AMERISAFE INC (AMSF) Business

Item 1. Business.

Overview

AMERISAFE, Inc. is a specialty provider of workers’ compensation insurance focused on small to mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, principally construction, trucking, logging and lumber, agriculture, services, manufacturing, and maritime. Since commencing operations in 1986, we have gained significant experience underwriting the complex workers’ compensation exposures inherent in these industries. We provide coverage to employers under state and federal workers’ compensation laws. These laws prescribe wage replacement and medical care benefits that employers are obligated to provide to their employees who are injured in the course and scope of their employment. Our workers’ compensation insurance policies provide benefits to injured employees for, among other things, temporary or permanent disability, death and medical and hospital expenses. The benefits payable and the duration of those benefits are set by state or federal law. The benefits vary by jurisdiction, the nature and severity of the injury and the wages of the employee. The employer, who is the policyholder, pays the premiums for coverage.

Hazardous industry employers tend to have less frequent but more severe claims, as compared to employers in other industries, due to the nature of their businesses. Injuries that occur are often severe in nature including death, dismemberment, paraplegia and quadriplegia. As a result, employers engaged in hazardous industries pay substantially higher than average rates for workers’ compensation insurance compared to employers in other industries, as measured per payroll dollar. The higher premium rates are due to the nature of the work performed and the inherent workplace danger of our target policyholders.

We employ a proactive, disciplined approach to underwriting employers and providing comprehensive services intended to lessen the overall incidence and cost of workplace injuries. We provide safety services at employers’ workplaces as a vital component of our underwriting process and to promote safer workplaces. We utilize proactive claims management practices that we believe ultimately reduce the overall cost of our claims. In addition, our premium audit services calculate the appropriate premiums for our policyholders under the terms of their policies and enable us to monitor payroll patterns that cause underwriting, safety or fraud concerns.

We believe that the higher rates typically paid by our policyholders, together with our disciplined underwriting, safety, claims, and audit services, provide us with the opportunity to earn attractive returns on equity.

We are an insurance holding company, incorporated in Texas in 1985. We began operations in 1986 by focusing on workers’ compensation insurance for logging contractors in the southeast U.S. Beginning in 1994, we expanded our focus to include the other hazardous industries we serve today. Two of our three insurance subsidiaries, American Interstate Insurance Company (AIIC) and Silver Oak Casualty, Inc. (SOCI), are domiciled in Nebraska. Our other insurance subsidiary, American Interstate Insurance Company of Texas (AIICTX), is domiciled in Texas. All three insurance subsidiaries carry an A.M. Best rating of “A” (Excellent).

The terms “AMERISAFE,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our” refer to AMERISAFE, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, as the context requires.

Competitive Advantages

We believe we have the following competitive advantages:

Focus on Hazardous Industries. We have extensive experience insuring employers engaged in certain hazardous industries and have a history of profitably underwriting these industries. Our specialized knowledge of these hazardous industries helps us better serve our policyholders, which leads to greater policyholder loyalty and policy retention. Our policy renewal rate on voluntary business that we elected to quote for renewal was 93.1% in 2025.

Focus on Small to Mid-Sized Employers. We believe large insurance companies generally do not target small to mid-sized employers in certain hazardous industries due to their smaller premium sizes, types of operations, mobile workforces and extensive service needs. We provide these employers enhanced services, including premium payment plans to better match premium payments with our policyholders’ payroll costs and cash flow.

Knowledgeable, Dedicated Employees. We deliver an exceptional product with integrity through professional, knowledgeable and dedicated employees. Service is a distinguishing factor for us and the level of that service is dependent on the expertise and caring culture of our employees.

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Specialized Underwriting Expertise. Based on our 40-year history of insuring employers engaged in hazardous industries, we have developed industry specific risk analysis and rating tools that support our underwriters in risk selection and pricing. We are highly disciplined when quoting and binding new and renewal business. We do not delegate underwriting authority to agencies, marketers or to any other third parties that sell our insurance.

Comprehensive Safety Services. We provide proactive safety reviews of employers’ worksites, which are often located in rural areas. These safety reviews are a vital component of our underwriting process and also assist our policyholders in loss prevention, and encourage safer workplaces by deploying experienced field safety professionals (FSPs) to our policyholders’ worksites. In 2025, 93.4% of our new voluntary business policyholders had pre-quotation safety inspections. Additionally, we perform periodic on-site safety surveys for our voluntary business policyholders as well as other services discussed below under "Safety".

Proactive Claims Management. Our employees manage substantially all of our claims in-house, utilizing intensive claims management practices that emphasize a personalized approach, as well as quality, cost-effective medical treatment. As of December 31, 2025, open indemnity claims per field case manager (FCM) averaged 51 claims, which we believe is significantly less than the industry average. We also believe our claims management practices allow us to achieve a more favorable claim outcome, accelerate an employee’s return to work, lessen the likelihood of litigation and more rapidly close claims, all of which ultimately lead to lower overall claim costs.

Efficient Operating Platform. Through cost management initiatives, we maintain one of the more efficient operations in the workers’ compensation industry. In 2025, our expense ratio was 30.4%. We believe that our expense ratio is generally lower than that of our competitors, which gives us a greater opportunity to generate underwriting profit.

Strategy

We strive to produce favorable returns on equity and increase our book value per share adjusted for dividends paid to shareholders and share repurchases using the following strategies:

Focus on Underwriting Profitability. We intend to maintain our underwriting discipline throughout market cycles with the objective of remaining profitable. Our strategy is to focus on underwriting workers’ compensation insurance in hazardous industries and to maintain adequate rate levels commensurate with the risks we underwrite. We will also continue to strive for improved risk selection and pricing, as well as reduced frequency and severity of claims through comprehensive workplace safety reviews, effective medical cost containment measures and rapid closing of claims through personal, direct contact with our policyholders and their employees.

Increase Market Penetration. Based on data received from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), we do not have more than 5.0% of the market share in any state we serve. As a result, we believe we have the opportunity to increase market penetration in each of the states in which we currently operate. Competition in our target markets is fragmented by state, employer size and industry. We believe that our specialized underwriting expertise, use of data, and safety, claims and audit services position us to profitably increase our market share in our existing principal markets, with minimal increase in field service employees.

Prudent and Opportunistic Geographic Expansion. While we actively market our insurance in 27 states, 53.6% of our voluntary in-force premiums were generated in the six states where we derived 5.0% or more of our gross premiums written in 2025. We are licensed in an additional 20 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our existing licenses and rate filings will expedite our ability to write policies in these markets if and when we decide it is prudent to do so.

Capitalize on Development of Information Technology Systems. We believe our underwriting and agency management system, GEAUX, along with our customized operational system, ICAMS, and the analytical data warehouse that ICAMS feeds, significantly enhance our ability to select risk, write profitable business and cost-effectively administer our billing, claims and audit functions.

Maintain Capital Strength. We plan to manage our capital to achieve our profitability goals while striving for optimal operating leverage for our insurance company subsidiaries. To accomplish this objective, we intend to maintain underwriting profitability throughout market cycles, optimize our use of reinsurance, deploy appropriate capital management tools, including paying dividends to shareholders and share repurchases, and produce an appropriate risk-adjusted return on our investment portfolio.

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Industry

Overview. Workers’ compensation is a statutory system under which an employer is required to pay for its employees’ medical, disability, wage replacement, vocational rehabilitation and death benefit costs for work-related injuries or illnesses. Most employers satisfy this requirement by purchasing workers’ compensation insurance. The principal concept underlying workers’ compensation laws is that employees injured in the course and scope of their employment have only the legal remedies available under workers’ compensation laws and do not have any other recourse against their employer. An employer’s obligation to pay workers’ compensation does not depend on any negligence or wrongdoing on the part of the employer and exists even for injuries that result from the negligence or fault of another person, a co-employee, or, in most instances, the injured employee.

Workers’ compensation insurance policies generally provide that the insurance carrier will pay all benefits that the insured employer may become obligated to pay under applicable workers’ compensation laws. Each state has a regulatory and adjudicatory system that quantifies the level of wage replacement to be paid, determines the level of medical care required to be provided and the cost of temporary or permanent impairment and specifies the options in selecting medical providers available to the injured employee or the employer. These state laws generally require two types of benefits for injured employees: (1) medical benefits, which include expenses related to the diagnosis and treatment of the injury, as well as any required rehabilitation, and (2) indemnity payments, which consist of temporary wage replacement, permanent disability payments and death benefits to surviving family members. To fulfill these mandated financial obligations, virtually all employers are required to purchase workers’ compensation insurance or, if permitted by state law or approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, to self-insure. The employers may purchase workers’ compensation insurance from a private insurance carrier, a state-sanctioned assigned risk pool, or a self-insurance fund, which is an entity that allows employers to obtain workers’ compensation coverage on a pooled basis, typically subjecting each employer to joint and several liability for the entire fund.

Workers’ compensation was the seventh-largest property and casualty insurance line in the U.S. in 2024, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (the NCCI). Direct premiums written in 2024 for the workers’ compensation insurance industry were $57.6 billion, and direct premiums written for the property and casualty industry as a whole were $1.1 trillion. According to the most recent market data reported by the NCCI, which is the official rating bureau in the majority of states in which we are licensed, total premiums reported for the specific occupational class codes for which we underwrite business were $18.4 billion.

Policyholders

As of December 31, 2025, we had more than 10,200 voluntary business policyholders. As of December 31, 2025, our ten largest voluntary business policyholders accounted for 2.1% of our in-force premiums. Our policy renewal rate on voluntary business that we elected to quote for renewal was 93.1% in 2025, 94.2% in 2024, and 94.1% in 2023.

In addition to our voluntary workers’ compensation business, we assume reinsurance premiums from mandatory pooling arrangements, and prior to 2023, we underwrote workers’ compensation policies for employers assigned to us, in each case to fulfill our obligations under residual market programs implemented by the states in which we operate. Prior to 2023, our assigned risk business fulfilled our statutory obligation to participate in residual market plans in three states. Beginning in 2023, the Company participated in the mandatory pooling arrangements in these states instead of the assigned risk business. See “—Regulation—Residual Market Programs” below. For the year ended December 31, 2025, our assumed premiums from mandatory pooling arrangements accounted for 2.8% of our gross premiums written.

Targeted Industries

We provide workers’ compensation insurance primarily to employers in the following targeted hazardous industries:

Construction. Includes a broad range of operations such as highway and bridge construction, building and maintenance of pipeline and powerline networks, excavation, commercial construction, roofing, iron and steel erection, tower erection and numerous other specialized construction operations.

Trucking. Includes a broad spectrum of diverse operations including contract haulers, regional and local freight carriers, special equipment transporters and other trucking companies that conduct a variety of short- and long-haul operations.

Logging and Lumber. Includes tree harvesting, tree trimming, sawmills, and other operations associated with lumber and wood products.

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Agriculture. Includes crop maintenance and harvesting, grain and produce operations, nursery operations, meat processing, and livestock feed and transportation.

Services. Includes various types of operations focused on providing a service such as telecommunication tower and line installation and maintenance, machinery inspection, surveyors, window and exterior cleaning, debris and waste disposal, and traffic control.

Manufacturing. Includes a diverse group of businesses such as the production of goods for use or sale using labor and machines, tools, and chemical and biological processing or formulation.

Maritime. Includes ship building and repair, pier and marine construction, inter-coastal construction, and stevedoring (which is the process of loading cargo onto and unloading cargo from vessels at port).

Other. Includes a wide variety of high-hazard businesses such as gasoline dealers, building material suppliers, automobile dismantling, oil field contractors, railroad construction and other businesses.

Our gross premiums are derived from:

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Voluntary Business. Includes direct premiums from workers’ compensation insurance policies that we issue to employers who seek to purchase insurance directly from us and who we voluntarily agree to insure.

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Assumed Premiums. Includes premiums from our participation in mandatory pooling arrangements under residual market programs implemented by some of the states in which we operate.

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Assigned Risk Business. Included direct premiums from workers’ compensation insurance policies that we issued to employers assigned to us under residual market programs implemented by some of the states in which we operate. Beginning in 2023, the Company participated in the mandatory pooling arrangements instead of the assigned risk business.

Gross premiums written during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, and the allocation of those premiums among the hazardous industries we target are presented in the table below.

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Geographic Distribution

We are licensed to provide workers’ compensation insurance in 47 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We operate on a geographically diverse basis with 16.3% or less of our gross premiums written in 2025 derived from any one state. The table below identifies, for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the states in which the percentage of our gross premiums written exceeded 3.0% for any of the three years presented.

Sales and Marketing

We sell our workers’ compensation insurance through independent agencies (including retail and wholesale brokers and agents). As of December 31, 2025, our insurance was sold through approximately 1,400 independent agencies and our wholly-owned insurance agency subsidiary, Amerisafe General Agency, which is licensed in 32 states. We are selective in establishing and maintaining relationships with independent agencies. We seek to do business with those agencies that provide quality application flow from companies operating in our target industries and classes that are reasonably likely to accept our quotes. We compensate these agencies by paying a commission based on the premium collected from the policyholder. Neither our independent agencies nor our insurance agency subsidiary has authority to underwrite or bind coverage. We do not pay contingent commissions.

As of December 31, 2025, independent agencies accounted for 99.0% of our voluntary in-force premiums. No single independent agency accounted for more than 2.0% of our voluntary in-force premiums at that date.

Underwriting

Our underwriting strategy is to focus on employers in certain hazardous industries that operate in those states where our underwriting efforts are the most profitable and efficient. We analyze each prospective policyholder on its own merits relative to known industry trends and statistical data. Our underwriting guidelines specify that we do not write workers’ compensation insurance for certain hazardous activities, including sub-surface mining and manufacturing of ammunition or fireworks.

Underwriting is a multi-step process that begins with the receipt of an application from agencies. We initially review the application to confirm that the prospective policyholder meets certain established criteria, including that the prospective policyholder is engaged in one of our targeted hazardous industries and industry classes and operates in the states we target. If the application satisfies these criteria, the application is forwarded to our underwriting department for further review.

Our underwriting department reviews the application to determine if the application meets our underwriting criteria and whether all required information has been provided. If additional information is required, the underwriting department requests additional information from the agency submitting the application. Once this initial review process is complete, our underwriting department requests that a pre-quotation safety inspection be performed in most cases. In 2025, 93.4% of our new voluntary business policyholders were inspected prior to our offering a premium quote.

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After the pre-quotation safety inspection has been completed, our underwriting professionals review the results of the inspection to determine if a quote should be offered and, if so, prepare the quote. The quote must be reviewed and approved by our underwriting department before the quote is delivered to the agency.

Pricing

In the majority of states, workers’ compensation insurance rates are based upon published “loss costs.” Loss costs are derived from wage and loss data reported by insurers to the state’s statistical agent, which in most states is the NCCI. The state agent then promulgates loss costs for specific job descriptions or class codes. Insurers file requests for adoption of a loss cost multiplier (LCM) to be applied to the loss costs to support operating expenses and profit margins. In addition, most states allow pricing flexibility above and below the filed LCM, within certain limits.

We obtain approval of our rates, including our LCMs, from state regulatory authorities. To maintain rates at profitable levels, we regularly monitor and adjust our LCMs. If we are unable to charge rates in a particular state or industry to produce satisfactory results, we seek to control and reduce our premium volume in that state or industry and redeploy our capital in other states or industries that offer greater opportunity to earn an underwriting profit.

Safety

Our safety inspection process begins with a request from our underwriting department to perform a pre-quotation safety inspection. Our safety inspections focus on a prospective policyholder’s operations, loss exposures and existing safety controls to prevent potential losses. The factors considered in our inspection include employee experience, turnover, training, previous loss history and corrective actions, and workplace conditions, including equipment condition and, where appropriate, use of fall protection, respiratory protection or other safety devices. Our FSPs typically travel to employers’ worksites to perform these safety inspections. These initial inspections allow our underwriting professionals to make decisions on both insurability and pricing. In certain circumstances, we will agree to provide workers’ compensation insurance only if the employer agrees to implement and maintain the safety management practices that we recommend. In 2025, 93.4% of our new voluntary business policyholders were inspected prior to our offering a premium quote. The remaining voluntary business policies were not pre-quote inspected for a variety of reasons, including instances where the prospective policyholder was previously insured by us or previously inspected by us.

After an employer becomes a policyholder, we continue to emphasize workplace safety through periodic workplace visits, assisting the policyholder in designing and implementing enhanced safety management programs, providing safety-related information and conducting rigorous post-accident management. Generally, we may cancel or decline to renew an insurance policy if the policyholder does not implement or maintain reasonable safety management practices that we recommend.

Claims

We have structured our claims operation to provide immediate, intensive and personal management of claims to guide injured employees through medical treatment, rehabilitation and recovery, with the primary goal of returning the injured employee to work as promptly as practicable and at maximum medical improvement. We seek to limit the number of claim disputes with injured employees through early intervention in the claims process. Where possible, we purchase annuities on longer tail claims to close these claims, while still providing an appropriate level of benefits to injured employees. While we seek to promptly settle valid claims, we also aggressively defend against claims we consider to be non-meritorious.

Our FCMs are located in the geographic areas where our policyholders are based. We believe the presence of our FCMs in the field enhances our ability to guide an injured employee to the appropriate conclusion in a friendly, dignified and supportive manner. Our FCMs have broad authority to manage claims from occurrence of a workplace injury through resolution, including authority to retain many different medical providers at our expense. Such providers comprise not only our recommended medical providers, but also nurse case managers, independent medical examiners, vocational specialists, rehabilitation specialists and other specialty providers of medical services necessary to achieve a quality outcome.

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Following notification of a workplace injury, a FCM will contact the policyholder, the injured employee and/or the treating physician to determine the nature and severity of the injury. If a serious injury occurs, the FCM will promptly visit the injured employee or the employee’s family members to discuss the benefits provided. The FCM will also visit the treating physician to discuss the proposed treatment plan. Our FCM assists the injured employee in receiving appropriate medical treatment and encourages the use of our recommended medical providers and facilities. For example, our FCM may suggest that a treating physician refer an injured worker to another physician or treatment facility that we believe has had positive outcomes for other workers with similar injuries. We actively monitor the number of open cases handled by a single FCM in order to maintain focus on each specific injured employee. As of December 31, 2025, we averaged 51 open indemnity claims per FCM, which we believe is significantly less than the industry average.

Locating our FCMs in the field also allows us to build professional relationships with local medical providers. In selecting medical providers, we rely, in part, on the recommendations of our FCMs who have developed professional relationships within their geographic areas. We also seek input from our policyholders and other contacts in the markets that we serve. While cost factors are considered in selecting medical providers, we consider the most important factor in the selection process to be the medical provider’s ability to achieve a quality outcome. We define quality outcome as the injured worker’s rapid, conclusive recovery and return to sustained, full capacity employment.

Premium Audits

We conduct premium audits on all of our voluntary business policyholders annually upon the expiration of each policy, including when the policy is renewed. The purpose of these audits is to verify that policyholders have accurately reported their payroll expenses and employee job classifications, and therefore, have paid us the premium required under the terms of their policies. In addition to annual audits, we selectively perform interim audits on new business and on certain classes of business if significant or unusual claims are filed or if the monthly reports submitted by a policyholder reflect a payroll pattern or other aberrations that cause underwriting, safety or fraud concerns. We also mitigate potential losses from under-reporting of premium, delinquent, or non-payment of premium by collecting a deposit from the policyholder at the inception of the policy, typically representing 15% of the total estimated annual premium.

Loss Reserves

We record reserves for estimated losses under insurance policies that we write and for loss adjustment expenses related to the investigation and settlement of policy claims. Our reserves for loss and loss adjustment expenses represent the estimated cost of all reported and unreported loss and loss adjustment expenses incurred and unpaid as of a given point in time.

In establishing our reserves, we review the results of analyses using actuarial methodologies that utilize historical loss data from our 40 years of underwriting workers’ compensation insurance. In evaluating the results of those analyses, our management also uses substantial judgment in considering other factors that are not considered in these actuarial analyses. These actuarial methodologies and subjective factors are described in more detail below. Our process and methodology for estimating reserves applies to our voluntary business, but does not include our reserves for mandatory pooling arrangements. We record reserves for mandatory pooling arrangements as those reserves are reported to us by the pool administrators. We do not use loss discounting when we determine our reserves, which would involve recognizing the time value of money and offsetting estimates of future payments by future expected investment income.

When a claim is reported, we establish an initial case reserve for the estimated amount of our loss based on our estimate of the most likely outcome of the claim at that time. Generally, that case reserve is established within 14 days after the claim is reported and consists of anticipated medical costs, indemnity costs and specific adjustment expenses, which we refer to as defense and cost containment expenses (DCC). The most complex claims, involving severe injuries, may take a considerable period of time for us to establish a more precise estimate of the most likely outcome of the claim. At any point in time, the amount paid on a claim, plus the reserve for future amounts to be paid, represents the estimated total cost of the claim, or the case incurred amount. The estimated amount of loss for a reported claim is based upon various factors, including:

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type of loss;

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severity of the injury;

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age and occupation of the injured employee;

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estimated length of temporary disability;

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anticipated permanent disability;

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expected medical procedures, costs and duration;

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our knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the claim;

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insurance policy provisions related to the claim, including coverage;

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jurisdiction of the occurrence; and

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other benefits defined by applicable statute.

The case incurred amount varies over time due to uncertainties with respect to medical treatment and outcome, length and degree of disability, recurrence of injury, employment availability and wage levels and judicial determinations. As changes occur, the case incurred amount is adjusted. The initial estimate of the case incurred amount can vary significantly from the amount ultimately paid, especially in circumstances involving severe injuries with comprehensive medical treatment. Changes in case incurred amounts are an important component of our historical claim data.

In addition to case reserves, we establish reserves on an aggregate basis for loss and DCC expenses that have been incurred but not reported (IBNR). Our IBNR reserves are also intended to provide for aggregate changes in case incurred amounts as well as the unpaid cost of recently reported claims for which an initial case reserve has not been established.

The third component of our reserves for loss and loss adjustment expenses is our adjusting and other (AO) reserve. Our AO reserve covers primarily the estimated cost of administering claims and is established for the costs of future unallocated loss adjustment expenses for all reported and unreported claims.

The final component of our reserves for loss and loss adjustment expenses is the reserve for mandatory pooling arrangements. The mandatory pooling arrangement reserve includes the amount reported to us by the pool administrators.

In establishing reserves, we rely on the analysis of the more than 247,000 claims in our 40-year history. Using statistical analyses and actuarial methods, we estimate reserves based on historical patterns of case development, payment patterns, mix of business, premium rates charged, case reserving adequacy, operational changes, adjustment philosophy and severity and duration trends.

We review our reserves by accident year and state on a quarterly basis. Individual open claims are reviewed more frequently and adjustments to case incurred amounts are made based on expected outcomes. The number of claims reported or occurring during a period, combined with a calculation of average case incurred amounts, and measured over time, provide the foundation for our reserve estimates. In establishing our reserve estimates, we use historical trends in claim reporting timeliness, frequency of claims in relation to earned premium or covered payroll, premium rate levels charged and case development patterns. However, the number of variables and judgments involved in establishing reserve estimates, combined with some random variation in loss development patterns, results in uncertainty regarding projected ultimate losses. As a result, our ultimate liability for loss and loss adjustment expenses may be more or less than our reserve estimate.

Our analysis of our historical data provides the factors we use in our statistical and actuarial analysis in estimating our loss and DCC expense reserve. These factors are primarily measures over time of claims reported, average case incurred amounts, case development, duration, severity and payment patterns. However, these factors cannot be solely used as these factors do not take into consideration changes in business mix, claims management, regulatory issues, medical trends, medical inflation, employment and wage patterns, and other subjective factors. We use this combination of factors and subjective assumptions and the use of six well-accepted actuarial methods, as follows:

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Paid Development Method—uses historical, cumulative paid loss patterns to derive estimated ultimate losses by accident year based upon the assumption that each accident year will develop to estimated ultimate cost in a manner that is analogous to prior years.

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Paid Weighted Severity Method—multiplies estimated ultimate claims for each accident year by a weighted average, trended and developed severity. The ultimate claims estimate is based on paid claim count development. The selected severity for a given accident year is derived by giving some weight to all of the accident years in the experience history rather than treating each accident year independently.

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Paid Loss Ratio Cape Cod Method—similar to the paid weighted severity method, except that on-level premiums replace estimated ultimate claims, based upon paid claim count development, and loss ratios replace selected severities. The selected ultimate loss ratio for a given accident year is derived by giving some weight to all of the accident years in the experience history rather than treating each accident year independently.

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Incurred Development Method—uses historical, cumulative incurred loss patterns to derive estimated ultimate losses by accident year based upon the assumption that each accident year will develop to estimated ultimate cost in a manner that is analogous to prior years.

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Incurred Weighted Severity Method—multiplies estimated ultimate claims for each accident year by a weighted average, trended and developed severity. The ultimate claims estimate is based on incurred claim count development. The selected severity for a given accident year is derived by giving some weight to all of the accident years in the experience history rather than treating each accident year independently.

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Incurred Loss Ratio Cape Cod Method—similar to the incurred weighted severity method, except that on-level premiums replace estimated ultimate claims, based upon incurred claim count development, and loss ratios replace selected severities. The selected ultimate loss ratio for a given accident year is derived by giving some weight to all of the accident years in the experience history rather than treating each accident year independently.

These six methods are applied to both gross and net claims data. We then analyze the results and may emphasize or de-emphasize some or all of the outcomes to reflect our judgment of reasonableness in relation to supplementary information and operational and industry changes. These outcomes are then aggregated to produce a single weighted average point estimate that is the base estimate for loss and DCC expense reserves.

In determining the level of emphasis that may be placed on some or all of the methods, we review statistical information as to which methods are most appropriate, whether adjustments are appropriate within the particular methods, and if results produced by each method include inherent bias reflecting operational and industry changes. This supplementary information may include:

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open and closed claim counts;

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statistics related to open and closed claim count percentages;

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claim closure rates;

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changes in average case reserves and average loss and DCC expenses incurred on open claims;

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reported and ultimate average case incurred changes;

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reported and projected ultimate loss ratios; and

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loss payment patterns.

In establishing our AO reserves, we review our past adjustment expenses in relation to paid claims as well as estimated future costs based on expected claims activity and duration.

The sum of our net loss and DCC expense reserve, our AO reserve and our reserve for mandatory pooling arrangements is our total net reserve for loss and loss adjustment expenses.

As of December 31, 2025, our best estimate of our ultimate liability for loss and loss adjustment expenses, net of amounts recoverable from reinsurers, was $507.5 million, which includes $13.7 million in reserves for mandatory pooling arrangements as reported by the pool administrators. The estimate of our ultimate liability was derived from the process and methodology described above, which relies on substantial judgment. There is inherent uncertainty in estimating our reserves for loss and loss adjustment expenses. It is possible that our actual loss and loss adjustment expenses incurred may vary significantly from our estimates. We view our estimate of loss and DCC expenses as the most significant component of our reserve for loss and loss adjustment expenses.

Additional information regarding our reserve for unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses (LAE) as of December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 is set forth below:

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We performed sensitivity analyses to show how our net loss and DCC expense reserve, including IBNR, would be impacted by changes in certain critical assumptions. For our paid and incurred development methods, we varied both the cumulative paid and incurred loss development factors (LDFs) by an increase and decrease of 30%, both individually and in combination with one another. The results of this sensitivity analysis, using December 31, 2025 data, are summarized below.

For our paid and incurred weighted severity methods, we varied our year-end selected trend factor (for medical costs, defense costs, wage inflation, etc.) by an increase and decrease of 300 basis points. The results of this sensitivity analysis, using December 31, 2025 data, are summarized below.

Reconciliation of Loss Reserves

The table below shows the reconciliation of loss reserves on a gross and net basis for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, reflecting changes in losses incurred and paid losses.

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The table below sets forth the number of open claims as of December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, and the number of claims reported and closed during the years then ended.

Our gross reserves for loss and loss adjustment expenses of $613.6 million as of December 31, 2025 are expected to cover all unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses as of that date. As of December 31, 2025, we had 4,096 open claims, with an average of $149,800 in unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses per open claim. During the year ended December 31, 2025, 4,145 new claims were reported, and 3,847 claims were closed. Total claims reported in 2025 increased by 8.3% compared to 2024. This increase is directly correlated to a 10.2% growth in our in-force policy count.

In 2025, our gross reserves decreased to $613.6 million from $651.3 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease in reserves was attributable primarily to favorable development from prior accident years. In 2025, we recognized $33.9 million of favorable development for prior accident years. As of December 31, 2024, we had 3,798 open claims, with an average of $171,487 in unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses per open claim. During the year ended December 31, 2024, 3,827 new claims were reported, and 4,032 claims were closed.

In 2024, our gross reserves decreased to $651.3 million from $674.0 million at December 31, 2023. The decrease in reserves was attributable primarily to favorable development of $34.9 million from prior accident years. As of December 31, 2023, we had 4,003 open claims, with an average of $168,372 in unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses per open claim. During the year ended December 31, 2023, 3,948 new claims were reported, and 4,220 claims were closed.

Loss Development

The table below shows the net loss development for business written each year from 2015 through 2025. The table reflects the changes in our loss and loss adjustment expense reserves in subsequent years from the prior loss estimates based on experience as of the end of each succeeding year on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis.

The first line of the table shows, for the years indicated, our liability including the incurred but not reported loss and loss adjustment expenses as originally estimated, net of amounts recoverable from reinsurers. For example, as of December 31, 2015, it was estimated that $653.2 million would be sufficient to settle all claims not already settled that had occurred on or prior to December 31, 2015, whether reported or unreported. The next section of the table sets forth the re-estimates in later years of incurred losses, including payments, for the years indicated. The next section of the table shows, by year, the cumulative amounts of loss and loss adjustment expense payments, net of amounts recoverable from reinsurers, as of the end of each succeeding year. For example, with respect to the net loss reserves of $653.2 million as of December 31, 2015, by December 31, 2025 (ten years later) $314.8 million had actually been paid in settlement of the claims that relate to liabilities as of December 31, 2015.

The “gross cumulative redundancy (deficiency)” represents, as of December 31, 2025, the difference between the latest re-estimated liability and the amounts as originally estimated. A redundancy means that the original estimate was higher than the current estimate. A deficiency means that the current estimate is higher than the original estimate.

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Analysis of Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserve Development

Investments

We derive net investment income from our invested assets. As of December 31, 2025, the carrying value of our investment portfolio, including cash and cash equivalents, was $796.8 million and the fair value of the portfolio was $791.3 million.

Our board of directors has established an investment policy governing our investments, which is reviewed at least annually. The principal objectives of our investment portfolio are to preserve capital and surplus and to maintain appropriate liquidity for corporate requirements. Additional objectives are to support our A.M. Best rating and to maximize after-tax income and risk-adjusted total return. Our investment policy establishes limitations and guidelines relating to, for example, asset allocation, diversification, credit ratings and duration. We periodically review our investment portfolio with the risk committee of our board of directors for compliance with the policy. Our investment portfolio is managed internally.

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We classify the majority of our fixed maturity securities as “held-to-maturity.” We do not reflect any changes in non-credit related unrecognized gains and losses until realized. Upon the adoption of ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), management is required to estimate expected credit related losses for these securities and recognize a credit loss allowance on the balance sheet with a corresponding adjustment to earnings. Subsequent adjustments to the estimated expected credit related losses are recognized through earnings within the category “provision for investment related credit loss expense (benefit)”, and adjustments to the credit loss allowance. The remainder of our fixed maturity securities are classified as “available-for-sale.” These investments are valued at fair value at the end of each period, with changes in fair value flowing through other comprehensive income. Equity securities are valued at fair value with changes in the fair value recognized in net income. We generally seek to limit our holdings in equity securities to the lesser of 10% of the investment portfolio or 30% of shareholders’ equity, on a fair value basis.

See Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Investment Portfolio” for further information on the composition and results of our investment portfolio.

The table below shows the carrying values of various categories of securities held in our investment portfolio, the percentage of the total carrying value of our investment portfolio represented by each category and the effective interest rate for the year ended December 31, 2025 based on the carrying value of each category as of December 31, 2025:

As of December 31, 2025, our fixed maturity securities had a carrying value of $663.1 million, which represented 83.2% of the carrying value of our investments, including cash and cash equivalents. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2025, the average pre-tax net investment yield of our investment portfolio was 3.3% per annum.

The gross unrealized gains and losses, and the cost or amortized cost and fair value of, our investment portfolio as of December 31, 2025 are summarized as follows:

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As of December 31, 2025, municipal bonds with maturities greater than one year made up 60.4% of our investment portfolio, including cash and cash equivalents. The investments in Louisiana result from companies being allowed an investment credit against Louisiana premium taxes for varying levels of Louisiana assets. The table below summarizes the top five geographic exposures as of December 31, 2025.

The table below summarizes the credit quality of our investment portfolio, excluding our equity holdings, as of December 31, 2025, as determined by the middle rating of Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, and Fitch. If there are only two ratings, the lower rating is used.

As of December 31, 2025, the average composite rating of our investment portfolio, excluding our equity holdings, was “AA-”.

The table below shows the composition of our fixed maturity securities by remaining time to maturity as of December 31, 2025.

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Reinsurance

We purchase reinsurance to reduce our net liability on individual risks and to protect against catastrophic losses. Reinsurance involves an insurance company transferring or ceding a portion of the exposure on a risk to a reinsurer. The reinsurer assumes the exposure in return for a portion of our premium. The cost and limits of reinsurance we purchase can vary from year to year based upon the availability of quality reinsurance at an acceptable price and our desired level of retention. Retention refers to the amount of risk that we retain for our own account. Under excess of loss reinsurance, covered losses in excess of the retention level up to the limit of the program are paid by the reinsurer. Our excess of loss reinsurance is written in layers, in which our reinsurers accept a band of coverage up to a specified amount. Any liability exceeding the limit of the program reverts to us as the ceding company. Reinsurance does not legally discharge us from primary liability for the full amount due under our policies. However, our reinsurers are obligated to indemnify us to the extent of the coverage provided in our reinsurance agreements.

We believe reinsurance is critical to our business. Our reinsurance purchasing strategy is to protect against unforeseen and/or catastrophic loss activity that would adversely impact our income and capital base. We generally select financially strong reinsurers with an A.M. Best rating of “A–” (Excellent) or better at the time we enter into a reinsurance contract. In addition, to minimize our exposure to significant losses from reinsurer insolvencies, we evaluate the financial condition of our reinsurers and monitor concentrations of credit risk on a continual basis.

2026 Excess of Loss Reinsurance Treaty Program

Our reinsurance treaty program consists of four layers of coverage and provides us with reinsurance coverage for each loss occurrence up to $100.0 million, subject to applicable limitations, deductibles, retentions and aggregate limits. In a multi-claimant loss occurrence, the reinsurance coverage for any one individual claimant is limited to a maximum of $20.0 million, subject to applicable deductibles, retentions and aggregate limits.

Effective January 1, 2026, we renewed our excess of loss reinsurance treaty program. The first layer is a multi-year treaty that applies to losses incurred through December 31, 2028. The other layers are renewed annually and apply to losses incurred through December 31, 2026.

Our retention is $2.0 million for each loss occurrence. Losses in the first layer between $2.0 million and $10.0 million are ceded to a multi-year reinsurance treaty. Our second layer of reinsurance provides $10.0 million in coverage for each loss occurrence in excess of $10.0 million. Our third layer of reinsurance provides $60.0 million in coverage for each loss occurrence in excess of $20.0 million. Our fourth layer of reinsurance provides $20.0 million in coverage for each loss occurrence in excess of $80.0 million. The layers over $10.0 million provide coverage for terrorism including the use and/or dispersal of nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological agents with an annual aggregate limit of $90.0 million. The aggregate limit for all other claims under all layers is $180.0 million.

At our option, we have the right to commute the reinsurers’ obligations under the agreement at any time after the end of the applicable term of the agreement. If we commute the reinsurers’ obligations, we are entitled to receive a portion of the premiums that were paid to the reinsurers prior to the effective dates of the applicable commutations, subject to certain adjustments provided in the agreement.

We have 24 reinsurers participating in our reinsurance treaty program in 2026. Under certain circumstances, including a downgrade of a reinsurer’s A.M. Best rating to “B++” (Very Good) or below, such reinsurer may be required to provide us with security for amounts due under the terms of our reinsurance program. This security may take the form of, among other things, cash advances or letters of credit. If security is required because of a ratings downgrade, the form of security must be mutually agreed to between the reinsurer and us.

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The table below sets forth the reinsurers participating in our 2026 reinsurance program:

Due to the nature of reinsurance, we have recoverables from reinsurers that apply to prior accident years. The Company generally secures large reinsurance recoverable balances with various forms of collateral, including funds withheld accounts, irrevocable letters of credit and secured trusts. The table below summarizes our amounts recoverable from reinsurers as of December 31, 2025.

(1)
Current participant in our 2026 reinsurance program.

(2)
Subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

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Terrorism Reinsurance

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (the 2002 Act) was enacted in response to the events of September 11, 2001. The 2002 Act has been extended periodically, most recently by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2019 (the 2019 Act). This legislation was designed to ensure the availability of insurance coverage for losses resulting from certain acts of terrorism in the U.S. The 2019 Act reauthorized a federal program until 2027 that provides federal reimbursement to insurance companies for a portion of their losses arising from certain acts of terrorism and requires insurance companies to offer coverage for these acts. The program applies to insured losses arising out of acts that are certified as “acts of terrorism” by the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General of the U.S. In addition, the program does not provide any reimbursement for any portion of aggregate industry-wide insured losses from certified acts of terrorism that exceed $100.0 billion in any one year and is subject to certain other limitations and restrictions.

For insured losses in 2026, each insurance group is responsible for a statutory deductible under the 2019 Act that is equal to 20% of its direct earned property and casualty insurance premiums. For losses occurring in 2026, the U.S. federal government will reimburse 80% of an insurance group’s covered losses over the statutory deductible. In addition, no federal reimbursement is available unless the aggregate insurance industry-wide losses from a certified act of terrorism exceeds $200.0 million for any act of terrorism. However, there is no relief from the requirement under the 2019 Act that insurance companies offer coverage for certified acts of terrorism if those acts do not cause losses exceeding these threshold amounts and thus do not result in any federal reimbursement payments.

Under the 2019 Act, insurance companies must offer coverage for losses due to certified acts of terrorism in their workers’ compensation policies. Moreover, the workers’ compensation laws of various states generally do not permit the exclusion of coverage for losses arising from acts of terrorism, including terrorism that involves the use of nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological agents. In addition, state law prohibits us from limiting our workers’ compensation insurance losses arising from any one catastrophe or any one claimant. We have reinsurance protection in our current reinsurance treaty program that provides coverage of up to $100.0 million for losses arising from acts of terrorism. This coverage is effective through December 31, 2026. The Company’s 2026 catastrophe excess of loss layers for loss occurrences greater than $10.0 million includes coverage for losses caused by nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological attacks, subject to the deductibles, retentions, definitions and aggregate limits.

Technology

We view our information systems as an integral part of our operations. We make substantial investments in improving our systems on an ongoing basis. We provide our field premium auditors, FSPs and FCMs with computer and communication equipment to efficiently complete services. We deploy technology and equipment to enable remote work when needed and to ensure continuity of home office and field operations. We also deploy online solutions for our policyholders to enable timely and efficient premium payments and for our agents to improve collaboration and exchange of data in the underwriting process. Our information technology employees perform end-user support, systems development, and infrastructure operation and maintenance with limited assistance from outside vendors.

Competition

The insurance industry, in general, is highly competitive and there is significant competition in the workers’ compensation segment of the industry. Competition in the insurance business is based on many factors, including premium rates, policy terms, coverage availability, claims management, safety services, payment terms, types of insurance offered, overall financial strength and financial ratings assigned by independent rating organizations, such as A.M. Best.

We believe the workers’ compensation market for the hazardous industries we target is more fragmented and, to some degree, less competitive than other segments of the workers’ compensation market. Our competitors include other insurance companies, state insurance pools and self-insurance funds. Overall, we estimate that more than 300 insurance companies participate in the workers’ compensation market. The insurance companies with which we compete vary by state and by the industries we target. Market conditions are also impacted by lower estimated loss costs adopted by a number of states in which we do business.

Our competitive advantages include our specialized underwriting expertise, comprehensive safety services and proactive claims management practices, our A.M. Best rating and our ability to reduce claims through implementation of our work safety programs. In addition, we believe that our insurance is competitively priced and our premium rates are typically lower than those for policyholders assigned to the state insurance pools, allowing us to provide a viable alternative for policyholders in those pools.

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Human Capital

Throughout our 40-year history, the retention, growth and development of our employees has been critical to our success. In order to continue to deliver on our mission of providing quality insurance services to our customers, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain talented employees that are aligned with our mission.

As part of these efforts, we strive to offer a competitive compensation and benefits program that is aligned with our shareholders’ interests. Our underwriting and safety departments participate in both a long-term and short-term incentive compensation programs that are paid quarterly. In addition, employee bonus opportunities in other areas of the Company are available to help ensure employee performance is appropriately rewarded when the Company performs well.

We are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our employees as the success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our people. Our benefit offerings are designed to meet the varied and evolving needs of our workforce. In addition to health care and 401k retirement programs, we offer wellness initiatives and time off for annual wellness exams, a floating holiday and leisure day, vacation accrual, paid holidays, reimbursements of health club memberships, wellness luncheons, an annual health fair and an employee assistance program with free confidential counseling services to promote a culture of wellness.

None of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement.

We invest in the professional development of our employees. This includes various insurance certification programs and other professional development education, training and certifications. In 2025, we invested in a new learning management system with an extensive library of personal and professional development courses. We also work with our employees to provide training in leadership development, professional development, project management skills and interpersonal skills development.

Information About our Executive Officers

The table below sets forth information about our executive officers and key employees as of February 27, 2026.

Executive Officers

G. Janelle Frost has served as our Chief Executive Officer since April 2015, President since September 2013 and interim Principal Financial Officer since November 2025. She has served as a Director of the Company since April 2016. Prior to becoming our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Frost served as Chief Operating Officer from May 2013 to April 2015. She served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from November 2008 to April 2013, our Controller from May 2004 to November 2008 and Vice President from May 2006 to November 2008. She has been employed with our Company since 1992.

Vincent J. Gagliano has served as our Chief Risk Officer since March 2016 and Executive Vice President since January 2013. He previously served as Chief Technology Officer from January 2013 until February 2016, and Senior Vice President of Information Technology from September 2009 to January 2013. He has been employed with our Company since 2001.

Kathryn H. Shirley has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since February 2020 as well as our Secretary since joining the Company in May 2012. She previously served as our General Counsel from 2012 until 2020, Executive Vice President from 2016 until 2020, and Senior Vice President from 2012 until 2016. Prior to joining our Company, she practiced law from 2009 until 2012 at Christian & Small LLP. From 2000 until 2008 she was employed as an Insurance Regulatory Compliance

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Manager with United Investors Life Insurance Company and Liberty National Life Insurance Company, subsidiaries of Torchmark Corporation.

Raymond F. (Ray) Wise, Jr. has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer since July 2023. Mr. Wise served as Chief Sales Officer for Employers Insurance Group from 2016 to 2022. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Wise served as President of Vanliner Insurance Company.

Key Employees

Michael C. (Chad) Cobb has served as our Senior Vice President, Safety Operations since October 2023. He has been employed with our Company since 2013 and served as Vice President, Field Safety from July 2019 to October 2023.

James R. (Ryan) Fletcher has served as our Senior Vice President, Risk Services since November 2025. He previously served as Vice President, Risk Services from April 2019 until October 2025, and Risk and Information Services Manager from April 2014 until March 2019. He has been employed with our Company since 2006.

Nancy E. Hunt has served as our Senior Vice President, Underwriting Operations since July 2022. She has been employed with our Company since 1995 and served as Regional Vice President, Underwriting Operations from September 2011 to July 2022.

Henry O. (Chris) Lestage, IV has served as our Senior Vice President, Claims Operations since September 2000. He has been employed with our Company since 1987.

Angela W. Pearson has served as our Senior Vice President and Controller since October 2019 and previously served as Vice President and Controller from 2012 until October 2019. She has been employed with our Company since 1996.

Regulation

Holding Company Regulation

Nearly all states have enacted legislation that regulates insurance holding company systems. Each insurance company in a holding company system is required to register with the insurance supervisory agency of its state of domicile and furnish information concerning the operations of companies within the holding company system that may materially affect the operations, management or financial condition of the insurers within the system. Under these laws, the respective state insurance departments may examine us at any time, require disclosure of material transactions and require prior notice of or approval for certain transactions. All transactions within a holding company system affecting an insurer must have fair and reasonable terms and are subject to other standards and requirements established by law and regulation.

Change of Control

The insurance holding company laws of nearly all states require advance approval by the respective state insurance departments of any change of control of an insurer. “Control” is generally presumed to exist through the direct or indirect ownership of 10% or more of the voting securities of a domestic insurance company or any entity that controls a domestic insurance company. In addition, insurance laws in many states contain provisions that require pre-notification to the insurance commissioners of a change of control of a non-domestic insurance company licensed in those states. Any future transactions that would constitute a change of control of AIIC, SOCI or AIICTX, including a change of control of AMERISAFE, would generally require the party acquiring control to obtain the prior approval of the department of insurance in the state in which the insurance company being acquired is incorporated and may require pre-notification in the states where pre-notification provisions have been adopted.

These laws may discourage potential acquisition proposals and may delay, deter or prevent a change of control of AMERISAFE, including through transactions, and in particular unsolicited transactions, that some or all of the shareholders of AMERISAFE might consider to be desirable.

State Insurance Regulation

Insurance companies are subject to regulation and supervision by the department of insurance in the state in which they are domiciled and, to a lesser extent, other states in which they conduct business. AIIC and SOCI are primarily subject to regulation and supervision by the Nebraska Department of Insurance. AIICTX is primarily subject to regulation and supervision by the Texas Department of Insurance. These state agencies have broad regulatory, supervisory and administrative powers, including the power to grant and revoke licenses to transact business, license agencies, set the standards of solvency to be met and maintained, determine the nature of, and limitations on, investments and dividends, approve policy forms and rates in some states, periodically examine financial statements, determine the form and content of required financial statements and periodically examine market conduct.

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Detailed annual and quarterly financial statements and other reports are required to be filed with the state insurance departments in all states in which we are licensed to transact business. The financial statements of AIIC, SOCI and AIICTX are subject to periodic examination by the department of insurance in each state in which they are licensed to do business.

In addition, many states have laws and regulations that limit an insurer’s ability to withdraw from a particular market. For example, states may limit an insurer’s ability to cancel or not renew policies. Furthermore, certain states prohibit an insurer from withdrawing one or more lines of business from the state, except pursuant to a plan that is approved by the state insurance department. The state insurance department may disapprove a plan that may lead to market disruption. Laws and regulations that limit cancellation and non-renewal and that subject program withdrawals to prior approval requirements may restrict our ability to exit unprofitable markets.

Insurance agencies are also subject to regulation and supervision by the state insurance departments in the states in which they are licensed. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, Amerisafe General Agency, Inc., is licensed as an insurance agent in 32 states. Amerisafe General Agency is domiciled in Louisiana and is primarily subject to regulation and supervision by the Louisiana Department of Insurance, which regulates the solicitation of insurance and the qualification and licensing of agents and agencies that may desire to conduct business in Louisiana.

State Insurance Department Examinations

We are subject to periodic examinations by the Nebraska and Texas insurance departments. AIIC and SOCI underwent an examination by the Nebraska Department of Insurance in 2022 and 2023 which covered calendar years 2018 through 2021. AIICTX underwent an examination by the Texas Department of Insurance in 2022 and 2023 which covered calendar years 2018 through 2021.

Guaranty Fund Assessments

In most of the states where we are licensed to transact business, there is a requirement that property and casualty insurers doing business in that state participate in a guaranty association, which is organized to pay contractual benefits owed under insurance policies issued by impaired, insolvent or failed insurers. These associations levy assessments, up to prescribed limits, on all member insurers in a particular state on the basis of the proportionate share of the premium written by member insurers in the lines of business in which the impaired, insolvent or failed insurer is engaged. Some states permit member insurers to recover assessments paid through full or partial premium tax offsets.

Property and casualty insurance company insolvencies or failures may result in us paying assessments at some future date. At this time, we are unable to determine the impact, if any, such assessments may have on our financial position or results of operations. We have established liabilities for potential state guaranty fund assessments with respect to insurers becoming insolvent.

Residual Market Programs

Many of the states in which we conduct business or intend to conduct business require that all licensed insurers participate in a program to provide workers’ compensation insurance to those employers who have not or cannot obtain coverage from a carrier on a negotiated basis. The level of required participation in such programs is generally determined by calculating the volume of our voluntary business in that state as a percentage of all voluntary business in that state by all insurers. The resulting factor is the proportion of premium we must accept as a percentage of all premiums on policies included in that state’s residual market program.

Companies generally can fulfill their residual market obligations by either issuing insurance policies to employers assigned to them, or participating in a reinsurance pool where the results of all policies provided through the pool are shared by the participating companies. Prior to 2023, we utilized both methods, depending on management’s evaluation of the most cost-efficient method to adopt in each state that allows a choice of assigned risk or participation in a pooling arrangement. Beginning in 2023, we stopped accepting direct assignments and only participate in pooling arrangements to fulfill our residual market obligations.

Second Injury Funds

A number of states operate trust funds that reimburse insurers and employers for claims paid to injured employees for aggravation of prior conditions or injuries. The state-managed trust funds are funded through assessments against insurers and self-insurers providing workers’ compensation coverage in the applicable state. Our recoveries from state-managed trust funds for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 were $5.6 million, $4.0 million and $2.9 million, respectively. Our cash paid for assessments to state-managed trust funds for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 was $0.7 million, $1.0 million and $1.8 million, respectively. We accrue for second injury funds relative to historical paid amounts.

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Dividend Limitations

Under Nebraska law, without the prior approval of the Nebraska Director of Insurance, AIIC and SOCI cannot pay dividends to their shareholder that exceed the greater of (a) 10% of statutory surplus as of the previous year end or (b) statutory net income, excluding realized investment gains, for the preceding 12-month period. However, net income from the previous two calendar years may be carried forward to the extent that it has not already been paid out as dividends. Further, under Texas law, without the prior approval of the Texas Commissioner of Insurance, AIICTX cannot pay dividends to its shareholder in excess of the greater of 10% of statutory surplus, or statutory net income, for the preceding 12-month period.

Federal Law and Regulations

For the year ended December 31, 2025, we derived 3.2% of our voluntary in-force premiums from employers engaged in the maritime industry. As a provider of workers’ compensation insurance for employers engaged in the maritime industry, we are subject to the United States Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (USL&H Act) and the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (Jones Act). We are also subject to regulations related to the USL&H Act and the Jones Act.

The USL&H Act, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, generally covers exposures on the navigable waters of the U.S. and in adjoining waterfront areas, including exposures resulting from stevedoring. The USL&H Act requires employers to provide medical benefits, compensation for lost wages, and rehabilitation services to longshoremen, harbor workers and certain other maritime workers who may suffer injury, disability or death during the course and scope of their employment. The Department of Labor has the authority to require us to make deposits to serve as collateral for losses incurred under the USL&H Act.

The Jones Act is a federal law that, among other things, provides injured offshore workers, or seamen, with a remedy against their employers for injuries arising from negligent acts of the employer or co-workers during the course of employment on a ship or vessel.

Privacy Regulations

In 1999, Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA") which, among other things, protects consumers from the unauthorized dissemination of nonpublic personal information. Subsequently, states have implemented additional regulations to address privacy issues. These laws and regulations apply to all financial institutions, including insurance companies, and require us to maintain appropriate policies and procedures for managing and protecting certain personal information of our policyholders and to fully disclose our privacy practices to our policyholders. We may also be exposed to future privacy laws and regulations, which could impose additional costs and impact our results of operations or financial condition. In 2000, the NAIC adopted the Privacy of Consumer Financial and Health Information Model Regulation, which assisted states in promulgating regulations to comply with the GLBA. In 2002, to further facilitate the implementation of the GLBA, the NAIC adopted the Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information Model Regulation. Several states have now adopted similar provisions regarding the safeguarding of policyholder information. We have established policies and procedures designed to support compliance with the privacy requirement of the GLBA and applicable state privacy regulations.

In addition to financial privacy requirements, a growing number of states have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy laws that grant individuals rights regarding their personal information, including rights to access, correct, delete and opt out of certain data processing activities. These state laws, which include the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act), the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, the Colorado Privacy Act and an increasing number of similar comprehensive privacy statutes in other states where we operate, impose obligations on businesses regarding data collection, use, disclosure and security practices, as well as requirements for consumer notice and consent. Compliance with these evolving state privacy frameworks requires ongoing assessment of our data practices, implementation of technical and organizational measures and Maintenance of vendor management programs. The expanding scope of state privacy laws could result in additional compliance costs and operational requirements for our business.

Information Security Standards

In 2017, the NAIC adopted the Insurance Data Security Model Law creating rules for insurers, agents and other licensed entities covering data security, investigation and notification of breach. This includes maintaining an information security program based on ongoing risk assessment, overseeing third-party service providers, investigating data breaches and notifying regulators of a cybersecurity event. Some states have adopted similar versions of the Insurance Data Security Model Law. Our policies and procedures regarding information security are intended to ensure that we are in compliance with the model law.

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Federal and State Legislative and Regulatory Changes

From time to time, various regulatory and legislative changes have been proposed in the insurance industry. Among the proposals that have in the past been considered are the possible introduction of federal regulation in addition to, or in lieu of, the current system of state regulation of insurers and proposals in various state legislatures (some of which have been enacted) to conform portions of their insurance laws and regulations to various model acts adopted by the NAIC. We are unable to predict whether any of these laws and regulations will be adopted, the form in which any such laws and regulations would be adopted or the effect, if any, these developments would have on our operations and financial condition.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners

The NAIC is a group formed by state insurance commissioners to discuss issues and formulate policy with respect to regulation, reporting and accounting of insurance companies. Although the NAIC has no legislative authority and insurance companies are at all times subject to the laws of their respective domiciliary states and, to a lesser extent, other states in which they conduct business, the NAIC is influential in determining the form in which such laws are enacted. Model insurance laws, regulations and guidelines (collectively, the "Model Laws") have been promulgated by the NAIC as a minimum standard by which state regulatory systems and regulations are measured. Adoption of state laws that provide for substantially similar regulations to those described in the Model Laws is a requirement for accreditation by the NAIC. The NAIC provides authoritative guidance to insurance regulators on statutory accounting issues by promulgating and updating a codified set of statutory accounting practices in its Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual. The Nebraska and Texas legislatures have adopted these codified statutory accounting practices.

Under Nebraska law, AIIC and SOCI are each required to maintain minimum capital and surplus of $2.0 million. Under Texas law, AIICTX is required to maintain minimum capital and surplus of $5.0 million. Property and casualty insurance companies are also subject to certain risk-based capital requirements by the NAIC. Under those requirements, the amount of capital and surplus maintained by a property and casualty insurance company is determined based on the various risk factors related to it. As of December 31, 2025, AIIC, SOCI and AIICTX exceeded the minimum risk-based capital requirements.

The key financial ratios of the NAIC’s Insurance Regulatory Information System (IRIS), which ratios were developed to assist insurance departments in overseeing the financial condition of insurance companies, are reviewed by experienced financial examiners of the NAIC and state insurance departments to select those companies that merit highest priority in the allocation of the regulators’ resources. IRIS identifies 13 industry ratios and specifies “usual values” for each ratio. Departure from the usual values on four or more of the ratios can lead to inquiries from individual state insurance commissioners as to certain aspects of an insurer’s business.

The 2025 IRIS results for AIIC, SOCI and ATEX were within expected values for all 13 industry ratios.

Statutory Accounting Principles

Statutory accounting principles (SAP) are a basis of accounting developed to assist insurance regulators in monitoring and regulating the solvency of insurance companies. SAP is primarily concerned with measuring an insurer’s surplus in regards to policyholders. Accordingly, SAPs focus on valuing assets and liabilities of insurers at financial reporting dates in accordance with appropriate insurance law and regulatory provisions applicable in each insurer’s domiciliary state.

GAAP is concerned with a company’s solvency, but is also concerned with other financial measurements, principally income and cash flows. Accordingly, GAAP gives more consideration to appropriate matching of revenue and expenses and accounting for management’s stewardship of assets than does SAP. As a direct result, different assets and liabilities and different amounts of assets and liabilities will be reflected in financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP as compared to SAP.

SAPs established by the NAIC and adopted in part by Nebraska and Texas insurance regulators, determine, among other things, the amount of statutory surplus and statutory net income of AIIC, SOCI and AIICTX and thus determine, in part, the amount of funds that are available to pay dividends to AMERISAFE.

Corporate Website Information

Our corporate website is located at www.amerisafe.com. Our annual report to shareholders, proxy statement and related proxy card will be made available on our website. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports that we file or furnish pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are available through our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The information on our website is not incorporated by reference

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into this report. In addition, the SEC maintains a website, www.sec.gov, which contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information that we file electronically with the SEC.