ERIE INDEMNITY CO

We continue to monitor the sufficiency of our liquidity and capital resources given the potential impact of current economic conditions, including the uncertain inflationary and interest rate environment. While we did not see a significant impact on our sources or uses of cash in the first quarter of 2024, future market disruptions could occur which may affect our liquidity position. If our normal operating and investing cash activities were to become insufficient to meet future funding requirements, we believe we have sufficient access to liquidity through our cash position, diverse liquid marketable securities, and our $100 million bank revolving line of credit that does not expire until October 2026. See broader discussions of potential risks to our operations in the Operating Overview contained within this report and Part I. Item 1A. "Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2024.

Sources and Uses of Cash

Liquidity is a measure of a company’s ability to generate sufficient cash flows to meet the short- and long-term cash requirements of its business operations and growth needs. Our liquidity requirements have been met primarily by funds generated from management fee revenue and income from investments. Cash provided from these sources is used primarily to fund the costs of our management operations including commissions, salaries and wages, pension plans, share repurchases, dividends to shareholders, the purchase and development of information technology, and other capital expenditures. See Part I, Item 1. "Financial Statements - Note 8, Postretirement Benefits, of Notes to Financial Statements" contained within this report for the funding policy and related contribution for our defined benefit pension plan. We expect that our operating cash needs will be met by funds generated from operations. Cash in excess of our operating needs is primarily invested in investment grade fixed maturities. As part of our liquidity review, we regularly evaluate our capital needs based on current and projected results and consider the potential impacts to our liquidity, borrowing capacity, financial covenants and capital availability.

We maintain relationships and cash balances at diversified and well-capitalized financial institutions and have established processes to monitor them. We believe that our current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and cash generated from operations will be sufficient to meet our current and future cash requirements.

Volatility in the financial markets presents challenges to us as we do occasionally access our investment portfolio as a source of cash. Some of our fixed income investments, despite being publicly traded, may be illiquid. Volatility in these markets could impair our ability to sell certain fixed income securities or cause such securities to sell at deep discounts. We believe we have sufficient liquidity to meet our needs from sources other than the liquidation of securities.

Cash flow activities

The following table provides condensed cash flow information as follows for the three months ended March 31:

Net cash provided by operating activities was $87.2 million in the first three months of 2024, compared to $48.0 million for the same period in 2023. Increased cash provided by operating activities was primarily due to an increase in management fees received of $106.4 million driven by growth in direct and affiliated assumed premiums written by the Exchange and a decrease in agent incentive compensation paid of $26.5 million. This was partially offset by increases in cash paid for agent commissions of $53.2 million driven by premium growth and pension and employee benefits paid of $34.3 million primarily due to a $33.0 million pension contribution in 2024.

Net cash used in investing activities was $27.0 million in the first three months of 2024, compared to $12.3 million for the same period in 2023. In 2024 and 2023, net cash used in investing activities was primarily driven by fixed asset purchases of $22.4 million and $19.1 million, respectively, mostly related to software and home office renovations.

Net cash used in financing activities was $59.4 million in the first three months of 2024, compared to $55.4 million for the same period in 2023, due to dividends paid to shareholders. We increased both our Class A and Class B shareholder regular quarterly dividends by 7.1% for 2024, compared to 2023. There are no regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends to our shareholders.

Capital Outlook

We regularly prepare forecasts evaluating the current and future cash requirements for both normal and extreme risk events, including under current inflationary conditions and a higher interest rate environment. Should an extreme risk event result in a cash requirement exceeding normal cash flows, we have the ability to meet our future funding requirements through various alternatives available to us.

Outside of our normal operating and investing cash activities, future funding requirements could be met through: 1) unrestricted and unpledged cash and cash equivalents, which totaled approximately $128.0 million at March 31, 2024, 2) $100 million available bank revolving line of credit, and 3) liquidation of unpledged assets held in our investment portfolio, including equity securities and investment grade bonds which totaled approximately $801.1 million at March 31, 2024. Volatility in the financial markets could impair our ability to sell certain fixed income securities or cause such securities to sell at deep discounts. Additionally, we have the ability to curtail or modify discretionary cash outlays such as those related to shareholder dividends and share repurchase activities.

As of March 31, 2024, we have access to a $100 million bank revolving line of credit. See Part I, Item 1. "Financial Statements - Note 7, Bank Line of Credit, of Notes to Financial Statements" contained within this report for additional information.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have entered into certain contingent obligations for guarantees. See Part I, Item 1. "Financial Statements - Note 13, Commitments and Contingencies, of Notes to Financial Statements" contained within this report for additional information. We do not believe that these obligations will have a material current or future effect on our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.