Richard Bunch
Analyst · Piper Sandler
Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss TWFG's First Quarter 2026 Results. Joining me on today's call is Janice Zwinggi, our Chief Financial Officer. After my remarks, Janice will walk through our financial performances in more detail, and then we'll open the call for questions. I am pleased to report that TWFG delivered a strong first quarter that demonstrates the underlying strength and scalability of our platform. Our results reflect a softening market environment, continued disciplined execution across our businesses and the benefits of our strategic investments in technology, our new MGA programs and our talent acquisition. For the first quarter of 2026, we delivered a solid 35.3% revenue growth, driven by a combination of double-digit organic growth and contributions from our prior and current year acquisitions. This growth reflects momentum across both our insurance services and MGA platforms. Written premiums grew 23.5% with strong performances in renewal retention and new business growth. From a profitability perspective, we delivered 650 basis points margin expansion. This expansion reflects our operating leverage, higher margin profile of our MGA platform and disciplined execution on integration of our recent acquisitions. There are near-term margin benefits with TWFG MGA Florida takeout program during the runoff period where policies assumed have a commission without a corresponding commission expense. This margin benefit will decline as more takeout policies renew with new full-term premiums and a normal commission expense. The market has improved meaningfully compared to a year ago. Carriers have reentered key personal and commercial lines markets where capacity had been constrained. Pricing trends are moderating and underwriting discipline remains strong across the industry. This creates an ideal environment for a diversified platform like ours to expand. Our business model spanning retail agencies, corporate branches and proprietary MGA programs is uniquely positioned to capitalize on these dynamics. Whether in a hard or soft market cycle, our independent agent network provides stable recurring revenue and deep carrier and client relationships, creating a competitive advantage difficult to replicate. Our strategy remains consistent and disciplined. We're executing across 4 core priorities to deliver double-digit organic growth, execute accretive M&A, investing in technology and platform improvements for our agents' productivity, deploying capital with discipline across all these investments. On the acquisition front, we completed 2 strategically important transactions in the first quarter. In March, we acquired Lofton Wells Insurance, which became a corporate location in Memphis, Tennessee. This addition provides scale to our Tennessee operations and positions us in a region with significant long-term growth opportunities. We also completed the acquisition of Asset Protection Insurance Associates, a Texas-based MGA specializing in insurance solutions for property owners and real estate investors across the United States. APIA brings deep underwriting expertise and expanded distribution network and access to additional program opportunities. This enhances our MGA's capabilities and supports continued margin expansion. And last week, we closed on the acquisition of Fortress Insurance Services out of Iowa, establishing another foothold agency in the Midwest. From a technology standpoint, we continue to prioritize investments that make our platforms more efficient and our clients better served. Our proprietary technology remains a competitive advantage, allowing us to rapidly develop and implement new capabilities, whether built internally or integrated with best-in-class third-party solutions. Our capital position remains solid, providing significant flexibility to invest in growth and pursue strategic opportunities. Before turning to Janice, I want to address the topic of AI, becoming a central conversation in our industry's future. AI, if you look at the SEC filings across insurance brokers over the past 5 years, is an increasing reference in everybody's earnings releases and conversations. Machine learning mentions have increased tenfold in that time span. Not by accident, the industry is embracing the change and many people have questions on how AI matters. It does matter and it will have an impact on the industry. It's whether your company is positioned to harness it strategically and implement it in a way that is beneficial across your distribution and your platforms. Last quarter, we shared our perspective that AI will improve the independent distribution channel for those that can embrace and implement the technology. Today, I want to update you on our progress on why we believe TWFG is best positioned as a net beneficiary of this evolution. We've made significant investments in AI leadership and capabilities. Over the past year, we appointed a Chief Technology Officer focused specifically on AI strategy, cloud architecture and platform modernization. We've grown our technology team to 44 dedicated professionals, software engineers, infrastructure specialists, and product developers, representing 1/3 of our non-sales corporate employee base. Critically, we are investing in proprietary AI solutions that embedded with our 25 years of underwriting knowledge and data assets. We are deploying AI tools like Claude to make each engineer more productive, and we are being intentional about how we deploy engineering talent towards revenue generation and competitive advantage, creating efficiencies, not just a cost reduction. We do have competitive advantages in the AI space. First, proprietary data. Our MGA and agency platforms have accumulated millions of underwriting data points and decisions over the past 25 years. In an AI-driven environment, that data becomes more valuable, not less. It creates a structural competitive moat difficult for competitors to repeat. Second, we own our technology. We build and control our core platforms. This means we're not dependent on third-party vendors or constrained by standardized solutions. When new AI capabilities emerge, we can integrate them quickly or build them ourselves. That flexibility is a genuine competitive advantage. Third, balanced deployment. Unlike others pursuing pure automation, we are deploying AI to amplify what our people do best. For our agents, AI accelerates quote turnaround time, automates routine account management and identifies coverage gaps, bringing them to build relationships and provide trusted advice. For our underwriting teams, AI improves risk assessment, velocity of decision-making and precision. For our operations, it drives efficiencies that we expect will translate directly into margin expansion over time. The enduring competitive advantage remains human expertise, community presence and professional judgment. Our agents are embedded in their communities. They show up when clients face their most vulnerable moments, whether it's a catastrophic loss, a complex coverage question or a claim dispute. We are at an inflection point. The companies that will dominate insurance distribution aren't those choosing between AI or human advisory. They're the ones integrating both strategically. TWFG owns our technology. We have deep insurance expertise, we have the financial resources to invest, and we have a cultural commitment to innovation that's been part of our DNA for 25 years. We are positioned to be a net beneficiary of AI's continued evolution, and we're excited to demonstrate that to you at an upcoming Investor Day that we will host early in the fourth quarter. With that, I will now turn the call over to Janice to walk through the financial details.