Operator

Hello, and welcome to the Lancashire Holdings Limited First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Your speakers today will be Alex Maloney, Group CEO; Natalie Kershaw, Group CFO; and Paul Gregory, Group CUO.

I will now hand the call over to Alex.

Alexander Maloney
Group CEO & Director

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. We will follow our usual process this morning. I'll keep it brief and give you my thoughts on the quarter. I'll then hand over to Paul for underwriting summaries and then Natalie for the finance part, and then we will then take your questions.

I want to start by saying that it's been another excellent quarter for Lancashire, where we affirm our guidance for a high teens ROE for the 2026 year. Amidst elevated geopolitical tensions, our business continues to perform strongly, reflecting our prudent strategy. To remind you, we have set out to continue to grow ahead of rate and deliver more sustainable returns for our investors across the cycle. Our track record of delivery supports this with 3 consecutive years above 20% ROEs and, on average, returning 100% of earnings to shareholders. And that's exactly what we're still doing.

Firstly, adjusting for reinstatement premiums of last year, our premiums grew ahead of