Neptune Insurance Holdings, parent of Neptune Flood Incorporated, reported a near 29% jump in first-quarter revenue in its debut full quarter as a public company, even as stock-based compensation linked to its October listing dragged reported profit lower in the insurance group's latest results.

Revenue rose to $37.8 million in the three months to March 31, from $29.4 million a year earlier. Written premium climbed 26% to $86.7 million, and policies in force hit 295,000, according to a regulatory filing summary.

Chief executive Trevor Burgess described it as a record first quarter with strength across the business.

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Net income fell 26.1% to $7.3 million, weighed down by a surge in share-based compensation to $6.9 million from just $84,000 a year earlier. Stocktitan's filing summary tied the drop to the stock-award jump and front-loaded public-company costs.

Adjusted EBITDA, which strips out those items, rose 26% to $21.6 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin held at 57.1%, against 58.3% a year earlier. Net interest expense climbed 50.8% to $3.4 million.

Buyback and higher guidance

The board authorized up to $100 million in Class A share buybacks with no set expiry, Stocktitan said. Management also raised full-year 2026 guidance, now targeting revenue of $195 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 60% to 61%.

Neptune carried $227 million outstanding on its revolving credit facility at quarter-end, with net leverage at 2.2 times.

Read more: Neptune Flood adds Lloyd's capacity through Somers Syndicate partnership

The results mark Neptune's first complete quarter on the New York Stock Exchange. The company debuted on October 1 last year at $20 a share, pricing 18.4 million Class A shares.

Crunchbase News reported the listing raised $368 million and valued Neptune at about $2.76 billion. The company pitches itself as an AI-enabled flood cover platform, with the federally run National Flood Insurance Program as its main rival.

Over the twelve months to March 31, revenue reached $168 million, up 32.2%. Adjusted EBITDA rose 29.3% to $99.5 million. Trailing net income slipped 12.8% to $34.8 million, with margin at 20.7% against 31.4%.

Productivity gained ground. Average headcount rose 12.6% to 59.9. Revenue per employee climbed 17.3% to $2,804, while adjusted EBITDA per employee advanced 14.8% to $1,660.

Basic and diluted earnings per share were unchanged at $0.05. Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 12.5% to $0.09. Adjusted net income gained 21.4% to $13.4 million.