Trean Insurance Group, Inc. – Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call, November 10, 2021
Julie Baron
Thank you, Andy, and good afternoon to everyone on the call.
Let’s go right into our third quarter results.
In the third quarter, our team grew gross written premiums by 34% to a record $178 million. This was driven by both organic growth in our existing Program Partner business and the addition of new Program Partners over the past year. Notably, the growth came predominantly from our other liability, accident and health, commercial auto and homeowners lines of business, as we continue to balance our portfolio to minimize risk and emphasis lines of business that we believe will offer the most attractive returns.
We would note that our gross written premium growth began to significantly accelerate in the fourth quarter of 2020, and as a result, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2021, our growth comps will be calculated against a higher revenue base. That said, we remain well positioned to onboard additional Program Partners and generate sustainable gross written premiums growth over the long term.
Gross earned premiums were $149 million for the third quarter of 2021, up 36%, compared to the same prior year period, driven by the continued increases in gross written premiums, net of an increase in gross unearned premiums.
As a reminder, as we continue to grow our gross written premiums, there’s a lag in the growth of earned premiums, as these premiums are recognized over the term of written policies.
Net earned premiums for the quarter were $52 million, an 87% increase from the same prior year period, driven by both the growth in gross earned premiums and the strategic increase in our retention rate.
As we noted in our second quarter call, as we continue to grow gross written premiums, we expect to see increases in gross unearned premiums. The growth in gross unearned premiums is a strong positive metric for our business, as it represents future net earned premiums over time, as these policies earn out.
As of September 30, 2021, we had net unearned premiums reflected on our balance sheet of nearly $85 million, up $11.3 million compared to Q2 2021, and an increase of nearly $35 million compared to year end 2020.
I’ll now turn the call over to Nick, who will discuss our expenses and other financial results for the quarter.
Nicholas Vassallo
Thank you, Julie.
Our loss ratio for the third quarter of 2021 was 61.8%, compared to 55.9% in the same prior year period.
As a reminder, the first half of 2021 was marked by a number of large and unusual losses resulting in a higher 2021 accident year loss ratio than experienced in 2020. While we experienced no such losses in the third quarter of 2021, we anticipate that the 2021 accident year loss ratio will be higher compared to previous years, and thus we do not expect 2021 calendar year loss ratio to decrease through the end of the year.
Our expense ratio for the third quarter of 2021 was 26.5%, compared to 25.1% in the same prior year quarter, and 31.8% in the second quarter of 2021.
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