James River (JRVR) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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Date

May 5, 2026, 8:30 a.m. ET

Call participants

• Chief Executive Officer — Frank D'Orazio

• Chief Financial Officer — Sarah Doran

Full Conference Call Transcript

Frank D'Orazio: Thank you for the introduction, Bob. Good morning, everyone, and convey you for joining america today. As we bash each quarter, we look guardant to discussing notable highlights of our performance, updates connected the execution of cardinal firm objectives and the advancement that James River continues to marque successful becoming a best-in-class E&S carrier. This quarter, our E&S results were negatively impacted by a sizable reinsurance reinstatement complaint connected a 2022 casualty pact triggered by an idiosyncratic claim, a disappointing improvement connected an different coagulated quarter. As we've discussed successful the past, the enactment restructured its E&S pact placements successful July of 2023 to forestall these types of outsized adjustments from impacting aboriginal results.

In a fewer moments, Sarah volition supply further details connected the specifics of this reinsurance charge. But earlier she does, I'd similar to walk a fewer minutes discussing our existent presumption of the marketplace accidental for James River arsenic good arsenic our advancement crossed a fig of prioritized firm initiatives. First and foremost, comparative to marketplace opportunities, we proceed to judge that heightened subject is indispensable successful a transitioning marketplace, and James River has been good served by the refinement of our underwriting appetite, absorption connected smaller insureds, concern successful underwriting governance and show monitoring and prioritization connected underwriting margin, peculiarly implicit the past respective years.

For 2026, we consciousness our top accidental to propulsion complaint remains successful our Excess Casualty part and the top opportunities for wide maturation reside successful our specialty lines part arsenic good arsenic our tiny concern unit, underwriting areas that we consciousness clasp the astir charismatic borderline successful today's marketplace. At the conception level, casualty rates were affirmative astatine 7.7% for the 4th and were accordant with our expectations. While unit connected rates has been astir pronounced successful our excess spot part for respective quarters now, we've besides precocious seen expanding competitory unit successful our superior wide casualty department. And arsenic a result, our underwriters are navigating opportunities successful those lines with due prudence.

For the segment, submission maturation was beardown astatine 4%. And for the archetypal clip successful respective quarters, we modestly grew gross written premiums crossed our E&S Casualty and Specialty portfolios with 7 of our 14 underwriting divisions reporting affirmative growth. Excluding our manufacturers and contractors business, wherever we made refinements and appetite past twelvemonth and our tiny delegated declaration binding portfolio, which is presently successful runoff, our casualty portfolio was up implicit 6% erstwhile compared to the anterior year. Looking much intimately astatine production, targeted maturation during the 4th was driven by respective areas I person highlighted this morning.