HOUSTON, July 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SKWD) (“Skyward Specialty” or the “Company”) today reported second quarter 2025 net income of $38.8 million, or $0.93 per diluted share, compared to $31.0 million, or $0.75 per diluted share, for the same 2024 period. Net income for the first half of 2025 was $80.9 million, or $1.94 per diluted share, compared to $67.8 million, or $1.65 per diluted share, for the same 2024 period.

Adjusted operating income⁽¹⁾ for the second quarter of 2025 was $37.1 million, or $0.89 per diluted share, compared to $33.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, for the same 2024 period. Adjusted operating income⁽¹⁾ for the first half of 2025 was $74.5 million, or $1.78 per diluted share, compared to $63.9 million, or $1.56 per diluted share, for the same 2024 period.

Highlights for the second quarter included:

• Gross written premiums of $584.9 million, an increase of 17.9% compared to 2024;
• Combined ratio of 89.4%;
• Ex-Cat combined ratio of 88.0%;
• Annualized return on equity of 19.1% for the six months ended June 30, 2025; and,
• Book value per share of $22.23, an increase of 12% compared to December 31, 2024.
  

⁽¹⁾ See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures"  

Skyward Specialty Chairman and CEO Andrew Robinson commented, "Our results for the second quarter and for the first half of the year have been outstanding and reflect the strength of our specialized underwriting and claims capabilities, and our execution excellence. In an increasingly challenging market environment, our 18% growth for the second quarter and best ever 89.4% combined ratio are again a demonstration of the power of our portfolio diversity and our ability to deploy capital to attractive markets that enable us to grow underwriting profitability while managing our volatility. As market conditions continue to evolve, we are confident that the disciplined execution of our "Rule Our Niche" strategy will enable us to continue to deliver top quartile returns to our shareholders."

Results of Operations

Underwriting Results

The increases in gross written premiums for the second quarter and first half of 2025, when compared to the same 2024 periods, were driven by double-digit premium growth from the agriculture and credit (re)insurance, specialty programs, accident & health and captives divisions. The increases in gross written premiums were partially offset by decreases in the global property and construction & energy solutions divisions.

The loss ratio for the second quarter improved 0.4 points and it increased 0.6 points for the first half of 2025, when compared to the same 2024 periods, respectively. Catastrophe losses in the second quarter increased marginally when compared to the same 2024 period, driven by convective storms in the South and Midwest. The first half of 2025 was also impacted by convective storms in the Midwest and the California wildfires.

The non-cat loss and LAE ratios for the second quarter and first half of 2025 improved 0.7 points and 0.5 points, respectively, when compared to the same 2024 periods, primarily driven by the business mix shift.

The expense ratios for the second quarter and first half of 2025 improved 0.9 points and 0.7 points, respectively, when compared to the same 2024 periods due to earnings leverage partially offset by higher acquisition costs due to the business mix shift.

The expense ratios for all periods presented exclude the impact of IPO related stock compensation and secondary offering expenses, which are reported in other expenses in our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

Investment Results

Net investment income for the second quarter and first half of 2025 decreased $3.4 million and $2.4 million, respectively when compared to the same 2024 periods. The decreases were primarily driven by losses from our alternative & strategic investments portfolio due to the decline in the fair value of limited partnership investments. Partially offsetting the decreases were increases in income from our fixed income portfolio due to a higher yield and larger asset base.

Stockholders’ Equity

Stockholders’ equity was $899.9 million at June 30, 2025 which represented an increase of 5.8% when compared to stockholders' equity of $850.7 million at March 31, 2025. The increase in stockholders’ equity was primarily due to an increase in the market value of our investment portfolio and net income.

Conference Call

At 12:00 p.m. eastern time tomorrow, July 31, 2025, Skyward Specialty management will hold a conference call to discuss quarterly results with insurance industry analysts. Interested parties may listen to the discussion at investors.skywardinsurance.com under Events & Presentations. Additionally, investors can access the earnings call via conference call by registering via the conference link. Users will receive dial-in information and a unique PIN to join the call upon registering.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release contains certain financial measures and ratios that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). We refer to these measures as “non-GAAP financial measures.” We use these non-GAAP financial measures when planning, monitoring, and evaluating our performance.

We consider these non-GAAP financial measures to be useful metrics for our management and investors to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period. While we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating our business, this information should be considered supplemental in nature and is not meant to be a substitute for revenue or net income, in each case as recognized in accordance with GAAP. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate such measures differently, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures. For more information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of such measures to comparable GAAP financial measures, see the section entitled “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

About Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc.

Skyward Specialty is a rapidly growing and innovative specialty insurance company, delivering commercial property and casualty products and solutions on a non-admitted and admitted basis. The Company operates through nine underwriting divisions - Accident & Health, Agriculture and Credit (Re)insurance, Captives, Construction & Energy Solutions, Global Property, Professional Lines, Specialty Programs, Surety and Transactional E&S. SKWD stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, which represents the top fourth of all Nasdaq listed companies.

Skyward Specialty's subsidiary insurance companies consist of Great Midwest Insurance Company, Houston Specialty Insurance Company, Imperium Insurance Company, and Oklahoma Specialty Insurance Company. These insurance companies are rated A (Excellent) with stable outlook by A.M. Best Company. Additional information about Skyward Specialty can be found on our website at www.skywardinsurance.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, all other information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements are typically, but not always, identified through use of the words "believe," "expect," "enable," "may," "will," "could," "intends," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "predict," "probable," "potential," "possible," "should," "continue," and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Skyward Specialty's Form 10-K, and include (but are not limited to) legislative changes at both the state and federal level, state and federal regulatory rule making promulgations and adjudications, class action litigation involving the insurance industry and judicial decisions affecting claims, policy coverages and the general costs of doing business, the potential loss of key members of our management team or key employees and our ability to attract and retain personnel, the impact of competition on products and pricing, inflation in the costs of the products and services insurance pays for, product development, geographic spread of risk, weather and weather-related events, other types of catastrophic events, our ability to obtain reinsurance coverage at prices and on terms that allow us to transfer risk and adequately protect our company against financial loss, and losses resulting from reinsurance counterparties failing to pay us on reinsurance claims. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc.

Investor contact:
Natalie Schoolcraft,
nschoolcraft@skywardinsurance.com
614-494-4988

or

Media contact:
Haley Doughty
hdoughty@skywardinsurance.com
713-935-4944

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc.
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted operating income – We define adjusted operating income as net income excluding the impact of certain items that may not be indicative of underlying business trends, operating results, or future outlook, net of tax impact. We use adjusted operating income as an internal performance measure in the management of our operations because we believe it gives our management and other users of our financial information useful insight into our results of operations and our underlying business performance. Adjusted operating income should not be viewed as a substitute for net income calculated in accordance with GAAP, and other companies may define adjusted operating income differently.

Underwriting income – We define underwriting income as net income before income taxes excluding net investment income, net realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments, impairment charges, interest expense, amortization expense and other income and expenses. Underwriting income represents the pre-tax profitability of our underwriting operations and allows us to evaluate our underwriting performance without regard to investment income. We use this metric as we believe it gives our management and other users of our financial information useful insight into our underlying business performance. Underwriting income should not be viewed as a substitute for pre-tax income calculated in accordance with GAAP, and other companies may define underwriting income differently.

Tangible Stockholders’ Equity – We define tangible stockholders’ equity as stockholders’ equity less goodwill and intangible assets. Our definition of tangible stockholders’ equity may not be comparable to that of other companies and should not be viewed as a substitute for stockholders’ equity calculated in accordance with GAAP. We use tangible stockholders’ equity internally to evaluate the strength of our balance sheet and to compare returns relative to this measure.