Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. (BOW)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis below contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this report, including, but not limited to, statements regarding our future results of operations or financial condition, business strategy and plans, and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Certain of the forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terms such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “seeks,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or other comparable terms. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not related to present facts or current conditions or that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this report and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our consolidated results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects and growth strategies and the industries in which we operate, and including, without limitation, statements relating to our future performance. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations concerning future results and events, and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Our actual results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements included in this report as a result of various factors, including, among others:

•our inability to accurately assess our underwriting risk;

•intense competition for business in our industry;

•our inability to maintain our strategic relationship with AFMIC;

•a decline in AmFam’s financial strength rating or financial size category;

•exposure to certain risks arising out of our reliance on insurance retail agents, brokers and wholesalers as distribution channels;

•inadequate losses and loss expense reserves to cover our actual losses;

•unexpected changes in the interpretation of our coverage or provisions, including loss limitations and exclusions, in our policies;

•risks and uncertainties relating to the proposed acquisition of Bowhead by AmFam, including: that Bowhead and AmFam may be unable to complete the transaction because, among other reasons, conditions to the closing of the transaction may not be satisfied or waived; uncertainty as to the timing of completion of the transaction; the inability to complete the transaction due to the failure to obtain the Bowhead stockholder approvals for the transaction or the failure to satisfy other conditions to completion of the transaction, including that a governmental entity may prohibit, delay or refuse to grant approval for the consummation of the transaction; interloper risk; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; risks related to disruption of management’s attention from Bowhead’s ongoing business operations due to the transaction; the effect of the announcement of the transaction on Bowhead’s relationships with its insureds, operating results and business generally; and the outcome of any legal proceedings to the extent initiated against Bowhead, AmFam or others following the announcement of the transaction, as well as Bowhead’s and AmFam management’s response to any of the aforementioned factors;

•our reinsurers’ failure to reimburse us for claims on a timely basis, or at all;

•adverse economic factors and their impact on our growth and profitability;

•existing or future regulation and our ability to comply with these regulations;

•the loss of one or more key personnel;

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•disruptions of our operations due to security breaches, loss of data, cyber-attacks and other information technology failures;

•increased costs as a result of operating as a public company; and

•other risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A. of this report.

Please refer to “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A. of this report for additional discussion of the foregoing factors and risks.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this report to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this report or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

Overview

We were founded in September 2020, backed by capital provided by GPC Partners Investments (SPV III) LP, a private equity fund managed by Gallatin Point, and our strategic partner, AmFam, to take advantage of favorable pricing environments, and to address a growing and unmet demand from brokers and policyholders for specialized insurance solutions and quality service in complex lines of business. Our principal objective is to create and sustain superior returns for our stockholders by generating consistent, underwriting profits across our product offerings and through all market cycles, while prudently managing capital.

We offer commercial specialty P&C insurance products to policyholders that vary in size, industry and complexity, focusing on casualty, professional liability, and healthcare liability risks. Our products are delivered through two complementary underwriting models designed to support sustainable and profitable growth across market cycles: a “craft” model for large, complex, higher-severity risks, and a “digital” model for smaller, simpler, and scalable business.

Our craft underwriting model, Bowhead’s foundation, relies on experienced underwriters who apply deep technical expertise and long-standing broker relationships to deliver tailored solutions for complex, non-standard, and higher-severity risks. Our digital underwriting model, including Baleen Specialty and other small-business offerings, a capability we call “express”, emphasizes speed, consistency, and disciplined decision making through clear appetites, standardized products, and technology-enabled execution for small risks—without compromising underwriting discipline. While Baleen Specialty targets small, distressed, or hard-to-place risks with more restrictive coverage, our express offerings enhance Bowhead’s existing products by simplifying the submission, underwriting, and servicing for small and mid-sized accounts.

Our policies are primarily written on a non-admitted, or E&S basis, which is free of rate and policy form restrictions, and provides the flexibility to rapidly adjust to emerging market opportunities. We distribute our products through carefully selected relationships with leading distribution partners in both the wholesale and retail markets.

The policies we write are issued on AmFam paper under their own name through BSUI, our managing general agency, in exchange for a Ceding Fee, and reinsured 100% to BICI, our wholly-owned insurance company subsidiary. This mutually beneficial partnership with AmFam has enabled us to grow quickly, but prudently, to take advantage of favorable market conditions, and allows us to deploy capital efficiently.

We built a nimble, remote-friendly organization that is able to attract best-in-class talent nationwide, who are committed to operational excellence and superior service. We are led by a highly experienced and respected underwriting team with a disciplined approach to underwriting and decades of individual, successful underwriting experience. We are supported by a collaborative culture that spans all functions of our business, which allows us to provide a consistent, positive experience for all our partners. We believe that our current market opportunity,

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differentiated expertise, relationships, culture and leadership team position us well to continue to grow our business profitably.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Gross written premiums

Gross written premiums are the amounts received, or to be received, for insurance policies written or assumed by us during a specific period of time without reduction for policy acquisition costs, reinsurance costs or other deductions. The volume of our gross written premiums in any given period is generally influenced by new business submissions, binding of new business submissions into policies, renewals of existing policies and average size and premium rate of bound policies.

Ceded written premiums

Ceded written premiums are the amount of gross written premiums ceded to reinsurers. We enter into reinsurance contracts to limit our exposure to potential losses. The volume of our ceded written premiums is impacted by the level of our gross written premiums and any decision we make to increase or decrease retention levels and policy limits.

Net written premiums

Net written premiums are gross written premiums less ceded written premiums.

Net earned premiums

Net earned premiums represent the earned portion of our net written premiums. Our insurance policies generally have a term of one year but occasionally could be as long as ten years, and premiums are earned pro rata over the term of the policy.

Net losses and loss adjustment expenses

Net losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the costs incurred for insured losses, which include losses under a claims made or occurrence policy, paid or unpaid, expenses for settling claims, such as attorneys’ fees, investigation, appraisal, adjustment, defense costs and a portion of operating expenses allocated to claim resolution, net of any losses ceded to reinsurers. Net losses and loss adjustment expenses also include a provision for claims that have occurred but have not yet been reported to the insurer. These expenses are a function of the amount and type of insurance contracts the Company writes and the loss experience associated with the underlying coverage. In general, our net losses and loss adjustment expenses are affected by:

•the occurrence, frequency and severity of claims associated with the particular types of insurance contracts that we write;

•the mix of business written by us;

•changes in the legal or regulatory environment related to the business we write;

•trends in legal defense costs;

•inflation in the cost of claims, including inflation related to wages, medical costs, and building materials, as well as inflation related to the increase in the severity of claims above general economic inflation (i.e., social inflation); and

•the reinsurance agreements we have in place at the time of a loss.

Net losses and loss adjustment expenses are based on actual losses and expenses, as well as an actuarial analysis of the estimated losses, including losses incurred during the period and changes in estimates from prior periods. Net losses and loss adjustment expenses may be paid out over a period of years.

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Net acquisition costs

Net acquisition costs are principally comprised of commissions we pay to our brokers, a Ceding Fee we pay to AmFam on net premiums assumed and other costs, such as premium-related taxes and employment related underwriting costs, which are net of ceding commissions we receive on business ceded through our reinsurance agreements. Net acquisition costs are deferred and amortized ratably over the terms of the related agreements.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses represent the general and administrative expenses of our operations including employee compensation and benefits, technology costs, office rent and professional service fees such as legal, accounting and actuarial services.

Net investment income

We earn interest income o

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Year ended December 31, 2024 compared to year ended December 31, 2023

For a discussion of our year ended December 31, 2024 results and a comparison between the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2025.

Overview

We were founded in September 2020, backed by capital provided by GPC Fund, a private equity fund managed by Gallatin Point, and our strategic partner, AmFam, to take advantage of favorable pricing environments, and to address a growing and unmet demand from brokers and policyholders for specialized insurance solutions and quality service in complex lines of business. Our principal objective is to create and sustain superior returns for our stockholders by generating consistent, underwriting profits across our product offerings and through all market cycles, while prudently managing capital.

We offer commercial specialty P&C insurance products to policyholders that vary in size, industry and complexity, focusing on casualty, professional liability, and healthcare liability risks. Our products are delivered through two complementary underwriting models designed to support sustainable and profitable growth across market cycles: a “craft” model for large, complex, higher-severity risks, and a “digital” model for smaller, simpler, and scalable business.

Our craft underwriting model, Bowhead’s foundation, relies on experienced underwriters who apply deep technical expertise and long-standing broker relationships to deliver tailored solutions for complex, non-standard, and higher-severity risks. Our digital underwriting model, including Baleen Specialty and other small-business offerings, a capability we call “express”, emphasizes speed, consistency, and disciplined decision making through clear appetites, standardized products, and technology-enabled execution for small risks—without compromising underwriting discipline. While Baleen Specialty targets small, distressed, or hard-to-place risks with more restrictive coverage, our express offerings enhance Bowhead’s existing products by simplifying the submission, underwriting, and servicing for small and mid-sized accounts.

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Our policies are primarily written on a non-admitted, or E&S basis, which is free of rate and policy form restrictions, and provides the flexibility to rapidly adjust to emerging market opportunities. We distribute our products through carefully selected relationships with leading distribution partners in both the wholesale and retail markets.

The policies we write are issued on AmFam paper under their own name through BSUI, our managing general agency, in exchange for a Ceding Fee, and reinsured 100% to BICI, our wholly-owned insurance company subsidiary. This mutually beneficial partnership with AmFam has enabled us to grow quickly, but prudently, to take advantage of favorable market conditions, and allows us to deploy capital efficiently.

We built a nimble, remote-friendly organization that is able to attract best-in-class talent nationwide, who are committed to operational excellence and superior service. We are led by a highly experienced and respected underwriting team with a disciplined approach to underwriting and decades of individual, successful underwriting experience. We are supported by a collaborative culture that spans all functions of our business, which allows us to provide a consistent, positive experience for all our partners. We believe that our current market opportunity, differentiated expertise, relationships, culture and leadership team position us well to continue to grow our business profitably.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Gross written premiums

Gross written premiums are the amounts received, or to be received, for insurance policies written or assumed by us during a specific period of time without reduction for policy acquisition costs, reinsurance costs or other deductions. The volume of our gross written premiums in any given period is generally influenced by new business submissions, binding of new business submissions into policies, renewals of existing policies and average size and premium rate of bound policies.

Ceded written premiums

Ceded written premiums are the amount of gross written premiums ceded to reinsurers. We enter into reinsurance contracts to limit our exposure to potential losses. The volume of our ceded written premiums is impacted by the level of our gross written premiums and any decision we make to increase or decrease retention levels and policy limits.

Net written premiums

Net written premiums are gross written premiums less ceded written premiums.

Net earned premiums

Net earned premiums represent the earned portion of our net written premiums. Our insurance policies generally have a term of one year but occasionally could be as long as ten years, and premiums are earned pro rata over the term of the policy.

Net losses and loss adjustment expenses

Net losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the costs incurred for insured losses, which include losses under a claims made or occurrence policy, paid or unpaid, expenses for settling claims, such as attorneys’ fees, investigation, appraisal, adjustment, defense costs and a portion of operating expenses allocated to claim resolution, net of any losses ceded to reinsurers. Net losses and loss adjustment expenses also include a provision for claims that have occurred but have not yet been reported to the insurer. These expenses are a function of the amount and type of insurance contracts the Company writes and the loss experience associated with the underlying coverage. In general, our net losses and loss adjustment expenses are affected by:

•the occurrence, frequency and severity of claims associated with the particular types of insurance contracts that we write;

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•the mix of business written by us;

•changes in the legal or regulatory environment related to the business we write;

•trends in legal defense costs;

•inflation in the cost of claims, including inflation related to wages, medical costs, and building materials, as well as inflation related to the increase in the severity of claims above general economic inflation (i.e., social inflation); and

•the reinsurance agreements we have in place at the time of a loss.

Net losses and loss adjustment expenses are based on actual losses and expenses, as well as an actuarial analysis of the estimated losses, including losses incurred during the period and changes in estimates from prior periods. Net losses and loss adjustment expenses may be paid out over a period of years.

Net acquisition costs

Net acquisition costs are principally comprised of commissions we pay to our brokers, a Ceding Fee we pay to AmFam on net premiums assumed and premium-related taxes, which are net of ceding commissions we receive on business ceded through our reinsurance agreements. Net acquisition costs are deferred and amortized ratably over the terms of the related agreements.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses represent the general and administrative expenses of our operations including employee compensation and benefits, technology costs, office rent and professional service fees such as legal, accounting and actuarial services.

Net investment income

We earn interest income on our portfolio of invested assets, which are comprised of fixed maturity securities, short-term investments and cash and cash equivalents.

Net realized investment gains (losses)

Net realized investment gains (losses) are a function of the difference between the amortized cost of securities sold and the proceeds received by the Company upon the sale of a security. Unrealized investment gains (losses) on fixed maturity securities are recorded within accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Other insurance-related income

Other insurance-related income represent fees associated with the issuance of policies and revenue we receive for providing insurance-related services.

Non-operating expenses

Non-operating expenses represent expenses related to various transactions that we consider to be unique and non-recurring in nature, such as expenses related to our IPO and secondary offerings, and other such offerings or registrations.

Warrant expense

Warrant expense represents compensation costs for warrants issued to AmFam for the right to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock.

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Interest expense and financing fees

Interest expenses and fees represent certain costs associated with our senior unsecured notes and senior secured revolving credit facilities.

Loss on extinguishment of credit facility

Loss on extinguishment of credit facility represents fully expensed, previously unamortized deferred issuance costs associated with the termination of our 2024 senior unsecured credit facility.

Foreign exchange losses (gains)

Foreign exchange losses (gains) represent the remeasurement of a non-U.S. dollar operating expense to U.S. dollars due to the fluctuations in the exchange rate. The change in the liability due to the fluctuations in the exchange rate are included within the Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income at the end of each period.

Income tax expense

Currently, income tax expense primarily relates to federal income taxes. The amount of income tax expense or benefit recorded in future periods will depend on the jurisdictions in which we operate and the tax laws and regulations in effect.

Key Operating and Financial Metrics

We discuss certain key metrics, described below, which provide useful information about our business and the operational factors underlying our financial performance.

Loss ratio, expressed as a percentage, is the ratio of net losses and loss adjustment expenses to net earned premiums.

Expense ratio, expressed as a percentage, is the ratio of net acquisition costs and operating expenses, less other- insurance related income, to net earned premiums.

Combined ratio, expressed as a percentage, is the sum of loss ratio and expense ratio.

Return on equity is net income as a percentage of average beginning and ending mezzanine equity and stockholders’ equity.

Underwriting income is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as income before income taxes excluding the impact of net investment income, net realized investment gains (losses), other insurance-related income, non-operating expenses, warrant expense, interest expenses and financing fees, loss on extinguishment of credit facility, foreign exchange losses (gains), and certain strategic initiatives. See “—Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a reconciliation of underwriting income to income before income taxes, which is the most directly comparable financial metric prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as net income excluding the impact of net realized investment gains (losses), non-operating expenses, loss on extinguishment of credit facility, foreign exchange losses (gains), and certain strategic initiatives. See “—Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, which is the most directly comparable financial metric prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Adjusted return on equity is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as adjusted net income as a percentage of average beginning and ending mezzanine equity and stockholders’ equity. See “—Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a reconciliation of adjusted return on equity to return on equity, which is the most directly comparable financial metr

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