Crawford & Company - Q2 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning. My name is Julie, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Crawford & Company Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Release Conference Call. In conjunction with that call, a supplementary financial presentation is available on our website at www.crawco.com under the Investor Relations section. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. Instructions will follow at that time. Should anyone need assistance at any time during this conference, please press star zero and an operator will assist you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference is being recorded today, Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Now I would like to introduce Tami Stevenson, Crawford & Company's General Counsel.

Tami Stevenson (General Counsel)

Thank you, Julie. Some of the matters to be discussed in this conference call and in the supplementary financial presentation may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may relate to, among other things, our expected future operating results and financial condition, our ability to grow revenues and reduce our operating expenses, expectations regarding our anticipated contributions to our underfunded defined benefit pension plans, collectibility of our billed and unbilled accounts receivable, financial results from our recently completed acquisitions, our continued compliance with the financial and other covenants contained in our financing agreements, our long-term capital resource and liquidity requirements, and our ability to pay dividends in the future. The company's actual results achieved in future quarters could differ materially from the results that may be implied by such forward-looking statements.

The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release revisions to any forward-looking statements made in this conference call to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of the call or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. In addition, you are reminded that operating results for any historical period are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any future period. For a complete discussion regarding factors which could affect the company's financial performance, please refer to the company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly the information under the headings Risk Factors and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, as well as subsequent company filings with the SEC. This presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under the SEC rules.

As required, a reconciliation is provided for those measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. I would like now to introduce Mr. Rohit Verma, Chief Executive Officer of Crawford & Company. Rohit, you may begin.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Thank you, Tami. Good morning, and welcome to our second quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me today is Bruce Swain, our Chief Financial Officer, and Tami Stevenson, our General Counsel. Before we start today, the board and I would like to give a warm welcome to our new director, Joel Murphy. Additionally, we would like to thank departing board members Charlie Ogburn and Michelle Jarrard for their service to Crawford & Company. We look forward to collaborating with Joel and wish Charlie and Michelle very well. The second quarter 2024 demonstrated the continued strength of our core non-weather businesses, which delivered strong performances.

Although we did continue to see the impact of benign weather reflected in revenues of weather-related business, today, I will take you through the operational highlights of the quarter, and then I will turn over to Bruce for a deeper review of the financial results for the second quarter. As most of you know, Crawford is a leading publicly traded claims management provider, handling over $20 billion in claims annually across 70 countries, and we serve a well-known base of clients, including some of the most recognizable names in the industry. With a workforce of around 10,000 skilled professionals and tens of thousands of field resources, our extensive scale and global reach distinguish us in a fragmented market, positioning us as a preferred partner for top carriers, many of whom are long-standing customers.

Crawford is an organization with more than 80 years of history, and our focus is on building long-term and sustained value for all stakeholders. We have faced a lot of different market dynamics since the company's founding and continue to strategically evolve the model to perform and thrive in all market environments. Extreme weather events are becoming more severe and more frequent globally, driving long-term growth in weather-related claims revenue for Crawford. Despite relatively benign weather in the last nine months, our catastrophe-specific teams remain crucial in supporting carriers and policyholders when severe weather hits. While our weather-related revenue can fluctuate, experts believe that claims associated with extreme weather are likely to increase for the foreseeable future, underscoring the importance of our dedicated catastrophe teams in the face of rising long-term demand.

Second, Crawford is ideally suited to meet the demand of increased outsourcing of claims processing through our ability to provide capacity, expertise, and scale for the efficient and cost-effective management of outsourced claims. Third, we are gaining share in the fragmented U.S. independent loss adjusting market and continue to build and strengthen our partnerships across all our verticals. Finally, our proprietary insurance technology saves our clients time and money, and we continuously invest in developing, enhancing, and deploying advanced technology solutions around the world. Turning to our quarterly performance, we continue to demonstrate strength in our core business with growth in three of our four segments this quarter. However, our overall consolidated results were impacted by the benign weather trend we have seen over the last nine months.

Damage resulting from severe convective storm activity and catastrophic events was at an unusually high level in 2023, and many of these events did not repeat in the second quarter of 2024. As a result, second quarter revenue decreased to $314 million, compared to $329.25 million in the second quarter of 2023. Our operating earnings of $22.1 million also came in just slightly below the second quarter of 2023. Importantly, our non-weather businesses performed well this quarter, underscoring the balance and resilience of Crawford's business platform. By growing and strengthening our operations, we are well-positioned to meet our clients' diverse needs during all weather patterns. Broadspire achieved significant growth again this quarter, setting a new quarterly revenue and earnings record.

Our GTS service line also had a record revenue this quarter, and we saw solid growth in our international operations. Our efforts to improve efficiencies across our business are yielding results, with operating earnings growth in three segments this quarter. As a result of the hard work of our talented staff and proven success fostering client relationships, we added a total of $23 million in new and enhanced business this quarter. As always, our conservative approach to capital management is reflected in the strength of our balance sheet. As we discussed last quarter, our weather-related business faces a difficult comparison to elevated catastrophe activity in the first half of 2023.

As shown by the chart on the left, at Crawford, we achieved 6% growth in our non-weather business this quarter, which reflects the continued traction we are getting in our growth strategy that is diversifying our revenue mix. Our weather-related business, which includes U.S. CAT, U.S. Loss Adjusting and Australia, decreased 21%. The middle chart shows our network business. As a reminder, Networks serve our largest clients with their catastrophe-specific claims handling needs. Similar to the first quarter of this year, this segment saw a decrease in revenues from claims management services, frequently tied to storm activity. Our network service line saw a revenue decline of 65% this quarter, directly related to reduced weather-related claims. Reduced losses associated with storm activity have been observed across the industry.

Profiled on the chart on the right, Gallagher Re reported a 21% decrease in insured losses from U.S. severe convective storms in the first half of 2024, consistent with the decrease we have seen in our weather-related business. This may sound surprising, given the significant weather events in the news, including last month's Hurricane Beryl, one of the earliest storms in the U.S. However, insured damage from Beryl was lower than similar storms in prior years. Given the available capacity at carriers due to benign weather patterns seen over the last nine months, we expect minimum revenue impact from Beryl. To date, in 2024, carriers have largely managed claims in-house. However, our teams stand ready to provide crucial support, assisting carriers in managing increased claims volumes and aiding in the rebuilding of severely affected communities when severe storm activity picks up.

Our capital allocation strategy focuses on investing in innovation and technology to enhance claims handling and pursuing strategic acquisitions and partnerships to expand market share. We are disciplined in our approach to capital allocation, and our balanced approach is centered on driving sustainable long-term growth and delivering enhanced value to shareholders. Our leverage ratio remains low at 2.09x EBITDA, giving us significant financial flexibility and liquidity. Additionally, we prioritize returning capital to shareholders via regular dividends, reflecting a strong balance sheet. We continued our quarterly dividend of $0.07 for CRDA and CRDB shares in the second quarter of 2024. With that, let me turn the call over to Bruce for a deeper look at our operational and financial performance.

Bruce Swain (CFO)

Thank you, Rohit. As most of you know, our business is diversified and is comprised of four segments. North America Loss Adjusting encompasses our loss adjusting business in the U.S. and Canada, and accounted for 24% of our second quarter 2024 revenues. Our international business is comprised of all reported service lines outside of North America and contributed 33% of revenues. Broadspire is our third-party administrator in the U.S. and accounts for 31% of our revenues. And Platform Solutions, which includes Contractor Connection and our Networks and subrogation businesses, contributed 12%. Now, let's review each of these segments. Beginning with North America Loss Adjusting. In the second quarter of 2024, our revenues were $76 million, consistent with the prior year quarter. Operating earnings were $4.9 million, an increase of 25% over the $3.9 million in the prior year quarter.

Our margin increased 132 basis points to 6.4% from 5.1% in the prior year quarter. Our margin expansion in the quarter was largely due to our ability to expand market share and grow our customer base in the GTS service line, which had another record revenue quarter. International Operations revenue for the 2024 second quarter was $102.3 million, and operating earnings were $5.7 million. Our revenue grew 7% from $95.3 million in the second quarter of 2023, or 9% when measured in constant currency. Our operating earnings showed a significant increase of more than 50% over the prior year quarter, reflecting improved performance in the U.K. and Europe.... We still have work to do in our International Operations to return to historical margin levels.

But it is clear that our efforts to turn around this segment post-pandemic have positioned us for long-term success and growth in key markets. Broadspire showed continued strength in the quarter, setting a new quarterly revenue record of $97.1 million in the second quarter, an 11% increase from $87.2 million in the 2023 period. Operating earnings for the second quarter were also a record of $15.1 million, compared to $8.1 million, reflecting operating margin expansion of 620 basis points to 15.5%. Medical Management Services and Claims Management both showed strong growth of 11% in the quarter. Client wins continue to be our strongest growth driver, and our talented teams have been performing at a consistently high level in 2024.

Additionally, we retained 95% of our business year to date, contributing to solid recurring revenues in the segment. Platform Solutions second quarter revenues of $38.8 million decreased by approximately 41% compared with $65.6 million in the second quarter of 2023. Operating earnings in Platform Solutions totaled $1.5 million, or 3.8% of segment revenues in the 2024 quarter, compared to operating earnings of $8.1 million, or 12.3% of revenues in the prior year quarter. As Rohit mentioned earlier, the weakness in this segment is primarily attributed to softness in the Networks business related to reduced catastrophe activity, reflecting the notable reduction in insured losses from U.S. severe convective storms year-over-year.

We continue to keep our catastrophe response team well-positioned for the potential of increased activity as we move through the hurricane season. And now for a look at our consolidated financials. In the second quarter of 2024, company-wide revenues before reimbursements decreased 3.2% to $314.2 million. Foreign exchange rates decreased revenues before reimbursements by $1.9 million, or less than 1%. GAAP net income attributable to shareholders totaled $8.6 million, compared to net income of $8.4 million in the same period of 2023. GAAP diluted EPS in the 2024 second quarter was $0.17 for both CRDA and CRDB, consistent with $0.17 for both share classes in the 2023 period.

On a non-GAAP basis, diluted EPS was $0.25 for both CRDA and CRDB, compared to $0.24 for both share classes in the prior year period. Company's non-GAAP operating earnings totaled $22.1 million in the 2024 second quarter, or 7% of revenues, compared to $22.8 million, or 7% of revenues in the prior year period. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA was $30.6 million in the 2024 second quarter, or 9.7% of revenues, compared to $31.5 million, or 9.7% of revenues in the 2023 quarter. The company's cash and cash equivalent position as of June 30, 2024, totaled $46.7 million, compared to $58.4 million at the 2023 year end.

Our total receivables were up $17 million from the 2023 year end, primarily due to an increase in unbilled revenues that we expect to unwind through the remainder of the year. Company's total debt outstanding as of June 30, 2024, totaled $233.8 million, up from $209.1 million as of December 31, 2023, which is not unusual for the front half of the year. Net debt stood at $187.1 million as of June 30, 2024, while our U.S. pension liability was $23.2 million at the end of the second quarter, reflecting a funded ratio of 92.6%.

We made no discretionary contributions to our U.S. defined benefit pension plan during the second quarter of 2024, and we do not intend to make contributions for the remainder of the year. Cash used in operating activities for the 2024 year-to-date period was a use of $8.3 million, with free cash flow of -$26.7 million. This compares to cash flow from operations last year to $27.2 million and free cash flow of $9.2 million. This decrease in free cash flow was primarily due to lower operating earnings, higher incentive compensation payments compared to the prior year, and other working capital increases. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Rohit for concluding remarks.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Thank you, Bruce. To conclude, we saw some very encouraging earnings growth and margin expansion this quarter in three of our four segments. I'm optimistic about our overall trajectory and momentum with our strong business foundation and proven growth strategy. Thank you for your time today. Julie, please open the call for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. At this time, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star, followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before asking your question. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Mark Hughes from Truist. Please go ahead.

Mark Hughes (Analyst)

Yeah, thank you. Good morning.

Bruce Swain (CFO)

Morning, Mark.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Morning, Mark.

Mark Hughes (Analyst)

The Broadspire profitability is very good in the quarter. Anything unusual boosting that, or is this a level that might be sustainable?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

... Mark, this is Rohit. You know, we've, as you know, we've been investing significantly in Broadspire, and we've been developing a strategy which has been focused on developing an unbundled technology and med management offering, as well as, you know, focusing on the alternative insurance market. All those strategies are working and clicking well. We believe that the work that we have done is showing the results. We expect to continue making investments from a technology standpoint and be the leading technology-led provider in terms of Broadspire services. So we feel very good about where we are. We've also had a good run of new business there. I think you've heard that in a strong retention at over 95%.

So all those factors are contributing, and we expect to maintain those factors, which should continue to add to the profitability. Or maintain the profitability, I should say.

Mark Hughes (Analyst)

Yeah, yeah. On GTS, talked about the good growth there, I think record revenue. Is that utilization, or have you been adding staff there, driving the top line?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Yeah, so I think we were. As you know, we had shared this, at least two years ago now, maybe, maybe close to three years ago, that our strategy in GTS was to build an expertise-led model and continue to add to that expertise. We had made a commitment of adding 200+ resources, which we were supposed to meet by the end of 2023, but we actually met that goal early part of 2023. And since then, we've had, we have had an opportunity to continue to add additional expertise and resources to that, and gain more nominated accounts over the period. So all that has contributed to the growth. And again, you know, we're not, we're not stopping. We'll opportunistically continue to add experts when we find them and where we find them.

Mark Hughes (Analyst)

In the international business, you had some nice recovery in margin. Is... Have you taken the steps that you're able to take, and perhaps the margin is more dependent on top line from here? Or are there more internal actions you can you can take to help improve profitability?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Look, we are very pleased with the recovery that we've seen in international as well. We do believe that this is a multi-year journey, as we've shared before, and we are partly into that journey. We expect to, you know, continue to make some more changes in the coming quarters. So, we should see the profitability continue to move. Is it, you know, is it where we want it to be? No, not yet. But we are on a journey to bring it back to pre-COVID levels, and we believe that we'll get there.

Mark Hughes (Analyst)

And then one more, if I might. In the weather-related lines, where you've seen some pressure lately, is your cost structure, fixed, variable, is that where you want it to be, under the circumstances? And, you know, there's obviously some infrastructure you're just gonna have to keep and some costs you bear in that business, or are there likewise, additional steps you can take there to help even out some of the drier periods?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

It's a very good question, Mark. There are elements of that cost structure which are variable, and we have flexed those variables to make sure that we account for the benign weather. We do have certain parts that we are still maintaining, and we're maintaining at a relatively higher level than what we could, only because we want to stay differentiated in the marketplace and stand ready. All the experts have talked about this being one of the most active weather seasons we've seen, an early hurricane, and we've seen a second one come through. There's another system developing on the back. We just don't want to be caught flat-footed to serve our clients.

Mark Hughes (Analyst)

Thank you very much.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from Kevin Steinke from Barrington Research. Please go ahead.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning. Thank you.

Bruce Swain (CFO)

Morning, Kevin.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Hi, Kevin.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Hello. I think you may have touched on this a bit, Bruce, but you had flat revenues in North America Loss Adjusting, but still a pickup in operating earnings year-over-year. Could you speak to that a little bit more? Any factors that might have helped drive that?

Bruce Swain (CFO)

Yeah, I think, you know, we've seen good growth in the GTS business, and that's attracted good margins. The North America Loss Adjusting business is, you know, it's comprised of GTS, and we also have, you know, what we call U.S. Field Operations. And they were able to manage their cost well in light of some volatility with weather-related claim referrals as well. So, you know, an improvement in profitability, but, you know, their operating margin for the quarter at 6.5%. It's pretty good considering the weather, but, you know, not where we want it to be ultimately. So still a little work to do there.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, what, any specific work you need to do there, or is it just a matter of, you know, the kind of the weather related impact?

Bruce Swain (CFO)

I think it's weather-related, primarily. You know, as we bring on, you know, new GTS adjusters, as Rohit was mentioning earlier, you know, there is a little bit of a ramp period there before they're, you know, kind of reach their peak profitability. But-

... But no, I don't think there's anything really structurally we need to do in the North America Loss Adjusting business.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, thanks. And as I look at the trend in Networks revenue for the third quarter over the last three years, third quarter of 2023, it looked like a solid quarter, but it was the lowest revenue quarter of the last, you know, three years, 2021 through 2023. I suppose it's hard to judge now, but it looks like maybe the comp is easing a little bit, but I suppose it's also just gonna be obviously highly dependent on what sort of weather activity we have here. But just kinda any thoughts on, you know, did we have unusually strong weather events last year contributing to the third quarter, or is that kind of maybe a little bit more normalized?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Kevin, we definitely had higher levels of activity, particularly in Q2 of last year. What that did was it filled up the available capacity at the carriers, as a result of which, you know, more claims in Q3 that were coming into the carriers ended up getting outsourced. So that's what led to that. You know, we have the same set of clients still. We continue to maintain a very strong NPS with them, so we believe that if the weather activity holds, then we should start to see similar kind of work come our way. With the two hurricanes, Debby as well as Beryl, we believe that while the claim activity has been low, it has given enough work to the carriers to be at capacity.

So if we see another weather event come through, that should push more work towards us. But as history has taught me, being in the insurance industry for a long time, that never try to predict the weather until it's already happened.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Right. Right, makes sense. That's, that's fair enough. Yeah, so, you know, you spoke to the momentum you have in Broadspire, and it sounds like you expect that to continue. Maybe again, can you just expand on what's driving the new client wins and the sustainability of the momentum there and your... What you feel might be helping drive those wins in terms of maybe competitive differentiation?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Certainly. Look, there are three factors I believe that are driving the success in Broadspire. First and foremost being the technology investment that we've made, which is really differentiating us in the marketplace. The second, a very focused strategy on not only growing the traditional business, but also focused on the alternative insurance market, which focuses on MGAs and carriers and captives and program business. That has gotten quite a lot of quite a lot of traction. And then the third and final thing is the investments that we've made in training and development. We've been onboarding a new class of adjusters every year for the last three years or so.

That has really helped us maintain our staffing levels much better than what we hear in the marketplace from some of our competitors, and as a result of which we can provide a lot more stability of stability in terms of level of service to our clients. Those are the three biggest factors that I would say have led us to the growth, and again, we're not relenting on any of those three, so we believe that that should help us continue the momentum.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. You referred to the staffing levels there. It sounds like that's something you're going to continue to invest in, in Broadspire, I suppose, given the growth momentum there. But maybe, you know, speak to your ability to add staff and your attractiveness as a destination there, maybe, you know, relative to, you mentioned maybe others not staffing up as much. But any comment there on just the labor trends in that business?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Yeah, as you know, that is a market. I mean, claims in general is a market which continues to age. What we've been investing in Broadspire is to bring in, what we call very early tenure, adjusters, people that may have had some experience in an allied kind of line or allied kind of industry, however, not directly in claims. So bringing them in and training them from the ground up. I think what makes us attractive is, the kind of benefits that we offer, the kind of cultural environment that we provide, the career opportunities, and the growth potential.

We, you know, our vision statement is to be a place where experts want to be, and we believe that that's resonating in the marketplace, and our actions are demonstrating that we are, you know, living to that vision. Those are the reasons we believe that we're able to attract workforce.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. And then just lastly, on the medical management side, in Broadspire, it feels like that business is, you know, fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, but maybe any trends you're seeing there, in terms of, you know, number of cases flowing, or are you starting to see kind of maybe cases that have been delayed or coming back, any sort of backlog or trends there in medical management?

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Yeah, I would say that since the second quarter of 2023, we've been seeing a recovery back to the pre-pandemic levels, and I would say that right now we're trending to be a little bit above the pre-pandemic levels. It's not always easy to make that comparison, but you know, some of that is just related to growth in our underlying business as well. So when we look at our caseload on the medical management side, we believe that we've had a full recovery on the work that we had pre-pandemic, but then the additional clients that we've added are now having cases that are in line with what we would expect them to have based on the claims load that we see there.

So, we believe that we're fully recovered and moving well on that path.

Kevin Steinke (Sell-side Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. That's helpful. Thank you for taking the questions. I will turn it back over.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Thank you.

Bruce Swain (CFO)

Thanks.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Thank you, Kevin. Always a pleasure.

Operator (participant)

There are no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Mr. Verma for closing remarks.

Rohit Verma (CEO)

Thank you so much, Julie, and thank you to all our employees, clients, and shareholders for your continued commitment to Crawford & Company. Thank you very much for your time today. God bless.

Operator (participant)

Thank you for participating in today's Crawford & Company conference call. This call will be available for replay beginning at 11:30 A.M. Eastern Time today through 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on September 5th, 2024. The conference ID number for the replay is 332233. The number to dial for the replay is 877-674-7070. Thank you. You may now disconnect.