Peter Clarke: Jen, do you have anything to add on that? .
Jen Allen: Yes. Sure, Andrew. Maybe I’m going to reference you to our annual report in our Statutory Note No. 19. So in 2024, we have the ability to get $3 billion out of the underlying insurance companies based off of the statutory requirement level. We gave quite a bit of detail in there which company we can get those dividends from between our North American global and international segment. And in the first quarter of 2024, as I noted in the conference call script, we did receive $451 million of dividends from our subsidiaries in the first quarter already.
Andrew Goffe: Okay. Thanks.
Prem Watsa: Thank you, Andrew. Next question, Fran.
Operator: Tom MacKinnon with BMO Capital. Your line is open.
Tom MacKinnon: Yes. Thanks very much. Question just with respect to the overall expense ratio, trended a little higher this quarter. I think we were kind of running around 30-ish range and now we’re 31%, almost 31.5%. I think there was some additional spend to be able to handle some uptick in volumes, but I assume there’s got to be some scale benefits as well. So how should we be thinking about the expense ratio going forward as – yes.
Peter Clarke: Great, Tom. And yes, we were up about one point or a little more one point on the expense ratio. One thing that influenced that ratio was the inclusion of Gulf Insurance, it had a higher expense ratio than our operations, runs at a little lower loss ratio, a higher expense ratio. And then on the commission side, it really just is mix of business. So I think that and, as we said, we continue to invest in technology and in our people. And you can see a little bit of uptick from that as well.
Prem Watsa: Thank you, Tom. Fran, next question.
Operator: That will be from Howard Flinker with Flinker and Company. Your line is open.
Howard Flinker: Hello, everybody. In that net gain of 7% – a gain of 7% in net premiums, does that include the increment from Gulf? Or if we adjusted, should we roughly cut it in half?
Peter Clarke: Yes. That’s – Howard, that excludes Gulf…
Howard Flinker: Excludes Gulf.
Peter Clarke: If you include Gulf Insurance.
Howard Flinker: Say that again, please?
Peter Clarke: That excludes – the 7% would exclude the Gulf premium. If you include the Gulf premium, we were in double digits.
Howard Flinker: Okay. Thanks.
Peter Clarke: Thank you.
Prem Watsa: Next question, Fran.
Operator: That is from [Ashif Lalani] with [indiscernible] Capital. Your line is open.
Unidentified Analyst: Thank you. My question is with respect to – there is a dislocation in equity markets, so you have an opportunity to reallocate some fixed income to equities. What kind of size is available that the company would be comfortable with?
Peter Clarke: Sorry, can you repeat your question?
Unidentified Analyst: Sorry, I’m out at an airport – hope it got too loud. So my question was, we’re sitting on a large amount of fixed income security and seemingly some surplus capital. So if we did have an opportunity where there was a dislocation in equity markets, how much could we reallocate from the fixed income portfolio to quality equities at a fair price?
Peter Clarke: Right. Our fixed income portfolio is very liquid. It’s essentially our bonds are in our U.S. treasuries, and the average duration is about three years. So we have a lot of flexibility there. Investment portfolio as a whole, it’s very defensive. We have the ability to react to the market, and we’re very happy where it is positioned today. So should something happen on the equity side, we would have the ability to pivot if we wanted to.
Unidentified Analyst: Can you give an idea…
Prem Watsa: Next question, Fran.
Operator: At this time, I have no further questions in queue.
Peter Clarke: Well, thank you, Fran. And if there are no further questions, thank you for joining us on our first quarter conference call.
Operator: As we are concluded, I’d like to thank everyone for joining today. Please disconnect at this time. Have a wonderful day.
