Old Republic Intl Q2 2026 Earnings Call: Complete Transcript

On Thursday, Old Republic Intl (NYSE: ORI ) discussed second-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below. This content is powered APIs. 6.

5. 1 from 99. Net operating income for the quarter was $186 million, down from $209 million, with net investment income rising by over 6% due to a larger investment base. The company experienced favorable prior year development in Title Insurance but unfavorable development in Specialty Insurance, particularly in the runoff transactional risk business.

2% since year-end, supported by solid operating earnings and higher investment valuations. Old Republic expects ECM acquisition to be accretive to earnings and book value, with combined ratios expected between 90 and 95. Investments in IT systems, data analytics, and AI are driving up the expense ratio, but management views these as necessary for long-term efficiency and competitiveness. The company is handling market competition by focusing on risk-adequate rates and sees growth potential in their newer specialty operating companies and the ECM acquisition.

Full Transcript OPERATOR Well, good day everyone and welcome to the Old Republic Intl second quarter earnings conference call. Just a reminder that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to Mr. Joe Calabrese.

Please go ahead, sir. Joe Calabrese Thank you, Lisa. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us for the Old Republic conference call to discuss second quarter 2026 results. This morning we distributed a copy of the press release and posted a separate financial supplement.

Both of the documents are available on Old Republic Intl's website. Please be advised as this call may involve forward-looking statements. As discussed in the press release dated July 23, 2026, assumptions, uncertainties and risks exist that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these forward-looking statements. For more information on these assumptions, uncertainties and risks, please refer to the forward-looking statement discussions in the press release and the company's other recent SEC filings and the risk factors discussed in the company's most recent Form 10-K and other recent SEC filings.

We also may include references to net income, excluding net investment gains or net operating income, a non-GAAP financial measure, in our remarks or in responses to questions. GAAP reconciliations are included in the press release. Presenting on today's conference call will be Craig Smiddy, President and CEO, Frank Sodaro, Chief Financial Officer, and Carolyn Monroe, President and CEO of Old Republic's National Title Insurance Group. Management will make some opening remarks and then we'll open the line for your questions.

At this time I'd like to turn the call over to Craig. Please go ahead, sir. Craig Smiddy, Chief Executive Officer Okay Joe, thank you, and good afternoon everyone and welcome again to Old Republic's second quarter 2026 earnings call. 6.

2%. 3% over the second quarter of 2025 and produced 199 million of pre-tax operating income compared to 254 million. 7. In Title Insurance, we grew premiums and fees by 10% over the second quarter of 2025 and produced 56 million of pre-tax operating income compared to 24 million.

1 compared to 99. We saw some slight unfavorable prior year loss reserve development in Specialty Insurance and consistent favorable prior year development in Title Insurance. And Frank will provide more details on that topic. So I'll turn the discussion over to Frank and then Frank will turn things back to me to cover Specialty Insurance, followed by Carolyn who will discuss Title Insurance.

Frank, it's all yours. Frank Sodaro, Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Craig, and good afternoon everyone. This morning we reported net operating income of 186 million for the quarter compared to 209 million last year. 83.

Starting with investments, net investment income increased just over 6% in the quarter, primarily as a result of a larger investment base from strong operating results and our debt issuance that took place in May. 2%. 8% which was a slight increase from year end. 1 points of benefit last year.

This was a result of favorable development from Title Insurance being partially offset by unfavorable development from Specialty Insurance. While the primary lines of coverage for Specialty In