Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to SiriusPoint Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded and a replay is available through 11.59 p.m. Eastern time on August 16th, 2024. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Sarah Singh, Vice President Strategy and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, good afternoon to everyone listening. I welcome you to the SiriusPoint earnings call for the 2024 half-year and second quarter results. Last night, we issued our earnings press release and financial supplement, which are available on our website, www.siriuspt.com. Additionally, a webcast presentation will coincide with today's discussion and is available on our website. With me here today are Scott Egan, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jim McKinney, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we start, I would like to remind you that today's remarks contain forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations. Actual results may differ. Certain non-GAAP financial measures will also be discussed. Management uses the non-GAAP financial measures in its internal analysis of results and believes that they may be informative to investors, engaging the quality of our financial performance and identifying trends in our results. However, these measures should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to page two of our investor presentation for additional details and the company's latest public filings. At this time, I will turn the call over to Scott.

Thanks, Sarah, and good morning, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining our second quarter and half-year 2024 results call. I'm really pleased to report another strong set of results in the second quarter. We continue to build a track record of improving and consistent earnings. We believe that our strong focus on underwriting performance and relentless execution is showing through. This is now our seventh consecutive quarter of underwriting profit. We are building important proof points of the progress that we're making. Starting with premium, we've seen excellent premium growth in our continuing lines whilst retaining our underwriting discipline. Our quarter two discrete core premium growth, excluding the lines exited in 2023, was up 22%, while half-year growth is up 6% year-on-year. Given our restructuring in '22 and '23 to improve underwriting performance, it is important to look at the underlying performance. Our simplified one SiriusPoint, operating structure and culture means we are able to work in a cohesive and agile way, enabling us to allocate capital quickly and to tap into market opportunities where they are most attractive. Insurance and services gross premium written adjusted for the exited programs through 16% year-over-year, driven by our North American programs, international and London business. We're pleased with this progress given these are important areas of strategic focus. This growth is coupled with a strong half-year combined ratio of 92.5% for our core business, demonstrating our focus and discipline on driving profitable growth. During the first half-year, we've added seven new programs and expanded three partnerships. This positive momentum has continued into the start of the second half of the year with four new partnerships already announced during July. Our MGA Center of Excellence is beginning to earn a market reputation as an attractive and leading platform for program administrators and managing…

Thank you, Scott, and good morning, good afternoon to everyone. I would like to start by saying how exciting it is to be joining SiriusPoint at this stage of the journey. I've been impressed by the depth of talent that we already have within the business, and I look forward to working with the team to create shareholder value and drive forward the change required to realize our ambition of becoming a best-in-class insurer. Starting on Slide 10, we highlight our second quarter results. It was another great quarter with a combined ratio of 93.3% for the core business, gross written premium growth of 22% for continuing lines that is adjusted for the business exited in 2023, and net income of $110 million. The net income reflects an increase of 54 million versus the prior year quarter, with the overall impact of the MGA actions we took in the quarter contributing $46 million to net income. Diluted book value per share grew 5% in the quarter. Focusing on underwriting, gross premium written increased 5% on the quarter for the core business. Our headline combined ratio of 93.3% for the core business was a 2.4 point deterioration versus prior year on a like-for-like basis, excluding the loss portfolio transfer. This was due to lower favorable prior year development, which stood at $4 million versus $15 million in the prior year quarter, excluding the LPT, and $6 million of catastrophe losses versus none in the prior year quarter. Prior year development will vary over quarters. This marked the 13th quarter of favorable prior year development on a consolidated basis that includes our runoff business, demonstrating our prudent approach to preserving. Importantly, the attritional loss ratio for the core business improved by 4.6 points versus the prior year quarter. This was partially offset…