Keith Meier
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Assurant
Thanks, Keith, and good morning, everyone. With our strong first quarter performance, we continue to focus on driving long-term shareholder value with thoughtful and decisive actions to continue to grow and outperform. To achieve this, we are committed to a deep understanding of our global partners and their end consumers' needs, executing on the opportunities identified as well as disciplined capital management to enable long-term growth.
Now let's review the details of our first quarter results. In the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA grew 31% to $384 million and adjusted EPS increased by 42% to $4.97, both excluding reportable catastrophes. From a capital perspective, we generated $254 million of segment dividends in the first quarter, ending the quarter with $622 million of holding company liquidity, up from $606 million at year end. Our strong capital position allowed us to return $77 million to shareholders in the quarter, including $40 million of share repurchases. In addition, we repurchased $10 million of shares between April 1st and May 3rd.
Turning to our business segments, let's begin with Global Lifestyle. For the quarter, adjusted EBITDA grew 4% to $208 million or 5% on a constant currency basis. Year-over-year growth was driven by strong performance in Connected Living, particularly in the U.S., which was partially offset by lower results in Global Automotive.
In Connected Living, earnings increased 14% or $16 million, primarily driven by continued momentum in our U.S. mobile protection programs and higher investment income. Results were partially offset by investments in new capabilities and client partnerships. In the U.S., Connected Living growth also benefited from modest improvements in loss experience within extended service contracts, resulting from rate actions taken over the last 18 months to offset higher claim severities from inflation. Trade in results were flat as higher margins and contributions from new U.S. programs were partially offset by a decline in carrier volumes, including impacts from lower promotional activity. International Connected Living results included a $7 million favorable one-time extended service contract client benefit in Japan. Excluding this item, international results were stable on a constant currency basis, consistent with the trends from the end of 2023.
Foreign exchange remains a headwind, impacting Lifestyles adjusted EBITDA growth by 1 percentage point in the quarter. In Global Automotive, first quarter adjusted EBITDA declined 9% or $7 million, driven by higher claims costs due to persistent inflation impacts as well as the normalization of select ancillary products. The impacts of inflation continue to be felt throughout the auto industry, as indicated in the March Consumer Price Index, where motor vehicle repair costs rose nearly 12% year-over-year and accelerated over the quarter. Elevated claims costs were partially offset by higher investment income.
Turning to net earned premiums, fees and other income. Lifestyle grew by $148 million or 7%, and connected Living increased 11%, benefiting from contributions from new trade-in programs and North American mobile protection programs. Growth from Global Automotive's net earned premiums, fees and other income was 3%, which was primarily driven by prior period sales of vehicle service contracts. For full year 2024, we continue to expect Global Lifestyles adjusted EBITDA to grow, driven by Connected Living. We expect growth in Connected Living to be led by the continued expansion of our U.S. business.
In Global Auto, we expect adjusted EBITDA to be flat as higher investment income is offset by continued loss pressure from inflation. Prospective rate actions taken over the past 18 months are expected to drive improvement over-time, depending on the timing and pace of claims inflation impacts. Investments related to new clients and programs will temper lifestyle growth in 2024, but will be a critical driver in the strengthening of our business over the long-term. We continue to monitor foreign exchange impacts, broader macroeconomic conditions and interest rates, which may impact the pace and timing of growth. As we enter the second quarter, we expect our sequential adjusted EBITDA trend to be impacted by the absence of the one-time client benefit and seasonally lower mobile trading volumes, both in Connected Living.
Moving to Global Housing. First quarter adjusted EBITDA was $193 million, which included $13 million of reportable catastrophes. Excluding reportable cats, adjusted EBITDA increased by 74% or $88 million to $205 million. Over half of the increase was driven by improving non-cat loss ratios from moderating claims trends and higher average premiums. A portion of the claims improvement was related to a $16 million favorable year-over-year net impact to prior period reserve development. This was comprised of a $22 million reserve reduction in the current quarter compared to a $6 million reserve reduction in the first quarter of 2023. The remainder of the adjusted EBITDA increase was mainly driven by continued topline growth in homeowners and an increase in the number of in-force policies, lower catastrophe reinsurance costs and higher investment income.
For renters and other, earnings increased from growth in our property management channel. As Keith mentioned, expense leverage throughout housing continues to be a strong differentiator as our technology investments and innovations are enabling a superior customer experience. This has played a critical role in our outperformance.
Given the strong first quarter performance, we expect Global Housing's full year 2024 adjusted EBITDA growth, excluding cats to lead our overall enterprise growth. We anticipate growth will be driven by favorable non-cat loss experience, continued topline momentum in homeowners and lower catastrophe reinsurance costs.
Over the course of 2024, our lender-placed business is expected to be impacted by ongoing client portfolio movements. This includes the addition of multiple client portfolios, including the onboarding of Bank of America as well as expected offboarding impacts from the sale of a client to another party. Given the unique composition of each portfolio, these movements are expected to impact track loans and placement rate from quarter-to-quarter. However, policies in force, a key driver of earnings is expected to grow overall for 2024.
As we turn to the second quarter, please keep in mind the following. First, we had $22 million of first quarter prior year reserve development. Second, we expect normalized catastrophe reinsurance costs following lower costs in the first quarter, which were impacted by timing differences related to the program transition to a single placement, as well as favorable 2023 exposure true-ups. Beginning in the second quarter, we expect quarterly reinsurance premiums to be modestly above $50 million, which is an increase from the $34 million in the first quarter. And lastly, the second quarter tends to be an elevated period for non-cat loss experience.
Next, I wanted to summarize the placement of our 2024 catastrophe reinsurance program, which is now transitioned to a single April 1st placement date. We are pleased with our increased coverage at attractive terms, including cost savings realized in this year's placement. 2024 catastrophe reinsurance premiums for the total program are estimated to be approximately $190 million, a reduction in comparison to $207 million in 2023. As previously communicated, our per event retention increased to $150 million, aligning with a one in five-year probable maximum loss or PML. Our main U.S. program will provide nearly $1.5 billion in loss coverage in excess of our retention, protecting Assurant and its policyholders against a PML of approximately a 1 in 265-year storm, an increase above the 2023 limit aligned to a 1 in 225-year PML. Overall, this year's placement was diversified and supported by the strength of our relationships with 40 plus highly-rated reinsurers.
Moving to corporate. The first quarter adjusted EBITDA loss was $30 million, a $5 million year-over-year increase, mainly due to higher enterprise growth initiatives. We now expect the 2024 corporate adjusted EBITDA loss to approximate $110 million, consistent with 2023.
Turning to capital management. We generated significant deployable capital in the first quarter, upstreaming $254 million in segment dividends. For 2024, we expect our businesses to continue to generate meaningful cash flow. Cash conversion to the holding company is expected to approximate two thirds of segment adjusted EBITDA, including reportable catastrophes. Cash flow expectations assume a continuation of the current macroeconomic environment and are subject to the growth of the businesses, investment portfolio performance and rating agency and regulatory requirements. As we look forward to the remainder of the year, we continue to be focused on maintaining balance and flexibility to support new business growth and return capital to shareholders.
From a share repurchase perspective, we continue to expect to be in the range of $200 million to $300 million, which will depend on strategic M&A [Technical Issues] through the strength of our differentiated business model and given our first-quarter results, we are increasingly confident in achieving our 2024 financial objectives. Our strong capital position provides us with the necessary resources to support business growth and shareholder value over the long-term.
And with that, operator, please open the call for questions.
