Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome again to Old Republic's fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call. For the full-year, we produced $1 billion of consolidated pre-tax operating income, and our consolidated combined ratio was 94.7%. Some other information on 2025: our operating return on beginning equity was 14.1%, and growth in book value per share, including dividends, was 22%. And we think this reflects our strong operating earnings, our higher investment valuations, and our sound capital management strategy.

For the full-year, specialty produced $900 million of pre-tax operating income, another all-time high for us, and specialty's combined ratio was 93.2. In the fourth quarter, title grew premium and fees by 12.4% over the fourth quarter of 2024, and for the full-year, title grew premium and fees by 9.1%. For the full-year, title produced $140 million of pre-tax operating income, and title's combined ratio was 97.6. Our conservative reserving practices were slow to release prior-year reserves, but we react very quickly to increase reserves.

Our average reinvestment rate on corporate bonds acquired during the quarter was 4.6% compared to the average yield rolling off of about 4.2%. Now, for the full-year, the specialty insurance loss ratio had a benefit of 2.9 points from favorable development, and there were no large pockets of unfavorable development to report. This brings total capital return this year to just over $1 billion, and it leaves us with about $850 million remaining in our current repurchase program. The full-year loss ratio was 63.9%, including 2.9 points of favorable development.

What went well
  • Full-year 2025 was a record: consolidated pre-tax operating income reached $1.0B, specialty insurance full-year pre-tax operating income hit an all-time-high $900M, and specialty net premiums earned eclipsed $5B for the first time (+10.9%).
  • Full-year operating return on beginning equity was 14.1% and book value per share grew 22% including regular and special dividends.
  • Title grew Q4 premium/fees +12.4% and lifted Q4 pre-tax operating income 18% to $65M (from $55.4M); full-year title pre-tax operating income was $140M.
  • The company returned over $1B of capital in 2025 (roughly $700M dividends declared plus $56M of buybacks in Q4), with about $850M remaining on the repurchase program.
  • Newer specialty operating companies contributed over $300M of net premium written in 2025 and collectively delivered positive operating income; net investment income rose 7.9% in the quarter.
What went wrong
  • Fourth-quarter consolidated pre-tax operating income fell to $236M from $285M and the Q4 consolidated combined ratio worsened to 96.0 from 92.7.
  • Rising commercial auto loss trends prompted a 3-point increase in the current accident-year loss ratio; commercial auto's Q4 loss ratio rose to 80 from 77.9 and rate increases accelerated to 16%.
  • Specialty's Q4 combined ratio deteriorated to 97.3 from 91.8, and the Q4 expense ratio rose to 29.7% from 27.7%.
  • Workers' compensation Q4 loss ratio jumped to 65.2 from 35.5, mainly reflecting far less favorable prior-year development than the prior-year quarter.

More on Old Republic International Corp

Reported 2026-01-22 · figures from the Old Republic International Corp Q4 2025 earnings call.

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