, but not now. With the reform being as strong as it is and improved operating environment, we're expanding there again. And that history matters because we understand the segment and we've demonstrated a willingness to change our participation as these conditions have changed and improved. So our decisions today must be based on the properties we are underwriting and the returns we expect them to generate. Together, these opportunities give us greater flexibility in where we can write business. We're using that flexibility to build a portfolio that performs over time. Jon Ritchie will discuss the production, the underwriting considerations, and the choices behind that approach. Our ability to capitalize on these opportunities is directly supported by our independent agency relationships, which are a competitive strength that took us years to earn and frankly cannot be replicated simply by deploying capital. In Florida, agents of course have choices, and those choices are naturally expanding. We must earn those recommendations every day through a combination of underwriting appetite, Consistency, Responsiveness, and Claim Service. These relationships help us identify opportunities while disciplined execution determines whether we convert them into profitable business. We recently brought together about 50 of our leading agents at what we call our Power of Partnership event. We spent time discussing their businesses, discussing their needs that they see in their communities, and how our evolving appetite can help them serve customers. These discussions are valuable because they connect the opportunity agency with the business we want to write. We have spent 20 years building these relationships. Our agents know our people. Our agents understand how we underwrite and our agents know the service they can expect from us. In turn, we understand their businesses. We want that familiarity to translate into confidence when an agent recommends American integrity to a homeowner. And so the work behind a relationship continues well after a policy is written, particularly when a customer has a claim. We believe consistent execution across that relationship is how we earn an even greater share of our agent partner's business over time. These relationships are particularly valuable as Florida's property insurance market is becoming healthier and, yes, more competitive. Availability has increased, pricing has moderated, and additional capital has entered. And that's good for homeowners. It also raises the standards for all of us as insurers. And in this environment, results will increasingly depend upon underwriting judgment, distribution relationships, operating efficiency, and the ability to adapt not merely on the market cycle. We welcome that test. Importantly, our average premium for policy across our portfolio has remained broadly stable year over year. That average includes changes in business mix as well as pricing. Growth in tri-county and middle-aged homes is helping to offset appropriate modest rate reductions elsewhere in our book. Our inflation guard adjustments also provide support as rates moderate. And so we'll continue to evaluate pricing against the cost of the risk we are accepting. A portfolio average is very useful context, yet it does not replace that evaluation at the product and market level. We continue to see the benefits of Florida's legislative reforms in lower litigation activity, favorable loss cost trends and greater insurance availability. Now, these improvements have helped make additional businesses attracted to ride and allowed more carriers to serve homeowners. That's not a bad thing. That's a very responsible, healthy thing in this environment. Preserving a stable operating environment matters to the customers who need coverage and to the capital required to provide it. And so we'll continue to advocate for policies that support a healthy competitive insurance market. I also want to congratulate Florida's newly elected officials just last week, and we look forward to working with the incoming administration and state leaders. We believe this election outcome supports continuity of these reforms, and we will continue to advocate for a stable competitive market that serves Florida homeowners. Our opportunity is not limited to one quarter or in one part of Florida. We continue to see room to serve more homeowners in South Florida, in segments of middle-aged homes we know well, and selectively across the Southeast. Yet the defining principle is the same in every market. We will grow where risk-adjusted returns justify the capital we commit. Retaining more of our underwriting economics increases the opportunity for our shareholders and increases our responsibility to manage risk carefully. Jon will now take you through how we're executing on these choices. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Jon.
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Thanks, Bob, and good morning, everyone. I'll discuss production across our growth initiatives, underwriting performance and reinsurance. I'll also update you on Hurricane Isaias, which occurred after the third quarter ended. Gross premiums written increased 22.7% to $293.3 million, primarily driven by voluntary business growth. Retention improved to 84.9% from 84.4% in the second quarter and 82.8% a year ago. We are adding new business while retaining a greater share of our existing customers. Both contribute to building our portfolio and we will continue to evaluate retention alongside pricing and loss performance as competition increases. Florida offers substantial opportunities in market segments where our current participation remains relatively small. Market size helps us identify where to look. Our underwriting requirements determine which opportunities we pursue. In Tri-County, we wrote approximately 8,000 voluntary new business policies compared with just over 200 a year ago and approximately 7,600 in the second quarter. Our sequential growth is encouraging given that the second quarter tends to be our strongest seasonal period for new business. Importantly, Tri-County represents approximately 28% of Florida households and 10% of our Florida policies in force as of September 30th. That comparison helps illustrate our relatively small presence and the opportunity for future growth. It does not prescribe our eventual mix. Outside Tri-County, we wrote approximately 8,600 voluntary new business policies on middle-aged homes compared with fewer than 600 a year ago. This market segment represented about three-quarters of our HO3 policies in force in 2016 before we reduced our participation during the litigation crisis. That experience gives us a foundation as we expand. We are applying it to today's property characteristics, pricing, and loss conditions rather than seeking to recreate the historical portfolio mix. As we expand, we look at both the property and what it adds to our overall exposure. Eligibility requirements, roof condition, and inspections help inform selection at the policy level. Geographic concentration and catastrophe exposure also matter when we consider the portfolio. We evaluate those factors together so that an attractive production opportunity remains consistent with our risk appetite. In Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, voluntary new business policies increased 20% year over year. These states accounted for 6.9% of our voluntary in-force premium at quarter end. We see an opportunity to grow this business over time through builder and agency relationships we have already developed. Those partners know American Integrity and our operating approach, giving us a foundation for introducing additional products. We plan to expand our offerings in these states in 2027, including dwelling fire coverage, where agents have expressed strong demand and we are working on the applicable product filings and approvals as we speak. The contribution is still relatively small, but we believe expanding these relationships can continue to broaden our business beyond Florida as the portfolio develops. Turning to Florida's commercial residential market, the market segment remains highly competitive, and while we see selective opportunities, we do not expect this business to be a leading growth driver. As of September 30th, we had 283 commercial residential policies in force and $16.7 million of in force premium. As we have discussed, we write business only where it meets our underwriting and return requirements. Lastly, we did not participate in a citizen's takeout this quarter because the policies available to us did not meet our underwriting and targeted profitability standards. However, we will continue to evaluate future opportunities. As you can see, having multiple sources of voluntary growth gives us choices about where to deploy capacity. Our decision on citizens and our selective approach to commercial residential business are examples of how we use that flexibility. We will continue to evaluate those opportunities while directing our efforts toward business that meets our underwriting and return objectives. Our gross underlying loss ratio was 18.9% compared with 19.3% a year ago. We are encouraged by that consistency as production grows and the portfolio mix evolves, and we will continue to evaluate the emerging loss experience of newer business as it matures. The aggregate ratio is an important measure, and the performance developing within the portfolio will inform how we adjust our participation. Turning to Hurricane Isaias, this is a fourth quarter event and is separate from the catastrophe losses in our third quarter results. Based on the information available today, we view it as a manageable loss event. Our preliminary estimate is up to a $35 million loss. As a reminder, our catastrophe excess of loss program attaches at $35 million. The claims process remains at an early stage, and our estimate may change as claims develop. We view a loss up to $35 million as a conservative estimate at this time, and we'll provide an update when we report fourth quarter results. Based on what we know today, we do not expect ECEs to materially change our outlook for the June 1, 2027 reinsurance renewal. We continue to anticipate a favorable pricing environment while recognizing that terms will depend on industry loss experience, available capacity, and conditions at renewal. The third quarter was the first full quarter under the Catastrophe Reinsurance Treaty that renewed on June 1, 2026. Our seeded catastrophe excess of loss premium ratio declined to 42.7% from 48% a year ago, primarily reflecting improved risk-adjusted pricing. We continue to expect program costs of $430 million to $440 million for the treaty period. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brian for a more detailed review of our financial results.
Brian
Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Jon. We generated net income of $28.4 million or $1.44 per diluted share compared with $13.2 million or $0.67 per diluted share a year ago. Adjusted net income was $28.3 million or $1.44 per diluted share. Income before taxes increased 111% to $39.6 million from $18.8 million in the prior year period. I'll walk through the underlying premium growth, the effects of our reinsurance decisions, and the expense comparisons because they help explain the strong year-over-year growth. Growth premiums written increased 22.7% to $293.3 million from $239.1 million, primarily reflecting voluntary business growth. Growth premiums earned increased 14.9% to $255 million from $221.9 million. Seeded premiums earned declined to $153.9 million from $170 million, primarily reflecting the reduction in our non-catastrophe quota share session from 40% to 25%, effective January 1, 2026. Net premiums earned increased 94.5% to $101.2 million from $52 million in the prior year period. Our net earned premium growth reflects expansion of our underlying business and our decision to retain a greater share of it. Effective January 1, we reduced our non-catastrophe quota share recession from 40% to 25%. That means more premiums remain with American Integrity. It also means we retain more losses and receive less Seeding Commission income to offset expenses. In addition, improved catastrophe reinsurance pricing is benefiting our economics. These are important items to understand the improvement to our earnings. Net investment income increased 21.9% to $8.4 million from $6.9 million, reflecting the redeployment of approximately $200 million of cash into fixed income securities at the beginning of the quarter and, to a lesser extent, higher interest rates. Loss and loss adjustment expenses increased to $38.3 million from $29.7 million, primarily reflecting business growth and the greater share of losses we retained following the quota share reduction. Our net loss ratio improved to 36.6%. from 54.1% and our net underlying loss ratio improved to 31.7% from 49.9%. The elevated prior year net loss ratio reflected timing of reinsurance costs in anticipation of earned premium growth. Third quarter catastrophe losses were 5.1 million arising from severe convective storms compared with none in the prior year period. As Jon noted, gross underlying loss ratio was 18.9% compared with 19.3% a year ago. This ratio provides a view of the underlying loss experience before reinsurance. The larger movement in our net underlying loss ratio primarily reflects our reinsurance structure, whereby additional costs of our CAT Tower began impacting our financial statements in the third quarter of 2025 ahead of anticipated growth materializing in earned premiums. That distinction is important when assessing how much of the improvement reflects underlying loss experience and how much reflects the economics of the reinsurance program. Policy acquisition expenses increased to $18 million from $6.3 million reflecting higher new business production and lower Seeding Commission income following the quota share reduction. Seeding Commission offset allocated to policy acquisition expenses was approximately $15 million in the current quarter compared to $20 million in the prior quarter. The prior year comparison also benefited from Citizens Takeout business, which carries minimal upfront acquisition costs. General and administrative expenses increased to $17.6 million from $7.3 million. Of the $10.3 million increase, approximately $8 million reflects lower seating commission offsets from the step down in the quota share. The remaining approximately $2 million reflected growth in our gross G&A expenses. This explanation is necessary to distinguish the cost of operating the business versus changing the share. Our expense ratio increased to 34% from 24.8%. Higher production, business mix, and lower seating commission offsets affected this comparison, as well as the lack of citizen takeout windfalls. Our combined ratio improved to 70.6% from 78.9%, an improvement of 8.3 percentage points. It reflects strong reported underwriting profitability for the quarter, while the underlying measures and reinsurance explanation provides context for the year-over-year comparison. Annualized return on equity was 29.8% compared with 17% a year ago. annualized adjusted return on equity was also 29.8% compared with 18.1% a year ago. Shareholders' equity increased to 391.2 million at September 30th, up from 337 million at year end. Book value per share was $19.96, up 23.7% year over year, and 5.8% since June 30th, 2026. Book value growth gives shareholders another measure of the value being accumulated in the company as we execute. We also fully repaid our outstanding surplus note debt during the quarter and ended the period debt free. With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator to open the line for questions.
Joel
Operator
We will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question is from Tommy McJoynt with KBW. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Tommy McJoynt
Analyst, KBW
Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking our questions and a great quarter you guys reported here. First question is on the citizen takeout opportunity, actually. And so while the policy count, you know, at citizens in Florida is at a multi-decade low, It's interesting that there actually have been about 170,000 policy takeouts year to date. And I think American Integrity did maybe 1,000 of those earlier in the year. But when you guys are in the process of looking at the data room of what's available to citizens, what do you think it is that drives your decision to say that none of these policies meet your underwriting and profitability standards, but evidently for other carriers out there that are doing takeouts, they do see an opportunity. So what could drive such a divergence in evaluating that opportunity?
Bob Ritchie
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Tommy, this is Bob Ritchie. Thank you for your kind words. Here's how I feel about this. The current policy count for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is at 216,000 risks. That's too low. The last time that this happened, it ended around 400,000. The reason I say that is Florida has no assigned risk program. There are many nonstandard risks for a state with 23 million people and 8 million rooftops. We do not believe it's responsible nor do the underwriting characteristics adhere to what we're looking for. Now, I'm not here to place any sort of criticism among those that maybe have have done that. But for us, it doesn't make sense. Furthermore, Jon's going to talk about why we don't need them. Go ahead, Jon.
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Yeah, Tommy, just to add on to that is the way that we've built our distribution organically, we can attract the type of risk that we deem profitable and attractive to us organically through the voluntary marketplace. So for us, a citizen's takeout has always been additive but not central to our overall production strategy.
Tommy McJoynt
Analyst, KBW
Got it. That makes sense. And then switching over, I know we're a long way away from the next 6.1 reinsurance renewals, but I wanted to ask for a refresher on how you go about thinking about and ultimately negotiating your retention levels. This cycle, it was $35 million first event loss retention, but as you're growing nicely, potentially reducing your quota share, generating really strong earnings, So as you think about where that $35 million figure could move next cycle, do you guys aim for a certain percentage of income or a percentage of equity or some other factors? Thanks.
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Yeah, Tommy, as we look out to next year's renewal, certainly with the growth of the portfolio and exposure, that $35 million exhaustion point of the insurance company and captive will increase significantly. proportional to the growth in the portfolio. And that's something that we'll begin to negotiate very soon as we start our conversations, particularly for our cap bond issuance, which happens sooner than the traditional program on June 1st. But you should expect that that $35 million exhaustion point of our retention to increase that renewal next year.
Joel
Operator
Your next question is from Mitchell Rubin with Raymond James. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Mitchell Rubin
Analyst, Raymond James
Hey, good morning. This is Mitch on for Greg. Congrats on the quarter. Good morning. So coming out of your recent events with leading agents, what did you hear about the competitive environment that's shaping your voluntary growth expectations for 2027?
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Yeah, the conversations with our agency partners continue to be incredibly positive in terms of fourth quarter this year and as we look out to 2027 with our growth opportunities, particularly as we continue down the strategic initiatives of growing South Florida and also middle-aged homes. Both geographical and risk characteristic segments were underweighted, and we have a lot of opportunity both with current distribution and as, in particular in South Florida, we add distribution. American Integrity has been have been a 20-year participant in this market, and we have relationships that stretch back to 20 years since we founded the company. And certainly the competitive marketplace has increased with new participants and overall risk appetite of incumbents. However, we do believe confidently that our ability to execute on our 2027 new business plan will be successful with our current agency plans and as we continue to grow that under Dick Dowd, who leads up our sales and marketing team.
Mitchell Rubin
Analyst, Raymond James
Thanks. I appreciate the color. Can you provide some additional information on what's driving the continued improvement in retention in this increasingly competitive market and maybe how you expect that to trend into 2027?
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Yeah, good question. So some of it is natural, just as consumers have begun over the last two renewal cycles to receive renewal invoices that are flat, if not modestly lower than what the prior term premium was. So they're not shopping their policy quite as much. Certainly the help and partnership with our agency Your next question is from Paul Newsom with Piper Sandler.
Joel
Operator
Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Paul Newsom
Analyst, Piper Sandler
Good morning. I was hoping you could talk a little bit about the expansion into the dwelling fire business and how that might change some of the metrics that we look at for the portfolio overall, right? I'm thinking sort of like average premium type issues, margins, shifts in the expense ratio versus loss ratio. How does the shift towards the dwelling fire business affect things?
Bob Ritchie
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Paul. It's Bob. Good hearing from you. We're a market leader for dwelling fire in Florida, have been for decades. It's a natural extension of both the relationship and the business opportunity, and it has characteristics that in some cases carry lower loss costs. Don, can you elaborate?
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Yeah, I would say, Paul, as you look at us adding that into the expansion states outside of Florida, There won't be an incredible material difference in loss experience from that line of business. Average premium in some cases, but not all cases, might be slightly variable compared to the HO3 line. But really what we're looking for is to add a line of business that our agency partners ask for and have asked for so that they can accommodate landlord-type business, something down that road. So that's the natural evolution for us, and that's what we did here in Florida when we started the company. Of course, we started with an HO3 line of business, but we very quickly added complementary lines of business, such as Rolling Fire.
Paul Newsom
Analyst, Piper Sandler
Any expansion into some of these other related products besides Clonk Far? You've got some competitors. They're doing a commercial. They're doing some other things. Just curious if you had, as you look out for them.
Jon Ritchie
Executive
Yeah, we have no other immediate plans in 2027 besides dwelling fire in those expansion states. But certainly, broadly speaking, we'll continue to evaluate what current products that we offer in Florida, such as boat owners. That could be a natural line of business that we would want to add in some of these states. In terms of commercial in those states, we're observing the marketplace. We're seeing if there is an opportunity. It's still a little too early for us to make that determination. All of what you asked certainly is on the table of opportunities as we look out further.
Paul Newsom
Analyst, Piper Sandler
Good. Appreciate the help. Thank you very much.
Joel
Operator
Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. There are no further questions at this time, so I will now turn the call back to Bob for concluding remarks.
Bob Ritchie
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, and thank you to everyone for your questions and your interest in the company. Let me close with what I believe makes American integrity compelling as a long-term investment. Our strength comes from the combination of three capabilities developed over two decades. Number one, underwriting expertise in complex property markets. Number two, durable independent agency and other relationships. And number three, the financial discipline to retain more of the value that we're creating. So this quarter's results demonstrates the potential and the realistic outcome of that combination. Our commitment is to execute that strategy consistently, selecting risks Intelligently pricing them appropriately, serving policyholders when losses occur, and protecting the capital entrusted to us. We intend to pursue growth where the economics work and to walk away where they do not. That discipline is as important to our future as any production milestone. And as we approach a half a million policies in force, I think about the responsibility behind that number because every policy represents a family counting on us. It represents an agent putting their reputation and their revenue alongside ours. And importantly, it represents shareholders, all of you, trusting us to make sound decisions. So we have to earn all three forms of trust each and every day. That is the company we have built, and that's how we're leading it. I want to especially thank our entire American Integrity team, 350 strong. They come to work every day focused on making our company better and more profitable as we grow the company. And so these results reflect the judgment, the care and the accountability our people bring to their work every day from selecting and pricing risks to supporting our agents and helping policyholders when they need us most. I'm very proud of this team and I'm grateful for the commitment behind these results. And to our agency partners, policyholders, reinsurers, and shareholders, thank you for your continued trust and partnership. We are pleased with this quarter's results, but we're not stopping here. And we remain focused on earning that trust Thank you for joining us and have a great day.
Joel
Operator
This concludes today's call. Thank you so much for attending. You may now disconnect.