Old Republic closed 2025 with record full-year results: $1.0B of consolidated pre-tax operating income, an all-time-high $900M from specialty insurance, specialty net premiums earned surpassing $5B, a 14.1% operating ROE, and 22% growth in book value per share. The company returned more than $1B of capital to shareholders during the year. However, the fourth quarter softened, with consolidated pre-tax operating income down to $236M and the combined ratio rising to 96.0, driven by higher commercial auto loss trends (a 3-point current-accident-year loss-ratio increase and 16% rate increases) and less favorable workers' comp development. Management expressed confidence that pricing discipline and its growing specialty operating companies position it for continued profitable growth in 2026.
Thank you, Regina. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Old Republic Conference Call to discuss Fourth Quarter 2025 results. This morning, we distributed a copy of the press release and posted a separate financial supplement. Both of the documents are available on Old Republic's website at www.oldrepublic.com. Please be advised that this call may involve forward-looking statements as discussed in the press release dated 22nd January 2026. Assumptions, uncertainties, and risks exist that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these forward-looking statements. For more information on the assumptions, uncertainties, and risks, please refer to the forward-looking statements discussion in the press release and the company's other recent SEC filings, and the risk factors discussed in the company's most recent Form 10-K and other recent SEC filings.
We may also reference to net income excluding net investment gains or net operating income, a non-GAAP financial measure, in our remarks or in our responses to questions. GAAP reconciliations are included in the press release. Presenting on today's conference call will be Craig Smiddy, President and CEO, Frank Sodaro, Chief Financial Officer, and Carolyn Monroe, President and CEO of Old Republic National Title Insurance Group. Management will make some opening remarks, and then we'll open the line for your questions. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Craig. Please go ahead, sir.
All right, Joe, thank you very much. Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome again to Old Republic's fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call. In the fourth quarter, we produced $236 million of consolidated pre-tax operating income compared to $285 million, and our consolidated combined ratio was 96% compared to 92.7%. For the full-year, we produced $1 billion of consolidated pre-tax operating income, and our consolidated combined ratio was 94.7%. Some other information on 2025: our operating return on beginning equity was 14.1%, and growth in book value per share, including dividends, was 22%. And we think this reflects our strong operating earnings, our higher investment valuations, and our sound capital management strategy.
In the fourth quarter, specialty insurance grew net premiums earned by 8.3% over the fourth quarter of 2024, and for the full-year, grew net premiums earned by 10.9%, and we eclipsed the $5 billion mark for the first time. In the fourth quarter, specialty produced $178 million of pre-tax operating income compared to $228 million, and specialty's combined ratio was 97.3 compared to 91.8. For the full-year, specialty produced $900 million of pre-tax operating income, another all-time high for us, and specialty's combined ratio was 93.2. In the fourth quarter, title grew premium and fees by 12.4% over the fourth quarter of 2024, and for the full-year, title grew premium and fees by 9.1%. In the fourth quarter, title also produced $65 million of pre-tax operating income compared to $55.4 million, and title's combined ratio was 94% compared to 94.4%.
For the full-year, title produced $140 million of pre-tax operating income, and title's combined ratio was 97.6. Our conservative reserving practices were slow to release prior-year reserves, but we react very quickly to increase reserves. We continue to produce favorable prior-year loss reserve development in both specialty insurance and title insurance, and Frank will give you a little more color around that topic. So with that, Frank, I'll go ahead and turn the discussion over to you, and then please turn things back to me. I'll discuss specialty insurance, and then I'll turn things over to Carolyn, who'll discuss title, and then we'll wrap up and open it up for Q&A. So, Frank?
Thank you, Craig, and good afternoon, everyone. This morning, we reported net operating income of $185 million for the quarter compared to $227 million last year. On a per-share basis, comparable quarter-over-quarter results were $0.74 compared to $0.90. Starting with investments, net investment income increased 7.9% in the quarter, primarily as a result of higher yields on the bond portfolio and, to a lesser degree, a larger investment base. Our average reinvestment rate on corporate bonds acquired during the quarter was 4.6% compared to the average yield rolling off of about 4.2%. The total bond portfolio book yield stands at 4.75% compared to 4.5% at the end of last year.
Now, given the portfolio actions taken over the last few years that allowed us to accelerate improvement in the bond portfolio yield, our return of capital initiatives, and the current interest rate environment, we expect net investment income growth to slow in 2026. Turning now to loss reserves, both specialty insurance and title insurance recognized favorable development in the quarter, leading to a 2.4 percentage point benefit in the consolidated loss ratio compared to 2.9 points last year. Within specialty insurance, workers' comp prior year reserve development was slightly unfavorable in the quarter, as a strong favorable development throughout the book was offset by a prior-year reserve increase related to a credit loss on a single large deductible program. Commercial auto, general liability, and property all had solid favorable development in the quarter.
Now, for the full-year, the specialty insurance loss ratio had a benefit of 2.9 points from favorable development, and there were no large pockets of unfavorable development to report. We end the quarter with book value per share of $24.21, which, inclusive of the regular and special dividends, equated to an increase of 22% for the full-year, resulting primarily from our strong operating earnings and higher investment valuations. In the quarter, we declared nearly $700 million in dividends and repurchased $56 million worth of our shares. This brings total capital return this year to just over $1 billion, and it leaves us with about $850 million remaining in our current repurchase program. I'll now turn the call back over to Craig for a discussion of specialty insurance.
Okay, Frank, thanks for that summary. Specialty insurance net premiums written were up 6.1% in the quarter, with strong rate increases on commercial auto and general liability. We also had solid renewal retention ratios, new business writings, and increasing premium in our new specialty operating companies. As a matter of fact, these new companies contributed over $300 million in net premium written in 2025 and collectively delivered positive operating income. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, in the quarter, specialty insurance pre-tax operating income was $178 million, and the full-year was $900 million, while the fourth quarter combined ratio was 97.3, and the full-year was 93.2. The loss ratio for the quarter was 67.6%, and that included 2.2 percentage points of favorable prior year loss reserve development, and that compares to 64.1% in the fourth quarter last year, which included 2.4 points of favorable development.
The full-year loss ratio was 63.9%, including 2.9 points of favorable development. Moving to the expense ratio, for the quarter was 29.7 compared to 27.7% in the fourth quarter last year. The full year expense ratio was 29.3%, in line with expectations, and our continued investment into specialty operating companies that we have recently launched, as well as into technology modernization, data and analytics, and AI, does place some short-term strain on the expense ratio, but we're confident these investments will provide significant long-term upside potential. Turning to commercial auto, net premiums written grew 6.4% in the quarter, while the loss ratio came in at 80 compared to 77.9% in the fourth quarter last year. As we noted in the release, we increased the current accident year loss ratio by 3 percentage points, which for the year added 12 percentage points for the quarter, I should say.
This action is consistent with what we've regularly communicated, and that is that we reserve conservatively and we're quick to react to increases in loss trends that we are observing. And those loss trends for commercial auto are now coming in a bit higher than we were observing earlier in 2025. And as such, as noted in the release, rate increases accelerated in the fourth quarter to 16% for commercial auto. And again, this would be in line with our philosophy of loss trends that are commensurate with rate increases. Workers' comp net premiums written was 6% lower in the quarter, while the loss ratio came in at 65.2 compared to 35.5 in the fourth quarter last year. The big difference here is that the vast majority in the fourth quarter of 2025 vis-à-vis the fourth quarter of 2024 is the significant difference in level of prior-year favorable development.
Rate decreases in work comp were about 3%. Here, too, in line with loss trends we're observing, where severities remained very consistent and loss frequency continues its decline. So given positive wage trend that we apply our rates to, a relatively stable severity trend, and a declining loss frequency trend, we think our rates remain adequate even with a small level of rate decreases. I'll also touch on property here. We had net premiums written which increased 21% in the quarter, bringing the full-year property writings to $750 million. The property loss ratio was 55% in the quarter, and that included some favorable prior-year loss reserve development. It's of note that our property writings are diverse and often written on an E&S basis, particularly at our new specialty operating companies.
We expect solid growth and profitability in specialty insurance to continue through 2026, reflecting the growing contributions from our new specialty operating companies and also reflecting our commitment to underwriting excellence within all of our specialty companies, including a keen focus on pricing discipline and cycle management. It's also noteworthy that our specialty portfolio is now more diversified than it's ever been, which also helps set us up to successfully manage market cycles. I will now turn it over to you, Carolyn, to report on title insurance.
Thank you, Craig. Title reported premium and fee revenue for the quarter of $789 million. This represents an increase of 12% from fourth quarter of last year. The fourth quarter was our strongest of the year and is a continuation of the market story that we have been reporting all year, seeing strong activity in the commercial sector and softness in the residential market driven by persistent price and some affordability challenges still. Premiums produced in our direct title operations were up 18% from this time last year. Our agency-produced premiums were up 13% and made up 77% of our revenue during the quarter, which is consistent with fourth quarter of last year. Commercial premiums increased this quarter and were 29% of our earned premiums compared to 23% in the fourth quarter of last year.
For the year, our commercial premiums made up 26% of our earned premiums compared to 22% in 2024. Investment income was also up this quarter by nearly 12% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily from higher investment yields. Our combined ratio improved to 94% this quarter compared to 94.4% in the fourth quarter of last year. During the quarter, our continued expense management efforts and increased revenues resulted in a decrease in our operating expenses of 1.2% relative to premium and fees. Our loss ratio increased to 0.8%. Although prior policy years continued to develop favorably, the amount of favorable development in the fourth quarter this year was less than in the fourth quarter of 2024. Our pre-tax operating income this quarter was $66 million compared to $55 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
This 18% increase during the quarter brings our full year pre-tax income to $140 million for 2025. As we start 2026, the cornerstone of our business continues to be our title agents. We remain focused on the importance of providing our agents with the innovative technological solutions required to maintain a competitive edge. Operationally, we will continue our margin expansion efforts to ensure that our structure efficiently serves our agents. We remain focused on maximizing efficiencies and implementing the Qualia operating platform across the title operations during 2026, as well as continuing our initiatives to service the large commercial transactions we are seeing in the market. And thank you. And with that, I'll turn it back to Craig.
Okay, Carolyn, thank you. So that concludes our prepared remarks, and we will now open up the discussion to Q&A, and I'll either answer your question or I'll ask Frank or Carolyn to chime in and help me out.