Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. (HRTG)
SIC breadcrumb: Finance, Insurance, And Real Estate > Insurance Carriers > SIC 6331 Fire, Marine & Casualty Insurance
SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1598665. Latest filing source: 0001193125-26-103715.
Informational only - descriptive public-record data, not investment advice.
Business
Read HRTG's verbatim Item 1 Business section from its latest 10-K: Business.
Risk Factors
Read HRTG's verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from its latest 10-K: Risk Factors.
Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 847,330,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-03-19 |
| Net income | 195,594,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-03-19 |
| Assets | 2,195,822,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-03-19 |
Financials
Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-03-19. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001598665.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.
| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 438,958,000 | 406,623,000 | 480,171,000 | 511,305,000 | 593,385,000 | 631,561,000 | 662,460,000 | 735,498,000 | 816,985,000 | 847,330,000 |
| Net income | 33,865,000 | -1,119,000 | 27,155,000 | 28,636,000 | 9,326,000 | -74,727,000 | -154,363,000 | 45,307,000 | 61,539,000 | 195,594,000 |
| Operating income | 56,765,000 | 49,535,000 | 69,536,000 | 49,567,000 | 10,185,000 | -68,064,000 | -157,361,000 | 63,215,000 | 93,610,000 | 267,151,000 |
| Diluted EPS | 1.14 | -0.04 | 1.04 | 0.98 | 0.33 | -2.69 | -5.86 | 1.73 | 2.01 | 6.32 |
| Operating cash flow | 82,955,000 | 7,489,000 | 96,338,000 | 119,657,000 | 170,211,000 | 60,130,000 | -34,260,000 | 70,415,000 | 87,095,000 | 182,238,000 |
| Capital expenditures | 1,621,000 | 385,000 | 2,281,000 | 4,984,000 | 755,000 | 1,007,000 | 8,557,000 | 9,890,000 | 8,230,000 | 8,074,000 |
| Share buybacks | 25,562,000 | 61,623,000 | 2,000,000 | 16,183,000 | 9,997,000 | 8,192,000 | 7,343,000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Assets | 1,033,244,000 | 1,771,210,000 | 1,768,713,000 | 1,939,670,000 | 2,089,379,000 | 1,980,762,000 | 2,392,600,000 | 2,119,572,000 | 2,468,924,000 | 2,195,822,000 |
| Liabilities | 675,285,000 | 1,391,394,000 | 1,343,380,000 | 1,490,871,000 | 1,647,035,000 | 1,637,711,000 | 2,261,561,000 | 1,899,292,000 | 2,178,125,000 | 1,690,571,000 |
| Stockholders' equity | 357,959,000 | 379,816,000 | 425,333,000 | 448,799,000 | 442,344,000 | 343,051,000 | 131,039,000 | 220,280,000 | 290,799,000 | 505,251,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 105,817,000 | 153,697,000 | 250,117,000 | 268,351,000 | 440,956,000 | 359,337,000 | 280,881,000 | 463,640,000 | 452,666,000 | 559,274,000 |
| Free cash flow | 81,334,000 | 7,104,000 | 94,057,000 | 114,673,000 | 169,456,000 | 59,123,000 | -42,817,000 | 60,525,000 | 78,865,000 | 174,164,000 |
Ratios
| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 7.71% | -0.28% | 5.66% | 5.60% | 1.57% | -11.83% | -23.30% | 6.16% | 7.53% | 23.08% |
| Operating margin | 12.93% | 12.18% | 14.48% | 9.69% | 1.72% | -10.78% | -23.75% | 8.59% | 11.46% | 31.53% |
| Return on equity | 9.46% | -0.29% | 6.38% | 6.38% | 2.11% | -21.78% | -117.80% | 20.57% | 21.16% | 38.71% |
| Return on assets | 3.28% | -0.06% | 1.54% | 1.48% | 0.45% | -3.77% | -6.45% | 2.14% | 2.49% | 8.91% |
| Liabilities / equity | 1.89 | 3.66 | 3.16 | 3.32 | 3.72 | 4.77 | 17.26 | 8.62 | 7.49 | 3.35 |
Industry Peer Context
Net margin peer context
Operating margin peer context
ROE peer context
ROA peer context
Financial Bridges
Free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital expenditures
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts FY 2025. Operating cash flow: accession 0001193125-26-115451; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | Capital expenditures: accession 0001193125-26-115451; concept PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment | Free cash flow: accession 0001193125-26-115451; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment
Financial Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: Revenues. Source concepts: us-gaap:Revenues.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: OperatingIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2024 ended 2024-12-31; accession 0001598665-25-000009; filed 2025-03-13. Concept: PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: Assets. Source concepts: us-gaap:Assets.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: Liabilities. Source concepts: us-gaap:Liabilities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: StockholdersEquity. Source concepts: us-gaap:StockholdersEquity.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue. Source concepts: us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001193125-26-115451; filed 2026-03-19. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Quarterly
Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-05-08. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001598665.json.
| Quarter | End Date | Revenue | Net Income | Diluted EPS | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-Q2 | 2022-06-30 | -3.32 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 | -1.83 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 | 0.55 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-03-31 | 14,008,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 | 185,313,000 | 0.30 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-06-30 | 7,779,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 186,300,000 | -0.28 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 186,966,000 | 30,944,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 191,302,000 | 14,225,000 | 0.47 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-03-31 | 14,225,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 203,571,000 | 0.61 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-06-30 | 18,869,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 211,849,000 | 0.27 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 210,264,000 | 20,293,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 211,520,000 | 30,474,000 | 0.99 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-03-31 | 30,474,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 208,035,000 | 1.55 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-06-30 | 48,024,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 212,459,000 | 1.63 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 215,317,000 | 66,675,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 212,658,000 | 36,483,000 | 1.19 | reported discrete quarter |
Quarterly Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001193125-26-214067; filed 2026-05-08. Concept: Revenues. Source concepts: us-gaap:Revenues.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001193125-26-214067; filed 2026-05-08. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001193125-26-214067; filed 2026-05-08. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Macro Cross-References
- CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
- UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
- FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
- CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
- DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
- DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
- DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
- T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
- CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
- CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
- CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
- CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
- PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
- PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
- PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
- T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
- U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
- PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
- EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
- UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
- CE16OV - Employment Level
- ICSA - Initial Claims
- JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
- JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
- GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
- A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
- INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
- TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
- HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
- PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
- RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
- PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
- PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
- M2SL - M2
- BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
- MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
- HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
- RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
- TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
- RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
- TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product
- GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
- GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
- PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
- GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
- GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
- FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
- FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
- FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
- MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
- USCONS - All Employees, Construction
- USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
- USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
- USGOVT - All Employees, Government
- AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
- DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
- NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
- BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
- EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
- IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
- IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
- PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand
Latest quarter (10-Q)
Latest 10-Q source: 0001193125-26-214067.
Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes and other information included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (as amended, the “2025 Form 10-K”). Unless the context requires otherwise, as used in this Form 10-Q, the terms “we”, “us”, “our”, “the Company”, “our Company”, and similar references refer to Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its subsidiaries.
Overview
We are a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company that primarily provides personal and commercial residential insurance products across our multi-state footprint. We provide personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia and commercial residential insurance in Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey, and New York. We provide personal residential insurance in Florida, Hawaii, and South Carolina on both an admitted and non-admitted basis and in California on a non-admitted basis only. As a vertically integrated insurer, we control or manage substantially all aspects of risk management, underwriting, claims processing and adjusting, actuarial rate making and reserving, customer service, and distribution. Our financial strength ratings are important to us in establishing our competitive position and can impact our ability to write policies.
Recent Developments
Economic and Market Factors
We continue to monitor the effects of general changes in economic and market conditions on our business. As a result of general inflationary pressures, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, increased cost of materials and labor needed for repairs and to otherwise remediate claims throughout all states in which we conduct business. We mitigate the impact of inflation by implementation of rate increases and the use of inflation guard, which ensures appropriate replacement cost values for our business to reflect the inflationary impact on costs to repair properties. Use of inflation guard impacts both premium and total insured value ("TIV"). Rising reinsurance costs may be mitigated through exposure management as well as recouping the cost of reinsurance in future rate filings.
Supplemental Information
The Supplemental Information table below provides insight on our personal lines, commercial lines, and other business by providing policy count, premiums-in-force and total insured value for those product lines.
| Policies-in-force: | Q1 2026 | Q1 2025 | % Change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Residential | 341,843 | 364,781 | (6.29 | ) | % | |||||||
| Commercial Residential | 3,069 | 2,908 | 5.54 | % | ||||||||
| Other | 8,997 | 10,132 | (11.20 | ) | % | |||||||
| Total | 353,909 | 377,821 | (6.33 | ) | % | |||||||
| Premiums-in-force: | ||||||||||||
| Personal Residential | 1,161,078,115 | 1,144,698,410 | 1.43 | % | ||||||||
| Commercial Residential | 256,415,766 | 278,158,021 | (7.82 | ) | % | |||||||
| Other | 9,632,637 | 9,796,388 | (1.67 | ) | % | |||||||
| Total | 1,427,126,518 | 1,432,652,819 | (0.39 | ) | % | |||||||
| Total Insured Value: | ||||||||||||
| Personal Residential | 317,090,936,074 | 320,649,423,206 | (1.11 | ) | % | |||||||
| Commercial Residential | 48,009,340,202 | 42,995,169,737 | 11.66 | % | ||||||||
| Other | N/A | N/A | — | % | ||||||||
| Total | 365,100,276,276 | 363,644,592,943 | 0.40 | % |
26
Strategic Profitability Initiatives
The Company has focused on three main strategic initiatives aimed at achieving consistent long-term quarterly earnings and driving shareholder value, including:
•
Generating underwriting profit through rate adequacy and more selective underwriting
•
Allocating capital to products and geographies that maximize long-term returns
•
Targeting a balanced and diversified portfolio
In continuing to implement these three strategic initiatives, we plan to target the following profitability initiatives in 2026:
•
Target geographies open for new business, while closely managing risk and exposure
•
Continue persistent underwriting discipline and focus on rate adequacy while driving prudent top line growth
•
Enhance data driven analytics using AI and other technology tools.
•
Continue the refinement of customer service and claims capabilities.
•
Leverage infrastructure and capabilities to foster further growth, which includes our plan to enter the State of Texas on an excess and surplus lines basis
•
Act as opportunities emerge which will continue our diversification and expansion over the next several years
•
Expand our relationship with reinsurance partners to expand capacity, manage volatility while pursuing growth
Trends
Inflation, Underwriting and Pricing
We address reinsurance and loss cost trends in the property insurance sector through rates and inflation guard factors. Over the last several years, we have filed and been approved by state regulators for rate increases to achieve rate adequacy. Our rates are now adequate in over 90% of our territories, which are currently open for new business. We experienced intentional growth of our commercial residential business during 2025, with in-force premium in that line of business decreasing in the first quarter of 2026, driven primarily by competitive market conditions. To the extent that reinsurance and loss cost trends decline, our rates may be adjusted downward in the future. New rates, which are subject to approval by our regulators, become effective when a policy is written or renewed, and the premium is earned pro rata over the policy period of one year. As a result of this timing, it can take up to twenty-four months for the complete impact of a rate change to be fully earned and impact our financial statements.
We invest in data analytics, using software and experienced personnel, to continuously evaluate our underwriting criteria and manage exposure to catastrophe and other losses. Our policy retention has remained consistent in the upper 80’s to low 90’s. While we believe our rates are generally competitive with private market insurers operating in our space, we are focused on prudent growth in 2026 while managing exposure and ensuring rate adequacy throughout our book of business as well as providing high levels of customer service to our agents and policyholders.
We may experience rising inflation in the form of increased labor and material costs, which drive up claim costs throughout all states in which we conduct business. However, inflation is increasing at a lower rate than what we have experienced in the last several years. We adjust for changes in inflation by increasing or decreasing the inflation factor used in our pricing. Florida personal lines claim costs associated with litigated claims have decreased over the last several years due to favorable legislation aimed to curtail claims abuse and stabilize the Florida property insurance market. This has had the intended impact and has resulted in better margins and better rates for Florida policyholders. Accordingly, we have a positive outlook for Florida and the other rate adequate states.
We have a solid, consistent panel of reinsurance partners that provide reinsurance capacity at competitive pricing and sufficient levels to support our growth objectives. Additionally, we may leverage our captive reinsurer to assume risks from our insurance company affiliates.
27
Overview of Financial Results
In the following section, we discuss our financial condition and results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows provides information that will assist the reader in understanding our consolidated financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from quarter to quarter, including certain key performance indicators such as net combined ratio, ceded premium ratio, net expense ratio and net loss ratio, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our consolidated financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included under Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
•
First quarter ended 2026 net income was $36.5 million or $1.19 per diluted share, compared to net income of $30.5 million or $0.99 per diluted share in the prior year quarter, primarily driven by higher investment income and a reduction in losses, partly offset by higher general and administrative expenses. The reduction in losses is attributable to a slightly lower net attritional loss ratio resulting from the positive impact of rate actions, underwriting actions, and targeted exposure management taken over the last several years, which continue to favorably impact results, as well as lower weather losses. Additionally, favorable prior year loss development increased from the prior year quarter. Policy acquisition costs were lower from the prior year quarter by 1.0%, driven mostly by lower costs associated with premium processing. General and administrative costs increased 4.4% from the prior year quarter driven primarily by human capital costs, with the net general and administrative expense ratio at 12.5% compared to 11.9% for the prior year quarter.
•
Gross premiums written of $346.7 million were down 2.6% from $356.0 million in the prior year quarter, primarily driven by a reduction in commercial residential business which was partly offset by higher gross premiums written for personal lines business. The Florida commercial residential market has become increasingly competitive and management is committed to maintaining adequate margins; as such Heritage will only write business that meets our underwriting and pricing standards. Management is also leveraging the expertise of our commercial residential team to expand this product to other states, the most recent of which is Hawaii. Overall, management believes we have achieved rate adequacy in over 90% of our territories and each of those territories were open for new business as of March 31, 2026. Our catastrophe excess of loss program this year will be completed with higher coverage than previously purchased but also at risk adjusted cost decreases. To the extent our cost of doing business decreases, our policyholders would benefit with reduced pricing, while we maintain adequate margins.
•
Gross premiums earned were $353.6 million, consistent with $353.8 million earned in the prior year quarter, as commercial residential business declined due to the market conditions described above, but were largely offset by higher gross premiums earned for the personal residential business.
•
Net premiums earned were $199.7 million, consistent with $200.0 million earned in the prior year quarter, given a small reduction in gross premiums earned described above, with relatively flat ceded premiums for the quarter.
•
Losses and loss adjustments expenses incurred of $91.6 million, a 7.9% improvement from $99.4 million in the prior year quarter. The decrease primarily stems from lower catastrophe losses and lower attritional losses, as well as higher favorable net loss development. Net weather and catastrophe losses for the current year quarter were $36.7 million, a decrease of $6.8 million from $43.5 million in the prior year qu
[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]
Latest 10-K MD&A
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Overview
We are a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company that primarily provides personal and commercial residential insurance products across our multi-state footprint. We provide personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia and commercial residential insurance in Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey, and New York. We provide personal residential insurance in Florida, Hawaii and South Carolina on both an admitted and non-admitted basis and in California on a non-admitted basis. As a vertically integrated insurer, we control or manage substantially all aspects of risk management, underwriting, claims processing and adjusting, actuarial rate making and reserving, customer service, and distribution. Our financial strength ratings are important to us in establishing our competitive position and can impact our ability to write policies.
Recent Developments
Economic and Market Factors
We continue to monitor the effects of general changes in economic and market conditions on our business. As a result of general inflationary pressures, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, increased cost of materials and labor needed for repairs and to otherwise remediate claims throughout all states in which we conduct business. We mitigate the impact of inflation by implementation of rate increases and the use of inflation guard, which ensures appropriate replacement cost values for our business to reflect the inflationary impact on costs to repair properties. Use of inflation guard impacts both premium and total insured value ("TIV"). To the extent that reinsurance costs rise, we may seek to recoup the cost of reinsurance in future rate filings as well as mitigate the cost through exposure management.
Supplemental Information
The Supplemental Information table below demonstrates progress on our initiatives by providing policy count, premiums-in-force, and total insured value for Florida and all other states as of December 31, 2025 and comparing those metrics to December 31, 2024. One of our strategies had been to reduce personal lines exposure in Florida, given historical abusive claims practices. Since 2022, several legislative changes have been implemented to positively impact the Florida property insurance market by curtailing assignment of benefits and litigated claims abuses. The positive impact of the legislative changes is reflected in our loss trends, which favorably impact the cost of insurance to our policyholders. Our strategy has been to obtain rate adequacy throughout our portfolio. Through various underwriting, rate making and other actions over the last several years, we believe we have achieved rate adequacy in over 90% of our portfolio, with each of those rate adequate territories being currently open for writing new business. During 2025, we concluded our exposure management initiatives from previous years and began deployment of our managed growth initiative. We anticipate growing our portfolio during 2026 while maintaining our disciplined underwriting standards.
| At December 31, | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policies in force: | 2025 | 2024 | % Change | ||||||||||
| Florida | 123,437 | 133,775 | (7.7 | ) | % | ||||||||
| Other States | 233,838 | 255,700 | (8.5 | ) | % | ||||||||
| Total | 357,275 | 389,475 | (8.3 | ) | % | ||||||||
| Premiums in force: | (In thousands) | ||||||||||||
| Florida | $ | 679,079 | $ | 707,197 | (4.0 | ) | % | ||||||
| Other States | 752,738 | 726,048 | 3.7 | % | |||||||||
| Total | $ | 1,431,817 | $ | 1,433,245 | (0.1 | ) | % | ||||||
| Total Insured Value: | (In thousands) | ||||||||||||
| Florida | $ | 105,997,817 | $ | 102,661,095 | 3.3 | % | |||||||
| Other States | 257,533,142 | 264,950,914 | (2.8 | ) | % | ||||||||
| Total | $ | 363,530,959 | $ | 367,612,009 | (1.1 | ) | % |
38
Table of Contents
Policies-in-force decreased from the prior year, driven primarily by the final stages of our continued strategy to re-underwrite our existing personal lines book of business and gradually open territories for new business written where rates are adequate. At the same time, the policies-in-force specific to our commercial residential business grew during 2025, which drove an increase in our Florida TIV. As rates for our personal lines business became more adequate during 2025, the Company embarked upon a managed growth strategy. New business premium production for the fourth quarter of 2025 increased over 60% compared to new business production for the fourth quarter of 2024. Premiums in force for our personal lines business grew year over year but was offset by a larger decline in premiums in force for our commercial residential business. The decline in premium in force for commercial residential business was driven mostly by the current competitive market in Florida for this product. We have a substantial book of commercial business at December 31, 2025 with $265.0 million of in-force premium and will maintain our established pricing and underwriting discipline.
Florida policies-in-force declined from the prior year by 7.7% and Florida premiums-in-force decreased by 4.0%, while Florida TIV increased over the prior year. The decrease in Florida premiums-in-force was driven mostly by a reduction in premium for commercial residential business related to the current competitive market in the state. However the in-force policies for the commercial residential product grew resulting in higher Florida TIV. Compared to the year ended December 31, 2024, the policy count for markets outside of Florida decreased 8.5% due to underwriting actions and intentional exposure management, resulting in a TIV decrease of 2.8% while premiums-in-force increased by 3.7% due to rating actions.
Strategic Profitability Initiatives
The Company has focused on three main strategic initiatives aimed at achieving consistent long-term quarterly earnings and driving shareholder value including:
•
Generating underwriting profit through rate adequacy and more selective underwriting.
•
Allocating capital to products and geographies that maximize long-term returns.
•
Targeting a balanced and diversified portfolio
Fulfilled Strategic Profitability Initiatives in 2025
•
Re-opened profitable geographies and allocated capital to sustain profits and margin on a measured basis
•
Persistent underwriting discipline and focus on rate adequacy
•
Continued data driven analytics
•
Enhanced customer service and claims capabilities
•
Leveraged infrastructure and capabilities to foster future growth
Strategic Profitability Initiatives for 2026
•
Target geographies open for new business, while closely managing risk and exposure
•
Continue persistent underwriting discipline and focus on rate adequacy while driving prudent growth of the top line
•
Enhance data driven analytics using AI and other technology tools
•
Continue the refinement of customer service and claims capabilities
•
Leverage infrastructure and capabilities to foster future growth, which includes our plan to enter the State of Texas to offer products on an excess and surplus lines basis
39
Table of Contents
Trends
Inflation, Underwriting and Pricing
We address reinsurance and loss costs trends in the property insurance sector through rates and inflation guard factors which resulted in an increase in the average premium per policy of 8.9% at December 31, 2025, as compared to the prior year . The higher average premium is driven by rate changes, inclusion of inflation guard, and by the mix of business written. We experienced intentional growth of our commercial residential business during 2024, with in-force premium in that line of business decreasing during 2025, driven primarily by competitive market conditions as described above. New rates, which are subject to approval by our regulators, become effective when a policy is written or renewed, and the premium is earned pro rata over the policy period of one year. As a result of this timing, it can take up to twenty-four months for the complete impact of a rate change to be fully earned in our financial statements. For that reason, we account for inflation in our rate indications and filings with our regulators.
We invest in data analytics, using software and experienced personnel, to continuously evaluate our underwriting criteria and manage exposure to catastrophe and other losses. Our policy retention has remained steadily in the range of 90.0%. While we believe our rates are generally competitive with private market insurers operating in our space, we are focused on managing exposure and achieving rate adequacy throughout our book of business as well as providing high levels of customer service to our agents and policyholders.
We experience rising inflation in the form of increased labor and material costs, which drive up claim costs throughout all states in which we conduct business. However, inflation is increasing at a lower rate than what we have experienced in the last several years. We adjust for changes in inflation by increasing or decreasing the inflation factor used in our pricing. Florida personal lines claim costs associated with litigated claims have decreased over the last several years due to favorable legislation aimed to curtail claims abuse and stabilizing the Florida property insurance market. This is reflected in our rates and as the legislation appears to have achieved its intended impact, our outlook on conducting business in Florida has improved.
We have experienced a sufficient supply of catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance and believe our cost of reinsurance to be competitive. In contrast, our industry had experienced significantly higher reinsurance costs and more constrained availability for catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance in 2022 and 2023.
Key Components of our Results of Operations
Revenue
Gross premiums written represent, with respect to a period, the sum of direct premiums written (premiums from policies written during the period, net of any midterm cancellations and renewals of voluntary policies) and assumed premiums written (primarily premiums from state fair plan policies), in each case prior to ceding premiums to reinsurers.
Gross premiums earned represent the total premiums earned during a period from policies written. Premiums associated with new and renewal policies are earned ratably over the twelve-month term of the policy and premiums associated with assumed policies are earned ratably over the remaining term of the policy.
Ceded premiums represent the cost of our reinsurance during a period. We recognize the cost of our reinsurance program ratably over term of the arrangement, which is typically twelve months. Our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance generally commences on June 1 and runs through May 31 of the following year. Our net quota share treaty commences on December 31. Our other reinsurance programs may be purchased on a calendar or fiscal year basis.
Net premiums earned reflect gross premiums earned less ceded premiums during the period.
Net investment income represents interest earned on fixed maturity securities, short term securities and other investments, dividends on equity securities.
Net realized and unrealized gains or losses represent gains or losses on investment sales and unrealized gains or losses on equity securities.
40
Table of Contents
Other revenue is primarily comprised of policy and pay-plan fees and also includes rental income due under non-cancelable leases for space at the Company’s commercial property in Clearwater, Florida, which was sold in the third quarter of 2025. Our regulators have approved a policy fee on each policy written for certain states; to the extent these fees are not subject to refund, the Company recognizes the income immediately when collected. The Company also charges pay-plan fees to policyholders that pay premiums in more than one installment and record the fees as income when collected.
Expenses
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) reflect losses paid, expenses paid to resolve claims, such as fees paid to adjusters, attorneys and investigators, and changes in our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses during the period, in each case net of losses ceded to reinsurers. Our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the estimated ultimate cost of resolving all reported claims plus all losses we incurred related to insured events that we assume have occurred as of the reporting date, but that policyholders have not yet reported to us (which are commonly referred to as incurred but not reported, or “IBNR”). We estimate our reserves for unpaid losses using individual case-based estimates for reported claims and actuarial estimates for IBNR losses. We continually review and adjust our estimated losses as necessary based on our evolving claims experience, new information obtained and industry development trends. If our unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses are considered deficient or redundant, we increase or decrease the liability in the period in which we identify the difference and reflect the change in our current period results of operations.
Policy acquisition costs (“PAC”) consist of: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We recognize policy acquisition costs ratably over the term of the underlying policy. We earn ceding commissions on our net quota share reinsurance contract and certain other reinsurance contracts, which are reported as a reduction to policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop. Refer to Note 11 “Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10K.
General and administrative expenses (“G&A”) include compensation and related benefits, professional fees, office lease and related expenses, information system expenses, corporate insurance, and other general and administrative costs. As noted above, a certain portion of our ceding commissions are allocated to general and administrative expenses.
Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state corporate level income taxes. The effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year and updated with actual amounts in the fourth quarter. The effective tax rate can vary from the 25.8% statutory federal and state blended rate depending on the amount of pretax income in proportion to permanent tax differences as well as state tax apportionment.
Ratios
Ceded premium ratio represents ceded premiums earned as a percentage of gross premiums earned.
Net loss ratio represents net losses and LAE as a percentage of net premiums earned.
Net expense ratio represents PAC and G&A expenses as a percentage of net premiums earned. Ceding commission income is reported as a reduction of policy acquisition costs and G&A expenses.
Net combined ratio represents the sum of the net loss and expense ratio. The net combined ratio is a key measure of underwriting performance traditionally used in the property and casualty insurance industry. A net combined ratio under 100% generally reflects profitable underwriting results.
41
Table of Contents
Overview of 2025 Financial Results
In the following section, we discuss our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to the year ended December 31, 2024. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, please Refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2025.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows provides information that will assist the reader in understanding our consolidated financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from year to year, including certain key performance indicators such as net combined ratio, ceded premium ratio, net expense ratio and net loss ratio, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our consolidated financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
•
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $195.6 million or $6.32 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $61.5 million or $2.01 diluted loss per share in the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by higher net premiums earned, higher investment income, a significant decrease in losses and LAE, and lower operating expenses. The improvement in net income is attributable to the positive impact of rate actions, underwriting actions, and exposure management taken during the last several years, which favorably impacted results for the year ended December 31, 2025. These actions resulted in growth of 3.4% in net premiums earned, with a 29.9% decrease in net losses and LAE. The decrease in net losses and LAE is attributable to lower weather and attritional losses as described below. Policy acquisition costs decreased 9.0%, driven by higher ceding commission income on the net quota share reinsurance contracts. General and administrative costs increased 9.2% driven primarily by human capital and systems costs as described below.
•
Gross premiums written of $1.44 billion, an improvement of 0.2% from $1.43 billion in the prior year, reflecting rating actions and deployment of our managed growth initiative, while ending exposure management initiatives from prior years. These actions resulted in growth of our personal lines premium over the prior year. A reduction of written premium for commercial residential business, driven by competitive market conditions, mostly offset the growth in the personal lines gross written premium. Management believes we have achieved rate adequacy in over 90% of our territories and each of those territories were open for new business as of December 31, 2025.
•
Gross premiums earned of $1.43 billion, an improvement of 1.8% from $1.41 billion in the prior year, reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months.
•
Net premiums earned of $794.2 million, an improvement of 3.4% from $767.9 million in the prior year, reflecting the higher gross earned premium coupled with a reduction in ceded premiums compared to the prior year.
•
Losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred of $313.2 million, a 29.9% improvement from $447.0 million in the prior year. The decrease primarily stems from significantly lower catastrophe losses and lower attritional losses as well as favorable net loss development. Net weather and catastrophe losses for the current accident year were $77.5 million, a decrease from $146.7 million in the prior year. Catastrophe losses in the current year were $33.2 million, down from $104.6 million in the prior year. Other weather losses totaled $44.3 million, up from the prior year amount of $42.1 million. Net favorable prior year loss development was $13.5 million for the current year compared to net unfavorable loss development of $25.4 million for the prior year.
42
Table of Contents
•
Ceded premium ratio of 44.5%, a 0.9 point improvement over the prior year ratio of 45.4%, driven by growth in gross premiums earned, coupled with less ceded premium compared to the prior year as described below.
•
Net loss ratio of 39.4%, an 18.8 point improvement over the prior year ratio of 58.2%, driven by the reduction of losses and LAE as described above coupled with higher net premiums earned.
•
Net expense ratio of 33.6%, down 2.4 points from the prior year amount of 36.0%, driven by lower operating expenses coupled with higher net earned premium. The decrease in policy acquisition costs is primarily driven by higher ceding commission associated with the net quota share reinsurance program while the increase in general and administrative expenses relates to higher human capital and systems costs, both of which are described below.
•
Net combined ratio of 73.1%, a 21.1 point improvement from 94.2% in the prior year, primarily driven by lower net loss ratio and a lower net expense ratio as described above.
•
Effective tax rate was 24.6% compared to 25.7% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2025 was slightly lower than the statutory rate, driven primarily by higher pretax income which had a dilutive effect on permanent tax differences.
Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||
| REVENUE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Gross premiums written | $ | 1,436,346 | $ | 1,432,942 | $ | 3,404 | 0.2 | % | ||||||||
| Change in gross unearned premiums | (5,243 | ) | (26,836 | ) | 21,593 | 80.5 | % | |||||||||
| Gross premiums earned | 1,431,103 | 1,406,106 | 24,997 | 1.8 | % | |||||||||||
| Ceded premiums | (636,946 | ) | (638,246 | ) | 1,300 | 0.2 | % | |||||||||
| Net premiums earned | 794,157 | 767,860 | 26,297 | 3.4 | % | |||||||||||
| Net investment income | 37,156 | 36,631 | 525 | 1.4 | % | |||||||||||
| Net realized gains (losses) on debt securities and other investments | 2,713 | (705 | ) | 3,418 | NM | |||||||||||
| Other revenue | 13,304 | 13,199 | 105 | 0.8 | % | |||||||||||
| Total revenue | 847,330 | 816,985 | $ | 30,345 | 3.7 | % | ||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 313,246 | $ | 447,048 | $ | (133,802 | ) | (29.9 | %) | |||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 173,961 | 191,189 | (17,228 | ) | (9.0 | %) | ||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 92,972 | 85,138 | 7,834 | 9.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 580,179 | 723,375 | (143,196 | ) | (19.8 | %) | ||||||||||
| Operating income | 267,151 | 93,610 | 173,541 | 185.4 | % | |||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 7,887 | 10,934 | (3,047 | ) | (27.9 | %) | ||||||||||
| Income before taxes | 259,264 | 82,676 | 176,588 | 213.6 | % | |||||||||||
| Income tax expense | 63,670 | 21,136 | 42,534 | 201.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 195,594 | $ | 61,539 | $ | 134,054 | 217.8 | % | ||||||||
| Basic net income per share | $ | 6.33 | $ | 2.01 | $ | 4.32 | 214.9 | % | ||||||||
| Diluted net income per share | $ | 6.32 | $ | 2.01 | $ | 4.31 | 214.4 | % |
Total revenue
Total revenue was $847.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, up 3.7% compared to $817.0 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher net premiums earned and net investment income, which includes a realized gain on a building sale, as described below.
43
Table of Contents
Gross premiums written
Gross premiums written were $1.44 billion, up 0.2% from $1.43 billion in the prior year, reflecting rating actions and deployment of our managed growth initiative, while ending our exposure management initiatives from prior years. These actions resulted in growth of our personal lines premium over the prior year. A reduction of written premium for commercial residential business, driven by competitive market conditions, was mostly offset the growth in the personal lines gross written premium. We believe we have achieved rate adequacy in over 90% of our territories and each of those territories were open for new business as of December 31, 2025.
Premiums-in-force were $1.43 billion as of December 31, 2025, representing a 0.1% decrease from the prior year due to a reduction in commercial residential in-force premium that offset growth in personal lines in-force premium throughout the book.
Gross premiums earned
Gross premiums earned were $1.43 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025, up 1.8% compared to $1.41 billion in the prior year reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months.
Ceded premiums
Ceded premiums were $636.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, down 0.2% compared to $638.2 million in the prior year. The decrease is primarily attributable to a favorable adjustment recorded in the fourth quarter to reflect a TIV true up on the catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance program and lower catastrophe loss reinstatement premium compared to the prior year, which was partly offset by higher ceded premium on the net quota share program from higher subject premium for that program.
Net premiums earned
Net premiums earned were $794.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, up 3.4% compared to $767.9 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher gross premiums earned coupled with lower ceded premiums as described above.
Net investment income, inclusive of net realized gains on debt securities and other investments
Net investment income, inclusive of net realized gains on debt securities and other investments was $39.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, up 11.0% compared to $35.9 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily due to a gain on a building sale during the third quarter as well as higher investment yields driven by higher cash and invested assets balances which are moving out on the yield curve, which was partly offset by lower yields on money market funds and our bank sweep accounts as a result of the current interest rate environment.
EXPENSE
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 313,246 | $ | 447,048 | $ | (133,802 | ) | (29.9 | %) | |||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 173,961 | 191,189 | (17,228 | ) | (9.0 | %) | ||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 92,972 | 85,138 | 7,834 | 9.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 580,179 | $ | 723,375 | $ | (143,196 | ) | (19.8 | %) |
Total operating expenses
Total operating expenses were $580.2 million, an improvement of 19.8% from $723.4 million in the prior year. As described below, the decrease in operating expenses was driven by a decrease in losses and loss adjustment expenses and policy acquisition costs offset by higher general and administrative expenses.
44
Table of Contents
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (LAE)
Losses and LAE were $313.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, an improvement of 29.9% compared to $447.0 million in the prior year. The decrease primarily stems from lower catastrophe losses, lower attritional losses and favorable loss development, which was partly offset by slightly higher weather losses compared to the prior year. Net current accident year weather and wildfire losses were $77.5 million, up from $146.7 million in the prior year. Current year catastrophe losses were $33.2 million compared to catastrophe weather losses of $104.6 million in the prior year. Other weather losses were $44.3 million compared to $42.1 million in the prior year. Additionally, attritional losses were lower than the prior year. Net favorable prior year loss development was $13.5 million for the year 2025 compared to net unfavorable loss development of $25.4 million for the prior year. The 2024 net unfavorable loss development stemmed primarily from losses associated with Hurricane Irma, for which the losses were fully retained.
Policy acquisition costs
Policy acquisition costs were $174.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, an improvement of 9% compared to $191.2 million in the prior year. The decrease is primarily attributable to higher ceding commission earned on the net quota share reinsurance contract, the income of which offsets other policy acquisition costs. The increase in ceding commission income is due to changes in the program which incepted December 31, 2024 and included a higher ceded premium rate and more written premium applicable to the program, as well as a higher ceding commission rate driven by favorable loss experience during 2025 for that program.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses were $93.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, up 9.2% compared to $85.1 million in the prior year. The increase was driven largely by human capital costs and higher costs associated with the implementation of a new claims, billing and policy system, which were partly offset by higher ceding commission and certain lower costs associated with the non-recurrence of 2024 expenses. The policy, billing and claims system was placed in service on a pilot basis late in the third quarter of 2024. Certain costs associated with the system are currently being capitalized as development is still in progress and the previously capitalized costs are now being amortized, while other costs associated with the system are being expensed as incurred. The Company’s implementation of enhanced and updated claims, policy, and billing systems is expected to enhance customer service, and improve the timeliness and quality of data analytics used to drive underwriting income, as well as the ability to leverage current and developing technology.
INCOME
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | 267,151 | $ | 93,610 | $ | 173,541 | 185.4 | % | ||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 7,887 | 10,934 | (3,047 | ) | (27.9 | %) | ||||||||||
| Income before taxes | 259,264 | 82,676 | 176,588 | 213.6 | % | |||||||||||
| Income tax expense | 63,670 | 21,136 | 42,534 | 201.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 195,594 | $ | 61,539 | $ | 134,054 | 217.8 | % | ||||||||
| Basic net income per share | $ | 6.33 | $ | 2.01 | $ | 4.32 | 214.9 | % | ||||||||
| Diluted net income per share | $ | 6.32 | $ | 2.01 | $ | 4.31 | 214.4 | % |
Net income
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $195.6 million or $6.32 per diluted share, an improvement of 217.8% from net income of $61.5 million or $2.01 per diluted share in the prior year. The increase was driven by higher net premiums earned, higher investment income, a significant decrease in losses and LAE, and lower operating expenses. The improvement in net income is also attributable to the positive result of rate actions, underwriting discipline, and exposure management undertaken during the last several years. These and other actions resulted in growth of 3.4% in net premiums earned and a 29.9% decrease in net losses and LAE, as described above. Policy acquisition costs decreased 9.0%, primarily related to an increase in ceding commission income on the net quota share reinsurance contracts. General and administrative costs increased 9.2% driven primarily by costs associated with software, including a new claims, billing and policy system as well as an increase
45
Table of Contents
in human capital costs as described above. As described below, a lower effective tax rate amplified the benefit of these items on an after tax basis.
Interest expense, net
Interest expense was $7.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, a reduction from the prior year amount of $10.9 million by 27.9%. The decrease was attributable to the impact from the reduction of debt obligations accompanied with a lower interest rate environment for our variable rate debt.
Income tax expense
The expense for income taxes was $63.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to $21.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2025 was 24.6%, which is slightly lower than the statutory rate, compared to 25.6% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2025 was slightly lower than the statutory rate, driven primarily by higher pretax income which had a dilutive effect on permanent tax differences.
RATIOS
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||
| Ceded premium ratio | 44.5 | % | 45.4 | % | ||||
| Net loss and LAE ratio | 39.4 | % | 58.2 | % | ||||
| Net expense ratio | 33.6 | % | 36.0 | % | ||||
| Net combined ratio | 73.1 | % | 94.2 | % |
Net combined ratio
The net combined ratio was 73.1% for the year ended December 31, 2025, a 21.1 point improvement from 94.2% in the prior year. The improvement stems primarily from a significantly lower net loss and LAE ratio coupled with a lower net expense ratio, as described below.
Ceded premium ratio
The ceded premium ratio was 44.5% for the year ended December 31, 2025, a 0.9 point improvement from 45.4% to the prior year, reflecting the growth in gross premiums earned as well as lower reinsurance costs as described above.
Net loss and LAE ratio
The net loss and LAE ratio was 39.4% for the year ended December 31, 2025, an 18.8 point improvement from 58.2% in the prior year, primarily driven by the benefit of higher net premiums earned coupled with lower losses and LAE as described above.
Net expense ratio
The net expense ratio was 33.6% for the year ended December 31, 2025, a 2.4 point improvement from 36.0% in the prior year primarily driven by growth in net premiums earned coupled with lower policy acquisition costs which were partly offset by higher net general and administrative expenses as described above.
Financial Condition – December 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2024
Cash and Cash Equivalents
At December 31, 2025, cash and cash equivalents increased by $106.6 million to $559.3 million from $452.7 million at December 31, 2024. The increase was primarily a result of net cash provided by operations, which was held in money market funds for liquidity.
46
Table of Contents
Fixed Maturity Securities
At December 31, 2025, fixed income securities increased by $57.7 million to $713.2 million from $655.6 million at December 31, 2024. The increase primarily relates to purchases of fixed income securities to lock in interest rates.
Premiums Receivable, net
At December 31, 2025, premiums receivable, net decreased by $6.8 million to $95.3 million from $102.1 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease is primarily due to timing of issuance of policies as well as a smaller population of policyholders using pay plans for their premium payment. When premiums are paid upfront rather than using pay plans, the impact on premiums receivable is to decrease the balance.
Deferred Income Tax Asset, net
At December 31, 2025, the net deferred tax asset decreased by $8.0 million to $5.9 million from $13.9 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease is driven primarily by a reduction of net capitalized software costs as those costs were amortized during 2025. Additionally, the reduction in unrealized losses on investments contributed to a lower net deferred tax asset compared to the prior year.
Reinsurance Recoverable on Paid and Unpaid Claims
At December 31, 2025, reinsurance recoverable on paid and unpaid claims decreased by $421.6 million to $318.6 million from $740.2 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease is primarily due to reinsurance recoveries collected during 2025 for losses associated with Hurricanes Ian and Milton as well as a reduction in ultimate losses for certain catastrophic events which reduced reinsurance recoverable on unpaid claims as hurricane claims developed favorably during 2025.
Other Assets
At December 31, 2025, other assets increased by $22.2 million to $33.8 million from $11.6 million at December 31, 2024. A portion of the increase is driven by an $11.0 million loan to the buyer of a building sold during 2025 which was repaid in full to the Company in January 2026. Another portion of the increase is driven by an amount due from the Florida Department of Revenue associated with a premium tax credit provided by the Company to its policyholders, which was mandated by Florida law and will be credited against the Company's 2025 Florida premium tax on its return to be filed in March 2026.
Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses
At December 31, 2025, unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses decreased by $463.2 million to $579.5 million from $1.0 billion at December 31, 2024. This balance represents unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses gross of reinsurance. The decrease was primarily due to payment of claims for Hurricanes Milton and Ian during the year ended 2025, as well as a reduction in ultimate losses for certain catastrophic events as hurricane claims developed favorably during 2025.
Long-term debt, net
At December 31, 2025, long-term debt, net decreased by $37.9 million to $78.4 million from $116.3 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease is driven by a payoff of the FHLB loan coupled with a payoff of the mortgage on the building that was sold during 2025, as well as principal payments on the term loan.
Total Shareholders’ Equity
At December 31, 2025, total shareholders’ equity increased by $214.5 million to $505.3 million from $290.8 million at December 31, 2024. The increase is primarily due to net income of $195.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, coupled with a reduction in unrealized losses on our fixed income portfolio from $37.2 million at December 31, 2024 to $13.5 million at December 31, 2025 driven by lower interest rates during 2025, partly offset by the repurchase of stock during 2025.
47
Table of Contents
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal sources of liquidity include cash flows generated from operations, our cash and cash equivalents, our marketable securities balances and borrowings available under our credit facilities. As of December 31, 2025, we held $559.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $715.6 million in investments, compared to $452.7 million in cash and $663.4 million in investments as of December 31, 2024. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was primarily driven by cash from operations including collection of premiums and reinsurance recoveries, funds used for payment of claims, as well as timing of reinsurance premium payments. The increase in investments was driven by re-investment of proceeds from investment maturities and short term funds.
We generally hold substantial cash balances to meet seasonal liquidity needs including amounts to pay quarterly reinsurance installments as well as meet the collateral requirements of Osprey, our captive reinsurance company, which is required to maintain a collateral trust account equal to the risk that it assumes from our insurance company affiliates.
We believe that our sources of liquidity are adequate to meet our cash requirements for at least the next twelve months.
We may continue to pursue the acquisition of complementary businesses and make strategic investments. We may increase capital expenditures consistent with our investment plans and anticipated growth strategy. Cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to fund such expenditures. As such, in addition to the use of our existing Credit Facilities, we may need to utilize additional debt to secure funds for such purposes.
Statement of Cash Flows
The net increases (decreases) in cash and cash equivalents are summarized in the following table:
| For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2025 vs 2024 Change | 2024 vs 2023 Change | ||||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating activities | $ | 182,238 | $ | 87,095 | $ | 70,415 | $ | 95,143 | $ | 16,680 | ||||||||||
| Investing activities | (32,673 | ) | (91,599 | ) | 100,806 | 58,926 | (192,405 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Financing activities | (40,629 | ) | (5,190 | ) | 14,546 | (35,439 | ) | (19,736 | ) | |||||||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | 108,936 | $ | (9,694 | ) | $ | 185,767 | $ | 118,630 | $ | (195,461 | ) |
Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 was $182.2 million and $87.1 million, respectively. The increase was primarily driven by cash from operations including timing of receipt of premiums and reinsurance recoveries, and timing of cash flows associated with claim and reinsurance payments.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $32.7 million compared to net cash used of $91.6 million in the prior year. The change in cash used in investing activities relates primarily to timing of investment maturities and use of proceeds as well as availability of existing cash to invest in longer duration fixed income securities to lock in current interest rates, as well as proceeds from the sale of investment property, net of costs and commission expenses.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $40.6 million, as compared to cash used in financing activities of $5.2 million for the comparable period in 2024. The change in net cash from financing activities relates primarily to the repayments of the FHLB-ATL loan and the mortgage loan agreements for $19.2 million and $10.6 million during 2025, respectively, as well as stock repurchases. In comparison, we reported $5.5 million of proceeds in the first quarter of 2024 from a FHLB Des Moines loan.
48
Table of Contents
Credit Facilities
On July 22, 2025, the Company and its subsidiary guarantors entered into the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Amended and Restated Credit Agreement”) with lenders from time to time party thereto and Regions Bank, as administrative agent and collateral agent. The Amended and Restated Credit Agreement amended and restated in its entirety the Credit Agreement dated as of December 14, 2018 (as amended to date, the “Prior Credit Agreement”).
The Amended and Restated Credit Agreement provides for senior secured credit facilities in the aggregate principal amount of up to $200.0 million, consisting of (1) a five-year senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $75 million with a maturity of July 2030 (the “Term Loan Facility”), (2) a $75 million committed delayed draw term loan that may be advanced to finance specified permitted acquisitions and investments with a maturity of July 2030 (the “Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility”) and (3) a senior secured revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $50 million with a maturity of July 2030 (inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the revolving credit facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the revolving credit facility) (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and together with the Term Loan Facility and the Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility, the “Credit Facilities”).
Term Loan Facility. The principal amount of the term loan facility under the Prior Credit Agreement amortized in quarterly installments, with a scheduled maturity date of July 28, 2026, which was refinanced in full in connection with the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. The principal amount of the Term Loan Facility under the Amended and Restated Credit Facility amortizes in quarterly installments beginning with the close of the fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2025, in an amount equal to $937,500 per quarter, payable quarterly, and increasing to approximately $1.4 million per quarter commencing with the quarter ending September 30, 2028, with the remaining balance payable at maturity in July 2030. As of December 31, 2025, there was $74.1 million in aggregate principal amount outstanding under the Term Loan Facility and as of December 31, 2024, there was $70.1 million in aggregate principal outstanding under the term loan facility under the Prior Credit Agreement.
Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility allows for borrowings of up to $50 million inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25.0 million and the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility. Immediately prior to entering into the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement the outstanding balance under the revolving credit facility under the Prior Credit Agreement was $10.0 million, which amount was repaid in connection with the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. During 2024, the Company secured letters of credit in aggregate of $24.4 million with a maturity date of March 16, 2025. There were no draws on the letters of credit during 2025, which were cancelled effective on their maturity date of March 16, 2025. On December 3, 2025, the Company secured letters of credit in aggregate of $32.0 million with a maturity date of March 31, 2026, with no draws as of December 31, 2025. Immediately prior to entering into the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement the outstanding balance under the revolving credit facility under the Prior Credit Agreement was $10.0 million, which was repaid in connection with the Amendment and Restated Credit Agreement. At December 31, 2025, the Company had $32.0 million in outstanding letters of credit issued from the Revolving Credit Facility.
At our option, borrowings under the Credit Facilities, bear interest at rates equal to either (1) a rate determined by reference to SOFR, plus an applicable margin (described below) or (2) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of (a) the “prime rate” of Regions Bank, (b) the federal funds rate plus 0.50%, and (c) the adjusted term SOFR in effect on such day for an interest period of one month plus 1.00%, plus an applicable margin (described below).
The applicable margin for loans under the Credit Facilities, varies from 2.50% per annum to 3.00% per annum (for SOFR loans) and 1.50% to 2.00% per annum (for base rate loans) based on our consolidated leverage ratio ranging from less than or equal to 1-to-1 to greater than 1.5-to-1. Interest payments with respect to the Credit Facilities are required either on a quarterly basis (for base rate loans) or at the end of each interest period (for SOFR loans) or, if the duration of the applicable interest period exceeds three months, then every three months. As of December 31, 2025, the borrowings under the Term Loan Facility were accruing interest at a rate of 6.416% per annum, respectively.
In addition to paying interest on outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, we are required to pay a quarterly commitment fee based on the unused portion of the Revolving Credit Facility, which is determined by our consolidated
49
Table of Contents
leverage ratio. As of December 31, 2025, the Company paid in commitment fees in aggregate of $109,688 as it relates to the unused portion of the Revolving Credit Facility.
The Company may prepay the loans under the Credit Facilities, in whole or in part, at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions including minimum amounts and reimbursement of certain costs in the case of prepayments of SOFR loans. In addition, we are required to prepay the loan under the Term Loan Facility with the proceeds from certain financing transactions, involuntary dispositions or asset sales (subject, in the case of asset sales, to reinvestment rights).
All obligations under the Credit Facilities are or will be guaranteed by each existing and future direct and indirect wholly owned domestic subsidiary of the Company, other than all of the Company’s current and future regulated insurance subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantors”).
The Company and the Guarantors are party to a Pledge and Security Agreement, (as amended from time to time the “Security Agreement”), in favor of a collateral agent. Pursuant to the Security Agreement, amounts borrowed under the Credit Facilities are secured on a first priority basis by a perfected security interest in substantially all of the present and future assets of the Company and each Guarantor (subject to certain exceptions), including all of the capital stock of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries, other than its regulated insurance subsidiaries.
The Amended and Restated Credit Agreement contains, among other things, covenants, representations and warranties and events of default customary for facilities of this type. The Amended and Restated Credit Agreement requires the Company to maintain, as of each fiscal quarter (1) a maximum consolidated leverage ratio of 2.00 to 1.00, (2) a minimum consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.20 to 1.00 and (3) a minimum consolidated tangible net worth for the Company and its subsidiaries, which is required to be not less than the sum of 75% of consolidated tangible net worth measured as of the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2025 plus 25% of positive consolidated net income (including its subsidiaries and regulated subsidiaries) plus the net cash proceeds of any equity transactions. Events of default include, among other events, (i) nonpayment of principal, interest, fees or other amounts; (ii) failure to perform or observe certain covenants set forth in the Credit Agreement; (iii) breach of any representation or warranty; (iv) cross-default to other indebtedness; (v) bankruptcy and insolvency defaults; (vi) monetary judgment defaults and material nonmonetary judgment defaults; (vii) customary ERISA defaults; (viii) a change of control of the Company; and (ix) failure to maintain specified catastrophe retentions in each of the Company’s regulated insurance subsidiaries or observe specified reinsurer concentration limits.
Convertible Notes
On August 10, 2017, the Company and Heritage MGA, LLC (the “Notes Guarantor”) entered into a purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the initial purchaser party thereto (the “Initial Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, and the Initial Purchaser agreed to purchase, $136.8 million aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 5.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2037 (the “Convertible Notes”) in a private placement transaction pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The net proceeds from the offering of the Convertible Notes, after deducting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately $120.5 million. The offering of the Convertible Notes was completed on August 16, 2017.
The Company issued the Convertible Notes under an Indenture (the “Convertible Note Indenture”), dated August 16, 2017, by and among the Company, as issuer, the Notes Guarantor, as guarantor, and the trustee party thereto (the “Trustee”).
The Convertible Notes bear interest at a rate of 5.875% per year. Interest is payable semi-annually in arrears, on February 1 and August 1 of each year. The Convertible Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the Company that rank senior in right of payment to the Company’s future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Convertible Notes; equal in right of payment to the Company’s unsecured indebtedness that is not so subordinated; effectively junior to any of the Company’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and structurally junior to all indebtedness or other liabilities incurred by the Company’s subsidiaries other than the Notes Guarantor, which fully and unconditionally guarantee the Convertible Notes on a senior unsecured basis.
The Convertible Notes mature on August 1, 2037, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted.
50
Table of Contents
Holders may convert their Convertible Notes at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding February 1, 2037, under the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on September 30, 2017, if the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock, for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the calendar quarter immediately preceding the calendar quarter in which the conversion occurs, is more than 130% of the conversion price of the Convertible Notes in effect on each applicable trading day; (2) during the ten consecutive business-day period following any five consecutive trading-day period in which the trading price for the Convertible Notes for each such trading day was less than 98% of the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock on such date multiplied by the then-current conversion rate; (3) if the Company calls any or all of the Convertible Notes for redemption, at any time prior to the close of business on the third business day immediately preceding the redemption date; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events.
On or after February 1, 2037 until the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 1, 2037, holders may surrender their Convertible Notes for conversion at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances.
Upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture)), holders of the Convertible Notes may require the Company to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their Convertible Notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.
At any time prior to February 1, 2037, the Company may redeem for cash all or any portion of the Convertible Notes, at the Company’s option, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date. No sinking fund is provided for the Convertible Notes, which means that the Company is not required to redeem or retire the Convertible Notes periodically. Holders of the Convertible Notes are able to cause the Company to repurchase their Convertible Notes for cash on any of August 1, 2022, August 1, 2027 and August 1, 2032, in each case at 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the relevant repurchase date.
The Convertible Note Indenture contains customary terms and covenants and events of default. If an Event of Default (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) occurs and is continuing, the Trustee by notice to the Company, or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes then outstanding by notice to the Company and the Trustee, may declare 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, all the Convertible Notes to be immediately due and payable. In the case of certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization (as set forth in the Convertible Note Indenture) with respect to the Company, 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, the Convertible Notes automatically become immediately due and payable.
As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, there was $885,000 principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes, net of $21.1 million of Convertible Notes held by an insurance company subsidiary.
FHLB Loan Agreements
In December 2018, a subsidiary of the Company received a 3.094% fixed interest rate cash loan of $19.2 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank Atlanta (“FHLB-ATL”). On September 29, 2023, the Company restructured the December 2018 agreement to extend the maturity date to March 28, 2025, with a 5.109% fixed interest rate payable quarterly commencing on December 28, 2023. Membership in the FHLB-ATL required an investment in FHLB-ATL’s common stock which was purchased in December 2018 and valued at $1.4 million. In March 2025, the FHLB-ATL agreement was repaid and the securities were released from pledged collateral. As of December 31, 2025, the subsidiary continues to be a member in FHLB-ATL with its common stock valued at $570,000.
In December 2018, another subsidiary became a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank Des Moines ("FHLB-DM"). Membership in the FHLB-DM required an investment in FHLB-DM’s common stock which was purchased in December 2018 and valued at $133,200. In January 2024, the insurance subsidiary of the Company received a 4.23% fixed interest rate cash loan of $5.5 million from the FHLB-DM. Additionally, the transaction required the acquired FHLB-DM common stock and certain
51
Table of Contents
other investments to be pledged as collateral. As of December 31, 2025, the fair value of the collateralized securities was $4.2 million and the equity investment in FHLB-DM common stock was $316,300.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our material contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2025:
| Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments | Total | Less Than 1 Year | 1-3 Years | 3-5 Years | More than 5 - Years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Term loans, notes and interest (1) | $ | 74,063 | $ | 3,750 | $ | 8,425 | 61,888 | $ | — | ||||||||||
| Convertible debt (1) | 36,990 | 1,293 | 2,586 | 2,586 | 30,524 | ||||||||||||||
| FHLB agreement (1) | 6,221 | 236 | 472 | 5,512 | — | ||||||||||||||
| Operating lease obligations | 23,725 | 4,964 | 9,812 | 8,085 | 864 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Contractual Obligations | $ | 140,998 | $ | 10,243 | $ | 21,297 | $ | 78,071 | $ | 31,388 |
(1)
Amounts represent principal and interest payments to debt obligations. Debt obligations are classified based on their stated maturity date. For further information on long-term debt, Refer to Note 14 “Long Term Debt” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The expected timing of payments of the obligations in the preceding table is estimated based on current information. Timing of payments and actual amounts paid may be different due to changes to agreed-upon amounts for some obligations.
Market Sensitive Instruments and Risk Management
Our investment results are subject to a variety of risks, including risks related to changes in the business, financial condition or results of operations of the entities in which we invest, as well as changes in general economic conditions and overall market conditions. We are also exposed to potential loss from various market risks, including changes in equity prices and interest rates.
In accordance with the SEC's Financial Reporting Release No 48, we performed sensitivity analysis, also referenced as the hypothetical analysis (refer to Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk) to determine the effects that market risk exposures could have on the Company's future portfolio's earnings, fair value or cash flow as of December 31, 2025. Market risk represents the risk of changes in the fair value of financial instrument and consists of several components, including liquidity, basis and price risks.
The sensitivity analysis performed as of December 31, 2025 presents hypothetical losses in cash flows, earnings and fair values of market sensitive instruments which were held by as of the year ended December 31, 2025 and are sensitive to changes in interest rates. This risk management discussion and the estimated amounts generated from the following sensitivity analysis represent forward-looking statements of market risk assuming certain adverse market conditions occur. Actual results in the future may differ materially from these projected results due to actual developments in the global financial markets. The analysis methods used by us to assess and mitigate risk should not be considered projections of future events of losses.
Exposure to market risk is managed and monitored by senior management of the parent company and its subsidiaries along with a nationally recognized asset manager. The investment committee, appointed by our board of directors approves the overall investment strategy and has responsibility to ensure that the investment positions are consistent with that strategy with an acceptable level of risk. Management of risk may include buying or selling instruments or entering into offsetting positions.
Fixed Income Securities
We invest in interest rate sensitive securities, primarily debt securities. We consider the effect of interest rate movements on the fair value of our fixed maturities, short-term investments and certain of our other investments, and investment funds accounted for using the equity method which invest in fixed income securities (collectively, “Fixed Income Securities”) and the corresponding change in unrealized appreciation. As interest rates rise, the fair value of our Fixed Income Securities falls, and the converse is also true.
The Company’s invested assets at December 31, 2025 were $715.6 million, of which 99.67% was invested in fixed maturity and short-term investments, 0.15% in equity securities, and 0.18% in other investments. Because the primary purpose of
52
Table of Contents
the investment portfolio is to fund future claims payments, the Company employs a thoughtful investment philosophy that focuses on appropriate risk-adjusted returns. A significant majority of funds available for investment are deployed in a widely diversified portfolio of high quality, liquid, taxable U.S. government, tax-exempt and taxable U.S. municipal and taxable corporate and U.S. agency mortgage-backed bonds.
Effects of Inflation
General economic inflation has increased in recent years and may continue to remain at elevated levels for an extended period of time. The potential also exists, after a catastrophe loss or pandemic events like COVID-19, for the development of inflationary pressures in a local economy. This may have a material effect on the adequacy of our reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses, especially in longer-tailed lines of business, and on the market value of our investment portfolio through rising interest rates. The anticipated effects of inflation are considered in our pricing models, reserving processes and exposure management, across all lines of business and types of loss including natural catastrophe events. The actual effects of inflation on our results cannot be accurately known until claims are ultimately settled and will vary by the specific type of inflation affecting our business.
The carrying value of the Company’s fixed maturity portfolio at December 31, 2025 was $712.2 million. The Company closely monitors the duration of its fixed maturity investments, and investment purchases and sales are executed with the objective of having adequate funds available to satisfy the Company’s insurance and debt obligations. The weighted average credit quality of the Company’s fixed maturity portfolio, both including and excluding U.S. Treasury securities, was "A+" at December 31, 2025 and “A” at December 31, 2024. Below investment grade securities represented 0.01% of the total fixed maturity investment portfolio at both December 31, 2025 and 2024. The weighted average effective duration of fixed maturities and short-term securities was 3.17 (3.21 excluding short-term securities) at December 31, 2025 and 3.06 (3.07 excluding short-term securities) at December 31, 2024.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The following discussion and analysis presents the more significant factors that affected our financial condition as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 and results of operations for each of the years then ended. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles of generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. While we base estimates on historical experience, current information and other factors deemed to be relevant, actual results could differ from those estimates.
We consider accounting estimates to be critical to reported financial results if (i) the accounting estimate requires management to make assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain and (ii) different estimates that management reasonably could have used for the accounting estimates in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. When we prepare our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we must make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts we report. Certain of these estimates result from judgments that can be subjective and complex. As a result of that subjectivity and complexity, and because we continuously evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on a variety of factors, actual results could materially differ from our estimates and assumptions if changes in one or more factors require us to make accounting adjustments.
Premiums. We recognize direct and assumed premiums written as revenue, net of ceded amounts, on a daily pro rata basis over the contract period of the related policies that are in force. For any portion of premiums not earned at the end of the reporting period, we record an unearned premium liability.
53
Table of Contents
Premiums receivable represents amounts due from our policyholders for billed premiums and related policy fees. Our billing system is established in a manner to ensure that policies are canceled if the unpaid premium exceeds the amount of premium earned. When we receive payments on amounts previously charged off, we credit bad debt expense in the period we receive the payment. Balances in premiums receivable and the associated allowance account are removed upon cancellation of the policy due to non-payment. For December 31, 2025 and 2024 we recorded bad debt expense of approximately $390,200 and $51,500 respectively.
When we receive premium payments from policyholders prior to the effective date of the related policy, we record an advance premium liability. On the policy effective date, we reduce the advance premium liability and record the premiums as described above.
Reserves for Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses. Reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, also referred to as loss reserves, represent the most significant accounting estimate inherent in the preparation of our financial statements. These reserves represent management’s best estimate of the amount we will ultimately pay for losses and loss adjustment expenses and we base the amount upon the application of various actuarial reserve estimation techniques as well as considering other material facts and circumstances known at the balance sheet date. We establish two categories of loss reserves as follows: Case reserves—When a claim is reported, we establish an initial estimate of the losses that will ultimately be paid on the reported claim. Our initial estimate for each claim is based upon the judgment of our claims professionals who are familiar with property and liability losses associated with the coverage offered by our policies. Then, our claims personnel perform an evaluation of the type of claim involved, the circumstances surrounding each claim and the policy provisions relating to the loss and adjust the reserve, as necessary. As claims mature, we increase or decrease the reserve estimates as deemed necessary by our claims department based upon additional information we receive regarding the loss, the results of on-site reviews and any other information we gather while reviewing the claims. IBNR reserves—Our IBNR reserves include true IBNR reserves plus “bulk” reserves. True IBNR reserves represent amounts related to claims for which a loss occurred on or before the date of the financial statements, but which have not yet been reported to us. Bulk reserves represent additional amounts that cannot be allocated to particular claims, but which are necessary to estimate ultimate losses on known claims. We estimate our IBNR reserves by projecting our ultimate losses using industry accepted actuarial methods and then deducting actual loss payments and case reserves from the projected ultimate losses. We review and adjust our IBNR reserves on a quarterly basis based on information available to us at the balance sheet date.
When we establish our reserves, we analyze various factors such as the evolving historical loss experience of the insurance industry as well as our experience, claims frequency and severity, our business mix, our claims processing procedures, legislative enactments, judicial decisions and legal developments in imposition of damages, and general economic conditions, including inflation. A change in any of these factors from the assumptions implicit in our estimates will cause our ultimate loss experience to be better or worse than indicated by our reserves, and the difference could be material. Due to the interaction of the foregoing factors, there is no precise method for evaluating the impact of any one specific factor in isolation, and an element of judgment is ultimately required. Due to the uncertain nature of any future projections, the ultimate amount we will pay for losses will be different from the reserves we record.
We determine our ultimate loss reserves by selecting an estimate within a relevant range of indications that we calculate using generally accepted actuarial techniques. Our selection of the point estimate is influenced by the analysis of our paid losses and incurred losses since inception.
Our external reserving actuaries evaluated the adequacy of our reserves as of December 31, 2025 and concluded that our reported loss reserves would meet the requirements of the insurance laws of the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, be consistent with reserves computed in accordance with accepted loss reserving standards and principles, and make a reasonable provision for all unpaid loss and loss adjustment expense obligations under the terms of our contracts and agreements. In addition to $128.7 million of recorded case reserves, we recorded $450.8 million of IBNR reserves as of December 31, 2025 to achieve overall gross reserves of $579.5 million. At December 31, 2025, ceded IBNR and net IBNR were $203.1 million and $247.7 million, respectively.
The process of establishing our reserves is complex and inherently imprecise, as it involves using judgment that is affected by many variables. We believe a reasonably likely change in almost any of the factors we evaluate as part of our loss reserve analysis could have an impact on our reported results, financial position and liquidity.
54
Table of Contents
The following table quantifies the pro forma impact of hypothetical changes in our net loss reserves on our net income, stockholders’ equity, and liquidity as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025 (in thousands):
| Actual | Low Estimate | % Change from Actual | High Estimate | % Change from Actual | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Loss Reserves | $ | 310,109 | $ | 220,586 | 28.9 | % | $ | 333,059 | (7.4 | )% | ||||||||||
| Impact on: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 195,594 | $ | 261,394 | 33.6 | % | $ | 178,726 | (8.6 | )% | ||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity | $ | 505,251 | $ | 571,051 | 13.0 | % | $ | 488,383 | (3.3 | )% | ||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and investments(1) | $ | 1,274,860 | $ | 1,340,660 | 5.2 | % | $ | 1,257,992 | (1.3 | )% |
(1)
Estimated cash, cash equivalents and investments is intended to present a measure of future liquidity and consists of cash, cash equivalents, and investments, less the change in loss reserves, net of taxes.
Policy Acquisition Costs. We incur policy acquisition costs that vary with, and are directly related to, the production of new business. Policy acquisition costs consist of the following four items: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We capitalize policy acquisition costs to the extent recoverable, then we amortize those costs over the contract period of the related policy. We also earn ceding commission on our quota share reinsurance contracts, which is presented as a reduction of policy acquisition costs on the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Comprehensive Income, with any unearned ceding commission recognized as an offset to deferred policy acquisition costs on the Consolidated Balance Sheet and within the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements described in Note 11. Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
Our accounting policy is to allocate ceding commission income between policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses for financial reporting purposes based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. For the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, we earned ceding commission income of $72.9 million, $50.3 million and $64.8 million of which $54.8 million, $37.8 million and $48.7 million was allocable to policy acquisition costs.
Deferred taxes. At December 31, 2025, we assessed our deferred tax position and hold no valuation against our net deferred tax assets as there is sufficient evidence to support the recorded net deferred tax asset.
Provision for Premium Deficiency. At each reporting date, we determine whether we have a premium deficiency. A premium deficiency would result if the sum of our expected losses, deferred policy acquisition costs and policy maintenance costs (such as costs to store records and costs incurred to collect premiums and pay commissions) exceeded our related unearned premiums plus investment income. Should we determine that a premium deficiency exists, we would write off the unrecoverable portion of deferred policy acquisition costs. No accruals for premium deficiency were considered necessary as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.
Reinsurance. We follow the industry practice of reinsuring a portion of our risks. Reinsurance involves transferring, or “ceding”, all or a portion of the risk exposure on policies we write to another insurer, known as a reinsurer. To the extent that our reinsurers are unable to meet the obligations they assume under our reinsurance agreements, we remain liable for the entire insured loss.
Our reinsurance agreements are prospective contracts. We record an asset, prepaid reinsurance premiums, and a liability, reinsurance payable, for the entire contract amount upon commencement of our new reinsurance agreements. We amortize our prepaid reinsurance premiums over the 12-month contract period.
55
Table of Contents
In the event that we incur losses recoverable under our reinsurance program, we record amounts recoverable from our reinsurers on paid losses plus an estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses. The estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses is a function of our liability for unpaid losses associated with the reinsured policies; therefore, the amount changes in conjunction with any changes to our estimate of unpaid losses. In the event that we incur losses recoverable under the reinsurance program, the estimate of amounts recoverable from reinsurers on unpaid losses may change at any point in the future because of its relation to our reserves for unpaid losses.
We estimate uncollectible amounts receivable from reinsurers based on an assessment of factors including the creditworthiness of the reinsurers and the adequacy of collateral obtained, where applicable. We had no uncollectible amounts under our reinsurance program or bad debt expense related to reinsurance for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Effective
The Company describes the recent pronouncements that have had or may have a significant effect on its financial statements or on its disclosures. The Company does not discuss recent pronouncements that a) are not anticipated to have an impact on, or b) are unrelated to its financial condition, results of operations, or related disclosures. For accounting pronouncements not yet adopted, Refer to Note 1 “Basis of Presentation, Nature of Business and Significant Accounting Policies and Practices” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further information.
56
Table of Contents
MD&A history
Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. The latest 10-K appears above; prior years are below.
FY 2024 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001598665-25-000009.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Overview
We are a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company that primarily provides personal and commercial residential insurance products across our multi-state footprint. We provide personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia and commercial residential insurance in Florida, New Jersey, and New York. We provide personal residential insurance in Florida and South Carolina on both an admitted and non-admitted basis and in California on a non-admitted basis. As a vertically integrated insurer, we control or manage substantially all aspects of risk management, underwriting, claims processing and adjusting, actuarial rate making and reserving, customer service, and distribution. Our financial strength ratings are important to us in establishing our competitive position and can impact our ability to write policies.
Recent Developments
Economic and Market Factors
We continue to monitor the effects of general changes in economic and market conditions on our business. As a result of general inflationary pressures, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, increased cost of materials and labor needed for repairs and to otherwise remediate claims throughout all states in which we conduct business. Additionally, we anticipate continued rising costs and constrained availability of catastrophe reinsurance. We mitigate these conditions by continued exposure management, implementation of increased rates and the use of inflation guard, which ensures appropriate replacement cost values for our business to reflect the inflationary impact on costs to repair properties. Use of inflation guard impacts both premium and total insured value of properties.
Supplemental Information
The Supplemental Information table below demonstrates progress on our initiatives by providing policy count, premiums-in-force, and total insured value for Florida and all other states as of December 31, 2024 and comparing those metrics to December 31, 2023. One of our strategies had been to reduce personal lines exposure in Florida, given historical abusive claims practices. Since 2022, several legislative changes have been implemented to positively impact the Florida property insurance market by curtailing assignment of benefits and litigated claims abuses. The positive impact of the legislative changes is reflected in our loss trends. As such, we anticipate writing more organic personal lines business in Florida. Coupled with more adequate rates, we are pursuing a strategy of controlled growth in Florida. We have selectively opened personal lines markets across our footprint for new business.
| At December 31, | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policies in force: | 2024 | 2023 | % Change | ||||||||
| Florida | 133,775 | 153,387 | (12.8) | % | |||||||
| Other States | 255,700 | 297,288 | (14.0) | % | |||||||
| Total | 389,475 | 450,675 | (13.6) | % | |||||||
| Premiums in force: | |||||||||||
| Florida | $ | 707,196,956 | $ | 695,010,638 | 1.8 | % | |||||
| Other States | 726,047,974 | 661,392,787 | 9.8 | % | |||||||
| Total | $ | 1,433,244,930 | $ | 1,356,403,425 | 5.7 | % | |||||
| Total Insured Value: | |||||||||||
| Florida | $ | 102,661,095,301 | $ | 103,535,162,876 | (0.8) | % | |||||
| Other States | 264,950,913,861 | 286,860,809,967 | (7.6) | % | |||||||
| Total | $ | 367,612,009,162 | $ | 390,395,972,843 | (5.8) | % |
Florida policies-in-force declined from the prior year by 12.8% while Florida premiums-in-force increased 1.8%, and Florida total insured value ("TIV") was slightly down. The increase in Florida premiums-in-force was driven by organic growth of our commercial residential and surplus lines business as well as higher rates across our footprint which
31
was partly offset by a premium reduction associated with fewer Florida personal lines policies. Use of inflation guard also bolstered premiums-in-force. The Florida TIV remained relatively flat as the reduction associated with personal lines policies was offset by the strategic growth of our commercial residential portfolio, as well as use of inflation guard across the book of business. Compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, the policy count for markets outside of Florida decreased 14.0% due to underwriting actions and intentional exposure management, resulting in a TIV decrease of 7.6% while premiums-in-force increased by 9.8% due to rating actions.
Strategic Profitability Initiatives
Over the past three years the Company has focused on three main strategic initiatives aimed at achieving consistent long-term quarterly earnings and driving shareholder value including:
•Generating underwriting profit through rate adequacy and more selective underwriting.
•Allocating capital to products and geographies that maximize long-term returns.
•Maintaining a balanced and diversified portfolio.
Notable Achievements of Our Strategic Profitability Initiatives Since Launch in 2022
•12 consecutive quarters of achieving in-force premium growth.
•Reduced policies in force by nearly 30.0%; reduced TIV by 10.3%, and increased in-force premium by nearly 12.0%.
•Reduced exposures in over concentrated areas and in geographies where adequate rates were not achieved.
•Grew the commercial portfolio in-force premium by nearly 100%.
•Achieved rate adequacy in over 90% of our served markets.
•Launched E&S in several states that has now grown to over $46 million of in-force premium.
Strategic Initiatives for 2025
•Re-open profitable geographies and allocate capital to sustain profits and margin.
•Persistent underwriting discipline and focus on rate adequacy.
•Continued data driven analytics to drive exposure management.
Reinsurance Commutation
As further described in Note 17, Commitments and Contingencies, and Note 13, Reserve for Unpaid Losses, to the condensed consolidated financial statements, our 2017 reinsurance agreement with the FHCF required a commutation no later than 60 months after the end of the contract year. As part of this process, Heritage and FHCF terminated the 2017 reinsurance agreement and agreed on the amount that the FHCF would pay to the Company to settle all outstanding losses owed under the agreement related to losses from Hurricane Irma. As such, this commutation process resulted in a final determination of and payment for known, unknown or unreported claims relating to Hurricane Irma. Social inflation and the litigated claims environment in the State of Florida, which affected Hurricane Irma claims, could result in adverse development of these claims, which creates uncertainty as to the ultimate cost to settle all of the remaining Hurricane Irma claims. Accordingly, the final amount paid by the FHCF could vary from the Company’s future estimation of losses to be recovered from the FHCF. As such, should further re-estimations to Hurricane Irma losses increase the Company's expected loss reserves, all the increase will be retained by the Company. The commutation process was finalized and binding for both parties upon completion which occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2023 and the final payment by the FHCF was received by the Company in September 2023.
Trends
Inflation, Underwriting and Pricing
We continue to address rising reinsurance and loss costs in the property insurance sector through continued implementation of increased rates and inflation guard factors resulting in an increase in the average premium per policy of 22.3% at December 31, 2024 as compared to the prior year. The increase in average premium includes rate changes, inclusion of inflation in premiums as described below, and changes in the mix of business written. We experienced intentional growth of our commercial residential business during 2024 and this line of business generates significantly higher average premium per policy. New rates, which are subject to approval by our regulators, become effective when a policy is written or renewed, and the premium is earned pro rata over the policy period of one year. As a result of this
32
timing, it can take up to twenty-four months for the complete impact of a rate change to be fully earned in our financial statements. For that reason, we account for inflation in our rate indications and filings with our regulators.
We invest in data analytics, using software and experienced personnel, to continuously evaluate our underwriting criteria and manage exposure to catastrophe and other losses. Our retention has remained steadily in the range of 90% despite the rate increases we have implemented, in large part due to a challenging property insurance market in many of the regions in which we operate. Weather losses and a higher cost of reinsurance have impacted these markets. While we believe our rates are generally competitive with private market insurers operating in our space, we are focused on managing exposure and achieving rate adequacy throughout our book of business.
We continue to experience rising inflation in the form of increased labor and material costs, which drive up claim costs throughout all states in which we conduct business. Our Florida personal lines market was seeing claim costs impacted by litigated claims, which substantially increases loss costs thereby driving up rates for the insurance buying public. Our response to this phenomenon was a combination of raising rates and reducing exposure. In recent years, legislative changes have been made in Florida which we believe are making progress toward reducing losses from abusive claim reporting practices. The special legislative session of December 2022 included a number of additional provisions aimed at driving down claims abuses and stabilizing the Florida property insurance market. The positive impact of this legislation, coupled with rate adequacy and disciplined underwriting, has resulted in the selective re-opening of counties for new personal lines business in Florida.
Our industry had experienced significantly higher reinsurance costs and more constrained availability for catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance in recent years. For the 2024 hurricane season, the supply of catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance for the Company was ample and pricing and terms have begun to moderate. We are managing exposure by writing new business only in geographies for which rates are adequate, non-renewing unprofitable business in compliance with regulatory requirements, and maintaining our strict underwriting requirements. We have improved the geographic distribution of our business, which is becoming more rate adequate.
Key Components of our Results of Operations
Revenue
Gross premiums written represent, with respect to a period, the sum of direct premiums written (premiums from policies written during the period, net of any midterm cancellations and renewals of voluntary policies) and assumed premiums written (primarily premiums from state fair plan policies), in each case prior to ceding premiums to reinsurers.
Gross premiums earned represent the total premiums earned during a period from policies written. Premiums associated with new and renewal policies are earned ratably over the twelve-month term of the policy and premiums associated with assumed policies are earned ratably over the remaining term of the policy.
Ceded premiums represent the cost of our reinsurance during a period. We recognize the cost of our reinsurance program ratably over term of the arrangement, which is typically twelve months. Our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance generally commences on June 1 and runs through May 31 of the following year. Our net quota share treaty commences on December 31. Our other reinsurance programs may be purchased on a calendar or fiscal year basis.
Net premiums earned reflect gross premiums earned less ceded premiums during the period.
Net investment income represents interest earned on fixed maturity securities, short term securities and other investments, dividends on equity securities.
Net realized and unrealized gains or losses represent gains or losses on investment sales and unrealized gains or losses on equity securities.
Other revenue includes rental income due under non-cancelable leases for space at the Company’s commercial property in Clearwater, Florida, and all policy and pay-plan fees. Our regulators have approved a policy fee on each policy written for certain states; to the extent these fees are not subject to refund, the Company recognizes the income immediately when collected. The Company also charges pay-plan fees to policyholders that pay premiums in more than one installment and record the fees as income when collected.
Expenses
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) reflect losses paid, expenses paid to resolve claims, such as fees paid to adjusters, attorneys and investigators, and changes in our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses during the period, in each case net of losses ceded to reinsurers. Our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the estimated ultimate cost of resolving all reported claims plus all losses we incurred related to insured
33
events that we assume have occurred as of the reporting date, but that policyholders have not yet reported to us (which are commonly referred to as incurred but not reported, or “IBNR”). We estimate our reserves for unpaid losses using individual case-based estimates for reported claims and actuarial estimates for IBNR losses. We continually review and adjust our estimated losses as necessary based on our evolving claims experience, new information obtained and industry development trends. If our unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses are considered deficient or redundant, we increase or decrease the liability in the period in which we identify the difference and reflect the change in our current period results of operations.
Policy acquisition costs (“PAC”) consist of: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We recognize policy acquisition costs ratably over the term of the underlying policy. We earn ceding commissions on our net quota share reinsurance contract and certain other reinsurance contracts, which are reported as a reduction to policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. Refer to Note 11 “Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10K. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
General and administrative expenses (“G&A”) include compensation and related benefits, professional fees, office lease and related expenses, information system expenses, corporate insurance, and other general and administrative costs. As noted above, a certain portion of our ceding commissions are allocated to general and administrative expenses.
Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state corporate level income taxes. The effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year and updated with actual amounts in the fourth quarter. The effective tax rate can vary from the 25.9% statutory federal and state blended rate depending on the amount of pretax income in proportion to permanent tax differences as well as state tax apportionment. The 2023 effective tax rate was favorably impacted by the release of valuation allowance associated with the operations of our captive reinsurer, Osprey.
Ratios
Ceded premium ratio represents ceded premiums earned as a percentage of gross premiums earned.
Net loss ratio represents net losses and LAE as a percentage of net premiums earned.
Net expense ratio represents PAC and G&A expenses as a percentage of net premiums earned. Ceding commission income is reported as a reduction of policy acquisition costs and G&A expenses.
Net combined ratio represents the sum of the net loss and expense ratio. The net combined ratio is a key measure of underwriting performance traditionally used in the property and casualty insurance industry. A net combined ratio under 100% generally reflects profitable underwriting results.
Overview of 2024 Financial Results
In the following section, we discuss our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, please Refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2024.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows provides information that will assist the reader in understanding our consolidated financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from year to year, including certain key performance indicators such as net combined ratio, ceded premium ratio, net expense ratio and net loss ratio, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our consolidated financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
•Net income for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $61.5 million or $2.01 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $45.3 million or $1.73 diluted loss per share in the prior year. The increase was driven mostly by the positive impact of rate actions, underwriting actions, and exposure management undertaken during 2022, 2023 and 2024, partly offset by higher operating expenses and income taxes, as described below.
34
•Gross premiums written of $1.43 billion, an improvement of 6.7% from $1.34 billion in the prior year, driven primarily by rate actions taken in all states, which was partly offset by a personal lines policy count reduction driven by exposure management. Growth in the commercial lines business offset the decline in personal lines policies. Additionally, rate increases continued to meaningfully benefit written premiums throughout the book of business and use of inflation guard, which ensures appropriate property values, resulted in higher premium. While we expect underwriting discipline and exposure management to continue, the specific intentional targeted exposure management of the last several years is expected to level out going forward as we continue our controlled growth strategy, which includes strategically growing the personal lines policy count.
•Gross premiums earned of $1.4 billion, an improvement of 6.2% from $1.3 billion in the prior year, reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months driven by a higher average premium per policy as described above.
•Net premiums earned of $767.9 million, an improvement of 10.1% from $697.2 million in the prior year, reflecting the higher gross earned premium outpacing the increase in ceded premiums for the year.
•Losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred of $447.0 million, up 4.9% from $426.1 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher catastrophe losses, partly offset by lower weather and attritional losses as described below. Additionally, we experienced $25.4 million of adverse prior year development compared to $1.6 million of favorable prior year development in 2023. The adverse development was driven largely by development of Hurricane Irma claims. The net unfavorable loss development stemmed primarily from losses associated with Hurricane Irma, for which the losses were fully retained.
•Ceded premium ratio of 45.4%, a 1.9 point improvement over the prior year of 47.3%, driven by growth in gross premiums earned, which grew at a faster rate than the growth in ceded premiums.
•Net loss ratio of 58.2%, a 2.9 point improvement over the prior year of 61.1%, driven by the benefit of higher net premiums earned as described above, which exceeded the impact of higher losses and loss adjustments expenses incurred, as described above.
•Net expense ratio of 36.0%, up 0.8 points from the prior year amount of 35.2%, as growth in policy acquisition costs outpaced growth in net earned premium. The increase in policy acquisition costs is associated with the increase in gross premiums written as well as lower ceding commission associated with the net quota share reinsurance program as described below.
•Net combined ratio of 94.2%, a 2.1 point improvement from 96.3% in the prior year, primarily driven by lower net loss ratio, partly offset by a higher net expense ratio as described above.
•Effective tax rate was 25.6 % compared to 12.9% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2024 was slightly lower than the statutory rate. The effective tax rate for 2023 benefited from a $6.4 million reduction in the valuation allowance against our Osprey net deferred tax assets that had been established in the prior year, as operating income at Osprey for the year ended December 31, 2023 resulted in sufficient positive evidence to release the valuation allowance on the Osprey net deferred assets. The effective tax rate can also vary driven by the impact of permanent differences in relation to the pre-tax income or loss each year.
35
Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | |||||||||||||||
| REVENUE: | |||||||||||||||
| Gross premiums written | $ | 1,432,942 | $ | 1,343,101 | $ | 89,841 | 6.7 | % | |||||||
| Change in gross unearned premiums | (26,836) | (19,458) | (7,378) | 37.9 | % | ||||||||||
| Gross premiums earned | 1,406,106 | 1,323,643 | 82,463 | 6.2 | % | ||||||||||
| Ceded premiums | (638,246) | (626,458) | (11,788) | 1.9 | % | ||||||||||
| Net premiums earned | 767,860 | 697,185 | 70,675 | 10.1 | % | ||||||||||
| Net investment income | 36,631 | 25,756 | 10,875 | 42.2 | % | ||||||||||
| Net realized losses and impairment losses | (705) | (972) | 267 | (27.5) | % | ||||||||||
| Other revenue | 13,199 | 13,529 | (330) | (2.4) | % | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | 816,985 | 735,498 | 81,487 | 11.1 | % | ||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | |||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 447,048 | $ | 426,129 | $ | 20,919 | 4.9 | % | |||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 191,189 | 167,610 | 23,579 | 14.1 | % | ||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 85,138 | 77,777 | 7,361 | 9.5 | % | ||||||||||
| Intangible asset impairment | — | 767 | — | (100.0) | % | ||||||||||
| Total expenses | 723,375 | 672,283 | 51,092 | 7.6 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating income | 93,610 | 63,215 | 30,395 | 48.1 | % | ||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 10,934 | 11,210 | (276) | (2.5) | % | ||||||||||
| Income before taxes | 82,676 | 52,005 | 30,671 | 59.0 | % | ||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 21,136 | 6,698 | 14,438 | 215.6 | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | 61,539 | 45,307 | 16,232 | 35.8 | % | ||||||||||
| Basic net income per share | $ | 2.01 | $ | 1.73 | $ | 0.28 | 16.2 | % | |||||||
| Diluted net income per share | 2.01 | 1.73 | 0.28 | 16.2 | % |
Total revenue
Total revenue was $817.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 11.1% compared to $735.5 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher net premiums earned and net investment income as described below.
Gross premiums written
Gross premiums written were $1.4 billion, up 6.7% year-over-year from $1.3 billion, reflecting a strategic and substantial increase in Florida commercial residential lines business and a higher average premium per policy throughout the book of business, partly offset by intentional targeted exposure management resulting in premium reductions of personal lines business in most states. We experienced premiums written growth of 7.4% in Florida driven by growth of the commercial residential portfolio, which offset a reduction of premium written for the Florida personal lines portfolio. Premiums written outside of Florida grew 5.0% driven by growth of the California E&S business and rate actions in other states, which was partly offset by a reduction related to exposure management.
Intentional targeted exposure management was a key component of management's strategic profitability initiatives over the last several years, which were implemented to achieve consistent long-term quarterly earnings and drive shareholder value. While we expect underwriting discipline and exposure management to continue, the rate of specific intentional targeted exposure management of the last several years is expected to stabilize going forward as we continue our strategy of controlled growth in 2025.
Premiums-in-force were $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2024, representing a 5.7% increase from the prior year due to continued proactive underwriting action and rate increases across the entire portfolio and strategic growth in our
36
commercial residential product, despite a policy count reduction of over 60,000, driven by an intentional reduction in our personal lines policy count. Concurrently, TIV decreased by 5.8%.
Gross premiums earned
Gross premiums earned were $1.4 billion for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 6.2% compared to $1.3 billion in the prior year, reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months driven by a higher average premium per policy, use of inflation guard, and organic growth of the commercial residential business.
Ceded premiums
Ceded premiums were $638.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 1.9% compared to $626.5 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to reinstatement premium of approximately$30.0 million associated with Hurricanes Ian and Milton and a higher cost of catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance, partly offset by a lower cost for our net quota share reinsurance associated with cession and associated premium volume changes. To the extent the ultimate losses for Hurricanes Ian or Milton grow, additional reinstatement premiums may be incurred depending upon the amount of additional reinsurance limit utilized.
The reduction in the net quota share reinsurance cost is associated with program changes coupled with lower premium on policies eligible for this program; the California E&S business, which has grown, does not participate in the net quota share reinsurance program. Ceding commission income associated with the net quota share reinsurance program also decreased, which drove up policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses.
Net premiums earned
Net premiums earned were $767.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 10.1% compared to $697.2 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher gross premiums earned outpacing higher ceded premiums as described above.
Net investment income
Net investment income, inclusive of realized investment gains (losses) and unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities, was $35.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 45.0% compared to $24.8 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily due to higher yields on cash and invested assets associated with higher interest rates, coupled with higher balances of cash and invested assets.
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | |||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 447,048 | $ | 426,129 | $ | 20,919 | 4.9 | % | |||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 191,189 | 167,610 | 23,579 | 14.1 | % | ||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 85,138 | 77,777 | 7,361 | 9.5 | % | ||||||||||
| Intangible asset impairment | — | 767 | — | (100.0) | % | ||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 723,375 | $ | 672,283 | $ | 51,092 | 7.6 | % |
Total operating expenses
Total operating expenses were $723.4 million, up 7.6% from $672.3 million in the prior year. As described below, the increase in operating expenses was driven by higher losses and loss adjustment expenses and higher policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses.
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (LAE)
Losses and LAE were $447.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 4.9% compared to $426.1 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher catastrophe losses and adverse development, which was partly offset by lower weather and attritional losses compared to the prior year. Net current accident year weather losses were $146.7 million, up $37.5 million from $109.2 million in the prior year. Current year catastrophe losses were $104.6 million compared to catastrophe weather losses of $48.3 million in the prior year. Other weather losses were $42.1 million compared to $60.9 million in the prior year. Attritional losses were lower, primarily associated with the reduction in personal lines policy count and related underwriting criteria enhancements, which improved the book of business.
37
For the year 2024, we experienced $25.4 million of adverse prior year development compared to $1.6 million of favorable development for the year 2023. The 2024 net unfavorable loss development stemmed primarily from losses associated with Hurricane Irma, for which the losses were fully retained.
Policy acquisition costs
Policy acquisition costs were $191.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 14.1% compared to $167.6 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily driven by higher acquisition costs associated with the growth in gross premiums written and lower ceding commission earned on the net quota share reinsurance contract, the income of which offsets, or reduces, other policy acquisition costs. The reduction in ceding commission income is due to less written premium associated with the net quota share reinsurance program.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses were $85.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 9.5% compared to $77.8 million in the prior year. The increase was driven by a reduction in ceding commission income, as described above, for which a portion is allocated to general and administrative expenses, as well as amortization of software and other costs that can no longer be capitalized, associated with the implementation of a new claims system, higher insurance costs, and installation of the new telephone system.
Impairment of Other Intangibles
We evaluate other intangible assets for impairment at least on an annual basis or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the carrying amount of other intangible assets may exceed their implied fair value. We had no impairments for any other intangible assets for the year ended December 31, 2024. In December 2023, we impaired approximately $0.8 million of other intangibles associated with our construction division due to management changes to its operations. Note 3 "Intangible Assets, net" of the notes to our consolidated financial statements for more detail on impairment of our goodwill in 2022.
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | 93,610 | $ | 63,215 | $ | 30,395 | 48.1 | % | |||||||
| Interest expense, net | 10,934 | 11,210 | (276) | (2.5) | % | ||||||||||
| Income before taxes | 82,676 | 52,005 | 30,671 | 59.0 | % | ||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 21,136 | 6,698 | 14,438 | 215.6 | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 61,539 | $ | 45,307 | $ | 16,232 | 35.8 | % | |||||||
| Basic net income per share | $ | 2.01 | $ | 1.73 | $ | 0.28 | 16.2 | % | |||||||
| Diluted net income per share | $ | 2.01 | $ | 1.73 | $ | 0.28 | 16.2 | % |
Net income
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $61.5 million, an improvement of 35.8% from net income of $45.3 million in the prior year. The improvement in net income is attributable to the positive result of rate actions, underwriting discipline, and exposure management undertaken during the last several years. These and other actions resulted in growth of 10.1% in net premiums earned and a 45.0% increase in net investment income, inclusive of investment gains and losses, as described above. An increase of 4.9% in net losses and LAE, a 14.1% increase in policy acquisition costs as well as a 9.5% increase in general and administrative costs partially offset higher total revenue compared to the prior year. As described above, a higher effective tax rate diluted the benefit of these items on an after tax basis.
Interest expense, net
Interest expense was $10.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, a reduction from the prior year by 2.5% as a result of a decrease in interest rates on our variable rate debt.
Provision for income taxes
The provision for income taxes was $21.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2024 was 25.6%, which is slightly lower than the statutory rate, compared to 12.9% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2023 was lower than the statutory rate driven by a $6.4 million reduction in the valuation allowance against our Osprey net deferred tax assets
38
that had been established in the prior year, as operating income at Osprey for the year ended December 31, 2023 resulted in full use of Osprey operating losses. The effective tax rate can also vary driven by the impact of permanent differences in relation to the pre-tax income or loss each year.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | |||||
| Ceded premium ratio | 45.4 | % | 47.3 | % | ||
| Net loss and LAE ratio | 58.2 | % | 61.1 | % | ||
| Net expense ratio | 36.0 | % | 35.2 | % | ||
| Net combined ratio | 94.2 | % | 96.3 | % |
Net combined ratio
The net combined ratio was 94.2% for the year ended December 31, 2024, a 2.1 point improvement from 96.3% in the prior year. The improvement stems primarily from a significantly lower net loss and LAE ratio, as described below.
Ceded premium ratio
The ceded premium ratio was 45.4% for the year ended December 31, 2024, a 1.9 point improvement from 47.3% to the prior year, reflecting the growth in gross premiums earned outpacing the growth in ceded premiums earned as described above.
Net loss and LAE ratio
The net loss and LAE ratio was 58.2% for the year ended December 31, 2024, a 2.9 point improvement from 61.1% in the prior year, primarily driven by the benefit of higher net premiums earned exceeding the impact of higher losses and LAE compared to the prior year
Net expense ratio
The net expense ratio was 36.0% for the year ended December 31, 2024, up 0.8 points from 35.2% in the prior year primarily driven by higher acquisition costs caused by the growth in gross premiums written as well as less ceding commission income as described above.
Financial Condition – December 31, 2024 compared to December 31, 2023
Cash and Cash Equivalents
At December 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents decreased by $11.0 million to $452.7 million from $463.6 million at December 31, 2023. The decrease is primarily due to the use of cash for payment of hurricane claims, partly offset by recoveries from reinsurers on Hurricanes Ian and Milton. Additionally, excess cash previously held in short term funds was used for the purchase of fixed income securities to lock in higher interest rates.
Fixed Maturity Securities
At December 31, 2024, fixed income securities increased by $94.0 million to $655.5 million from $560.7 million at December 31, 2023. The increase relates to investing in fixed income securities to lock in interest rates as well as from a reduction in unrealized losses as interest rates have declined since the fourth quarter of 2023.
Reinsurance Recoverable on Paid and Unpaid Claims
At December 31, 2024, reinsurance recoverable on paid and unpaid claims increased by $257.8 million to $740.2 million from $482.4 million at December 31, 2023. The increase is primarily due to reinsurance recoverable for losses associated with Hurricanes Ian and Milton.
Deferred Policy Acquisition costs, net
At December 31, 2024, deferred policy acquisition costs decreased by $6.1 million to $63.2 million from $69.3 million at December 31, 2023. The decrease is driven primarily by lower deferred costs such as a reduction in agent
39
commissions for certain geographies and lower premium taxes associated with written premium growth in states with lower premium tax.
Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses
At December 31, 2024, unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses increased by $196.7 million to $1.0 billion from $846.0 at December 31, 2023. The increase is primarily due to gross losses related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton which struck Florida in the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
Unearned Premiums
At December 31, 2024, unearned premiums increased by $26.8 million to $702.7 million from $675.9 million at December 31, 2023, driven by higher gross premiums written during the year ended December 31, 2024. Premiums written are recorded as revenue on a daily pro rata basis over the contract period of the related in force policies. For any portion of premiums not earned at the end of the reporting period, the Company records an unearned premium liability; accordingly, growth in gross written premium drove the increase in unearned premiums.
Reinsurance Payable
At December 31, 2024, reinsurance payable increased by $67.2 million to $227.1 million from $159.8 million at December 31, 2023. The increase is driven by the June 1, 2024 inception of our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance program, net of deposit premium payments made to date, of which fewer advance premium deposits were required by our reinsurers for the 2024 program.
Total Shareholders’ Equity
At December 31, 2024, total shareholders’ equity increased by $70.5 million to $290.8 million from $220.3 million at December 31, 2023. The increase is primarily due to net income of $61.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, coupled with a reduction in unrealized losses, from $35.3 million at December 31, 2023 to $28.6 million at December 31, 2024, as a result of lower interest rates during the period, which reduced the amount of unrealized losses on our fixed income securities.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal sources of liquidity include cash flows generated from operations, our cash, cash equivalents, our marketable securities balances and borrowings available under our credit facilities. As of December 31, 2024, we held $452.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $663.4 million in investments, compared to $463.6 million in cash and $569.4 million in investments as of December 31, 2023. The decrease in cash and cash equivalents was primarily driven by cash used for payment of claims, inclusive of catastrophe claims from 2024 hurricanes, net of reinsurance recoveries, as well as timing of reinsurance premium payments. The increase in investments was driven by re-investment of proceeds from investment maturities and short term funds to secure a higher yield given expectations of interest rate declines. Additionally, unrealized losses on our fixed income securities declined as interest rates stabilized.
We generally hold substantial cash balances to meet seasonal liquidity needs including amounts to pay quarterly reinsurance installments as well as meet the collateral requirements of Osprey, our captive reinsurance company, which is required to maintain a collateral trust account equal to the risk that it assumes from our insurance company affiliates.
We believe that our sources of liquidity are adequate to meet our cash requirements for at least the next twelve months.
We may continue to pursue the acquisition of complementary businesses and make strategic investments. We may increase capital expenditures consistent with our investment plans and anticipated growth strategy. Cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to fund such expenditures. As such, in addition to the use of our existing Credit Facilities, we may need to utilize additional debt to secure funds for such purposes.
40
Statement of Cash Flows
The net increases (decreases) in cash and cash equivalents are summarized in the following table:
| For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2024 vs 2023 Change | 2023 vs 2022 Change | ||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating activities | $ | 87,095 | $ | 70,415 | $ | (34,260) | $ | 16,680 | $ | 104,675 | ||||||||
| Investing activities | (91,599) | 100,806 | (37,862) | $ | (192,405) | $ | 138,668 | |||||||||||
| Financing activities | (5,190) | 14,546 | (5,058) | $ | (19,736) | $ | 19,604 | |||||||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | (9,694) | $ | 185,767 | $ | (77,180) | $ | (195,461) | $ | 262,947 |
Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $87.1 million and $70.4 million, respectively. The increase was primarily driven by cash from operations including timing of receipt of reinsurance recoveries, and timing of cash flows associated with claim and reinsurance payments. The timing of reinsurance payments on the catastrophe excess of loss program were more accelerated for the 2023 program than the 2024 program.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $91.6 million compared to net cash provided by of $100.8 million in the prior year. The change relates primarily to the timing of investment maturities and use of proceeds and availability of cash to invest in longer duration fixed income securities during 2024 to lock in current interest rates.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $5.2 million, compared to net cash provided by of $14.5 million in the prior year. The change relates primarily to the proceeds received from a loan in the amount of $5.5 million to an insurance company subsidiary from the FHLB-DM in 2024 compared to net proceeds of $24.8 million in 2023 from an underwritten public offering.
Credit Facilities
The Company is party to a Credit Agreement by and among the Company, as borrower, certain subsidiaries of the Company from time to time party thereto as guarantors, the lenders from time to time party thereto (the “Lenders”),and the administrative and collateral agents and other parties thereto (as amended from time to time, the “Credit Agreement”).
The Credit Agreement, as amended, provides for (1) a five-year senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $100 million (the “Term Loan Facility”) and (2) a five-year senior secured revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $50 million (inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the revolving credit facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the revolving credit facility) (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and together with the Term Loan Facility, the “Credit Facilities”).
Term Loan Facility. The principal amount of the Term Loan Facility amortizes in quarterly installments, which began with the close of the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2019, in an amount equal to $1.9 million per quarter, payable quarterly, decreasing to $875,000 per quarter commencing with the quarter ended December 31, 2021, and increasing to $2.4 million per quarter commencing with the quarter ended December 31, 2022, with the remaining balance payable at maturity. The Term Loan Facility matures on July 28, 2026. As of December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, there was $70.1 million and $79.6 million, respectively, in aggregate principal outstanding under the Term Loan Facility.
Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility allows for borrowings of up to $50 million inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility. At December 31, 2024 and 2023, the outstanding balance under the Revolving Credit facility was $10.0 million. During 2024, the Company secured letters of credit in aggregate of $24.4 million with a maturity date of March 16, 2025, which provided additional collateral for reinsurance contracts associated with Osprey Re and remained outstanding at December 31, 2024.
41
At our option, borrowings under the Credit Facilities bear interest at rates equal to either (1) a rate determined by reference to SOFR, plus an applicable margin (described below) and a credit adjustment spread equal to 0.10% or (2) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of (a) the “prime rate” of Regions Bank, (b) the federal funds rate plus 0.50%, and (c) the adjusted term SOFR in effect on such day for an interest period of one month plus 1.00%, plus an applicable margin (described below).
The applicable margin for loans under the Credit Facilities varies from 2.75% per annum to 3.25% per annum (for SOFR loans) and 1.75% to 2.25% per annum (for base rate loans) based on our consolidated leverage ratio ranging from 1.25-to-1 to greater than 2.25-to-1. Interest payments with respect to the Credit Facilities are required either on a quarterly basis (for base rate loans) or at the end of each interest period (for SOFR loans) or, if the duration of the applicable interest period exceeds three months, then every three months. As of December 31, 2024, the borrowings under the Term Loan Facility and Revolving Credit Facility accruing interest at a rate of 7.449% and 7.423% per annum, respectively.
In addition to paying interest on outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, we are required to pay a quarterly commitment fee based on the unused portion of the Revolving Credit Facility, which is determined by our consolidated leverage ratio.
We may prepay the loans under the Credit Facilities, in whole or in part, at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions including minimum amounts and reimbursement of certain costs in the case of prepayments of SOFR loans. In addition, we are required to prepay the loan under the Term Loan Facility with the proceeds from certain financing transactions, involuntary dispositions or asset sales (subject, in the case of asset sales, to reinvestment rights).
All obligations under the Credit Facilities are or will be guaranteed by each existing and future direct and indirect wholly owned domestic subsidiary of the Company, other than all of the Company’s current and future regulated insurance subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantors”).
The Company and the Guarantors are party to a Pledge and Security Agreement, (as amended from time to time the “Security Agreement”), in favor of a collateral agent. Pursuant to the Security Agreement, amounts borrowed under the Credit Facilities are secured on a first priority basis by a perfected security interest in substantially all of the present and future assets of the Company and each Guarantor (subject to certain exceptions), including all of the capital stock of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries, other than its regulated insurance subsidiaries.
The Credit Agreement contains, among other things, covenants, representations and warranties and events of default customary for facilities of this type. The Company is required to maintain, as of each fiscal quarter (1) a maximum consolidated leverage ratio of 2.50 to 1.00, stepping down to 2.25 to 1.00 as of the second quarter of 2024 and 2.00 to 1.00 as of the second quarter of 2025, (2) a minimum consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.20 to 1.00 and (3) a minimum consolidated net worth for the Company and its subsidiaries, which is required to be not less than $100 million plus 50% of positive quarterly net income (including its subsidiaries and regulated subsidiaries) plus the net cash proceeds of any equity transactions. Events of default include, among other events, (i) nonpayment of principal, interest, fees or other amounts; (ii) failure to perform or observe certain covenants set forth in the Credit Agreement; (iii) breach of any representation or warranty; (iv) cross-default to other indebtedness; (v) bankruptcy and insolvency defaults; (vi) monetary judgment defaults and material nonmonetary judgment defaults; (vii) customary ERISA defaults; (viii) a change of control of the Company; and (ix) failure to maintain specified catastrophe retentions in each of the Company’s regulated insurance subsidiaries.
Convertible Notes
On August 10, 2017, the Company and Heritage MGA, LLC (the “Notes Guarantor”) entered into a purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the initial purchaser party thereto (the “Initial Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, and the Initial Purchaser agreed to purchase, $136.8 million aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 5.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2037 (the “Convertible Notes”) in a private placement transaction pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The net proceeds from the offering of the Convertible Notes, after deducting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately $120.5 million. The offering of the Convertible Notes was completed on August 16, 2017.
The Company issued the Convertible Notes under an Indenture (the “Convertible Note Indenture”), dated August 16, 2017, by and among the Company, as issuer, the Notes Guarantor, as guarantor, and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee (the “Trustee”).
The Convertible Notes bear interest at a rate of 5.875% per year. Interest is payable semi-annually in arrears, on February 1 and August 1 of each year. The Convertible Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the Company that rank senior in right of payment to the Company’s future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the
42
Convertible Notes; equal in right of payment to the Company’s unsecured indebtedness that is not so subordinated; effectively junior to any of the Company’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and structurally junior to all indebtedness or other liabilities incurred by the Company’s subsidiaries other than the Notes Guarantor, which fully and unconditionally guarantee the Convertible Notes on a senior unsecured basis.
The Convertible Notes mature on August 1, 2037, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted.
Holders may convert their Convertible Notes at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding February 1, 2037, other than during the period from, and including, February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, only under the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on September 30, 2017, if the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock, for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the calendar quarter immediately preceding the calendar quarter in which the conversion occurs, is more than 130% of the conversion price of the Convertible Notes in effect on each applicable trading day; (2) during the ten consecutive business-day period following any five consecutive trading-day period in which the trading price for the Convertible Notes for each such trading day was less than 98% of the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock on such date multiplied by the then-current conversion rate; (3) if the Company calls any or all of the Convertible Notes for redemption, at any time prior to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding the redemption date; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events.
During the period from and including February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, and on or after February 1, 2037 until the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 1, 2037, holders may surrender their Convertible Notes for conversion at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances.
The conversion rate for the Convertible Notes was initially 67.0264 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $14.92 per share of common stock). The conversion rate is subject to adjustment in certain circumstances and is subject to increase for holders that elect to convert their Convertible Notes in connection with certain corporate transactions (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture)) that occur prior to August 5, 2022.
Upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture), holders of the Convertible Notes may require the Company to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their Convertible Notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.
At any time prior to February 1, 2037, the Company may redeem for cash all or any portion of the Convertible Notes, at the Company’s option, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date. No sinking fund is provided for the Convertible Notes, which means that the Company is not required to redeem or retire the Convertible Notes periodically. Holders of the Convertible Notes are able to cause the Company to repurchase their Convertible Notes for cash on any of August 1, 2022, August 1, 2027 and August 1, 2032, in each case at 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the relevant repurchase date.
The Convertible Note Indenture contains customary terms and covenants and events of default. If an Event of Default (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) occurs and is continuing, the Trustee by notice to the Company, or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes then outstanding by notice to the Company and the Trustee, may declare 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, all the Convertible Notes to be immediately due and payable. In the case of certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization (as set forth in the Convertible Note Indenture) with respect to the Company, 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, the Convertible Notes automatically become immediately due and payable.
As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, there was $885,000 principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes, net of $21.1 million of Convertible Notes held by an insurance company subsidiary.
As discussed above, holders of the Convertible Notes issued by the Company had an optional put right, pursuant to the indenture governing the Convertible Notes, to require the Company to repurchase the aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes that are validly tendered. The Company received notice from the Depository for the Convertible Notes that, on July 29, 2022, $10.9 million aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes has been validly tendered in accordance with the terms of the indenture and the Company’s notice with respect to the optional put right of the Convertible Notes, and the Company has requested that the Trustee cancel the Convertible Notes tendered. The outstanding balance as of December 31, 2024 of non-affiliated Notes was $885,000. On August 1, 2022, the Company made payments
43
for the principal amount of the Convertible Notes tendered and unpaid interest in the aggregate amounts of $10.9 million and $320,041, respectively. In November 2022, the Company drew $10.0 million from the Revolving Credit Facility to replenish the cash used to pay the $10.9 million for the purchase of the tendered Convertible Notes.
FHLB Loan Agreements
In December 2018, an insurance company subsidiary of the Company received a 3.094% fixed interest rate cash loan of $19.2 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB-AT”) Atlanta. On September 29, 2023, the Company restructured the December 2018 agreement to extend the maturity date to March 28, 2025, with a 5.109% fixed interest rate payable quarterly commencing on December 28, 2023. In connection with the initial loan agreement, the subsidiary became a member of the FHLB-AT. Membership in the FHLB-AT required an investment in FHLB-AT’s common stock which was purchased in December 2018 and valued at $1.4 million. Additionally, the transaction required certain other investments to be pledged as collateral. As of December 31, 2024, the fair value of the collateralized securities was $23.9 million and the equity investment in FHLB-AT common stock was valued $1.5 million. For the year ended December 31, 2024, and 2023, the Company made monthly interest payments as per the terms of the loan agreement of $994,742 and $723,771, respectively. The subsidiary is permitted to withdraw any portion of the pledged collateral over the minimum collateral requirement at any time, other than in the event of a default by the subsidiary. The proceeds from the loan were used to prepay the Company’s Senior Secured Notes due 2023.
In December 2018, another insurance company subsidiary became a member of the FHLB De Moines (“FHLB-DM”). Membership in the FHLB-DM required an investment in FHLB-DM’s common stock which was purchased in December 2018 and valued at $133,200. In January 2024, the insurance subsidiary of the Company received a 4.23% fixed interest rate cash loan of $5.5 million from the FHLB-DM. Additionally, the transaction required the acquired FHLB-DM common stock and certain other investments to be pledged as collateral. As of December 31, 2024, the fair value of the collateralized securities was $6.7 million and the equity investment in FHLB-DM common stock was $295,500. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company made monthly interest payments as per the terms of the loan agreement of approximately $58,294.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our material contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2024:
| Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments | Total | Less Than 1 Year | 1-3 Years | 3-5 Years | More than 5 - Years | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Term loans, notes and interest (1) | $ | 89,345 | $ | 15,927 | $ | 73,418 | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
| Convertible debt (1) | 38,282 | 1,293 | 2,586 | 2,586 | 31,817 | |||||||||||||
| Mortgage loan (1) | 10,750 | 375 | 807 | 891 | 8,677 | |||||||||||||
| FHLB agreement (1) | 25,899 | 19,678 | 472 | 5,749 | — | |||||||||||||
| Operating lease obligations | 28,339 | 4,879 | 9,693 | 9,452 | 4,315 | |||||||||||||
| Total Contractual Obligations | $ | 192,615 | $ | 42,152 | $ | 86,976 | $ | 18,678 | $ | 44,809 |
(1)Amounts represent principal and interest payments to debt obligations. Debt obligations are classified based on their stated maturity date. For further information on long-term debt, Refer to Note 14 “Long Term Debt” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The expected timing of payments of the obligations in the preceding table is estimated based on current information. Timing of payments and actual amounts paid may be different due to changes to agreed-upon amounts for some obligations.
Market Sensitive Instruments and Risk Management
Our investment results are subject to a variety of risks, including risks related to changes in the business, financial condition or results of operations of the entities in which we invest, as well as changes in general economic conditions and overall market conditions. We are also exposed to potential loss from various market risks, including changes in equity prices and interest rates.
In accordance with the SEC's Financial Reporting Release No 48, we performed sensitivity analysis, also referenced as the hypothetical analysis (refer to Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk) to determine the effects that market risk exposures could have on the Company's future portfolio's earnings, fair value or cash
44
flow as of December 31, 2024. Market risk represents the risk of changes in the fair value of financial instrument and consists of several components, including liquidity, basis and price risks.
The sensitivity analysis performed as of December 31, 2024 presents hypothetical losses in cash flows, earnings and fair values of market sensitive instruments which were held by as of the year ended December 31, 2024 and are sensitive to changes in interest rates. This risk management discussion and the estimated amounts generated from the following sensitivity analysis represent forward-looking statements of market risk assuming certain adverse market conditions occur. Actual results in the future may differ materially from these projected results due to actual developments in the global financial markets. The analysis methods used by us to assess and mitigate risk should not be considered projections of future events of losses.
Exposure to market risk is managed and monitored by senior management of the parent company and its subsidiaries along with a nationally recognized asset manager. The investment committee, appointed by our board of directors approves the overall investment strategy and has responsibility to ensure that the investment positions are consistent with that strategy with an acceptable level of risk. Management of risk may include buying or selling instruments or entering into offsetting positions.
Fixed Income Securities
We invest in interest rate sensitive securities, primarily debt securities. We consider the effect of interest rate movements on the fair value of our fixed maturities, short-term investments and certain of our other investments, and investment funds accounted for using the equity method which invest in fixed income securities (collectively, “Fixed Income Securities”) and the corresponding change in unrealized appreciation. As interest rates rise, the fair value of our Fixed Income Securities falls, and the converse is also true.
The Company’s invested assets at December 31, 2024 were $663.4 million, of which 98.8% was invested in fixed maturity and short-term investments, 0.3% in equity securities, and 0.9% in other investments. Because the primary purpose of the investment portfolio is to fund future claims payments, the Company employs a thoughtful investment philosophy that focuses on appropriate risk-adjusted returns. A significant majority of funds available for investment are deployed in a widely diversified portfolio of high quality, liquid, taxable U.S. government, tax-exempt and taxable U.S. municipal and taxable corporate and U.S. agency mortgage-backed bonds.
Effects of Inflation
General economic inflation has increased in recent quarters and may continue to remain at elevated levels for an extended period of time. The potential also exists, after a catastrophe loss or pandemic events like COVID-19, for the development of inflationary pressures in a local economy. This may have a material effect on the adequacy of our reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses, especially in longer-tailed lines of business, and on the market value of our investment portfolio through rising interest rates. The anticipated effects of inflation are considered in our pricing models, reserving processes and exposure management, across all lines of business and types of loss including natural catastrophe events. The actual effects of inflation on our results cannot be accurately known until claims are ultimately settled and will vary by the specific type of inflation affecting our business.
The carrying value of the Company’s fixed maturity portfolio at December 31, 2024 was $663.4 million. The Company closely monitors the duration of its fixed maturity investments, and investment purchases and sales are executed with the objective of having adequate funds available to satisfy the Company’s insurance and debt obligations. The weighted average credit quality of the Company’s fixed maturity portfolio, both including and excluding U.S. Treasury securities, was "A" at December 31, 2024 and “A+” at December 31, 2023. Below investment grade securities represented 0.01% of the total fixed maturity investment portfolio at both December 31, 2024 and 2023. The weighted average effective duration of fixed maturities and short-term securities was 3.06 (3.07 excluding short-term securities) at December 31, 2024 and 3.086 (3.16 excluding short-term securities) at December 31, 2023.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The following discussion and analysis presents the more significant factors that affected our financial conditions as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 and results of operations for each of the years then ended. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles of generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. While we base estimates on historical experience, current information and other factors deemed to be relevant, actual results could differ from those estimates.
45
We consider accounting estimates to be critical to reported financial results if (i) the accounting estimate requires management to make assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain and (ii) different estimates that management reasonably could have used for the accounting estimates in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. When we prepare our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we must make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts we report. Certain of these estimates result from judgments that can be subjective and complex. As a result of that subjectivity and complexity, and because we continuously evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on a variety of factors, actual results could materially differ from our estimates and assumptions if changes in one or more factors require us to make accounting adjustments.
Premiums. We recognize direct and assumed premiums written as revenue, net of ceded amounts, on a daily pro rata basis over the contract period of the related policies that are in force. For any portion of premiums not earned at the end of the reporting period, we record an unearned premium liability.
Premiums receivable represents amounts due from our policyholders for billed premiums and related policy fees. Our billing system is equity based such that policies are canceled if the unpaid premium exceeds the amount of premium earned. When we receive payments on amounts previously charged off, we credit bad debt expense in the period we receive the payment. Balances in premiums receivable and the associated allowance account are removed upon cancellation of the policy due to non-payment and returned agent commission. For December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, we recorded bad debt expense of approximately $51,500, $855,750 and $0, respectively.
When we receive premium payments from policyholders prior to the effective date of the related policy, we record an advance premium liability. On the policy effective date, we reduce the advance premium liability and record the premiums as described above.
Reserves for Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses. Reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, also referred to as loss reserves, represent the most significant accounting estimate inherent in the preparation of our financial statements. These reserves represent management’s best estimate of the amount we will ultimately pay for losses and loss adjustment expenses and we base the amount upon the application of various actuarial reserve estimation techniques as well as considering other material facts and circumstances known at the balance sheet date. We establish two categories of loss reserves as follows: Case reserves—When a claim is reported, we establish an initial estimate of the losses that will ultimately be paid on the reported claim. Our initial estimate for each claim is based upon the judgment of our claims professionals who are familiar with property and liability losses associated with the coverage offered by our policies. Then, our claims personnel perform an evaluation of the type of claim involved, the circumstances surrounding each claim and the policy provisions relating to the loss and adjust the reserve, as necessary. As claims mature, we increase or decrease the reserve estimates as deemed necessary by our claims department based upon additional information we receive regarding the loss, the results of on-site reviews and any other information we gather while reviewing the claims. IBNR reserves—Our IBNR reserves include true IBNR reserves plus “bulk” reserves. True IBNR reserves represent amounts related to claims for which a loss occurred on or before the date of the financial statements, but which have not yet been reported to us. Bulk reserves represent additional amounts that cannot be allocated to particular claims, but which are necessary to estimate ultimate losses on known claims. We estimate our IBNR reserves by projecting our ultimate losses using industry accepted actuarial methods and then deducting actual loss payments and case reserves from the projected ultimate losses. We review and adjust our IBNR reserves on a quarterly basis based on information available to us at the balance sheet date.
When we establish our reserves, we analyze various factors such as the evolving historical loss experience of the insurance industry as well as our experience, claims frequency and severity, our business mix, our claims processing procedures, legislative enactments, judicial decisions and legal developments in imposition of damages, and general economic conditions, including inflation. A change in any of these factors from the assumptions implicit in our estimates will cause our ultimate loss experience to be better or worse than indicated by our reserves, and the difference could be material. Due to the interaction of the foregoing factors, there is no precise method for evaluating the impact of any one specific factor in isolation, and an element of judgment is ultimately required. Due to the uncertain nature of any future projections, the ultimate amount we will pay for losses will be different from the reserves we record.
We determine our ultimate loss reserves by selecting an estimate within a relevant range of indications that we calculate using generally accepted actuarial techniques. Our selection of the point estimate is influenced by the analysis of our paid losses and incurred losses since inception.
Our external reserving actuaries evaluated the adequacy of our reserves as of December 31, 2024 and concluded that our reported loss reserves would meet the requirements of the insurance laws of the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, be consistent with reserves computed in accordance with accepted loss reserving standards and
46
principles, and make a reasonable provision for all unpaid loss and loss adjustment expense obligations under the terms of our contracts and agreements. In addition to $191.1 million of recorded case reserves, we recorded $851.6 million of IBNR reserves as of December 31, 2024 to achieve overall gross reserves of $1.04 billion. At December 31, 2024, ceded IBNR and net IBNR were $571.2 million and $280.4 million, respectively.
The process of establishing our reserves is complex and inherently imprecise, as it involves using judgment that is affected by many variables. We believe a reasonably likely change in almost any of the factors we evaluate as part of our loss reserve analysis could have an impact on our reported results, financial position and liquidity.
The following table quantifies the pro forma impact of hypothetical changes in our net loss reserves on our net income, stockholders’ equity, and liquidity as of and for the year ended December 31, 2024 (in thousands):
| Actual | Low Estimate | % Change from Actual | High Estimate | % Change from Actual | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Loss Reserves | $ | 367,035 | $ | 298,502 | 18.7 | % | $ | 399,518 | (8.9) | % | |||||||
| Impact on: | |||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 61,539 | $ | 111,911 | 81.9 | % | $ | 37,664 | (38.8) | % | |||||||
| Stockholders’ equity | $ | 290,799 | $ | 341,171 | 17.3 | % | $ | 266,924 | (8.2) | % | |||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and investments (1) | $ | 1,116,110 | $ | 1,166,482 | 4.5 | % | $ | 1,092,234 | (2.1) | % |
(1)Estimated cash, cash equivalents and investments is intended to present a measure of future liquidity and consists of cash, cash equivalents, and investments, less the change in loss reserves, net of taxes.
Policy Acquisition Costs. We incur policy acquisition costs that vary with, and are directly related to, the production of new business. Policy acquisition costs consist of the following four items: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We capitalize policy acquisition costs to the extent recoverable, then we amortize those costs over the contract period of the related policy. We also earn ceding commission on our quota share reinsurance contracts, which is presented as a reduction of policy acquisition costs on the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Comprehensive Income, with any unearned ceding commission recognized as an offset to deferred policy acquisition costs on the Consolidated Balance Sheet and within the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements described in Note 11. Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
Our accounting policy is to allocate ceding commission income between policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses for financial reporting purposes based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. For the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, we earned ceding commission income of $50.3 million, $64.8 million and $61.9 million of which $37.8 million, $48.7 million and $46.5 million was allocable to policy acquisition costs.
Deferred taxes. At December 31, 2024, we assessed our deferred tax position and hold no valuation against our net deferred tax assets as there is sufficient evidence to support the recorded net deferred tax asset.
Provision for Premium Deficiency. At each reporting date, we determine whether we have a premium deficiency. A premium deficiency would result if the sum of our expected losses, deferred policy acquisition costs and policy maintenance costs (such as costs to store records and costs incurred to collect premiums and pay commissions) exceeded our related unearned premiums plus investment income. Should we determine that a premium deficiency exists, we would write off the unrecoverable portion of deferred policy acquisition costs. No accruals for premium deficiency were considered necessary as of December 31, 2024 and 2023.
Reinsurance. We follow the industry practice of reinsuring a portion of our risks. Reinsurance involves transferring, or “ceding”, all or a portion of the risk exposure on policies we write to another insurer, known as a reinsurer. To the extent that our reinsurers are unable to meet the obligations they assume under our reinsurance agreements, we remain liable for the entire insured loss.
Our reinsurance agreements are prospective contracts. We record an asset, prepaid reinsurance premiums, and a liability, reinsurance payable, for the entire contract amount upon commencement of our new reinsurance agreements. We amortize our prepaid reinsurance premiums over the 12-month contract period.
47
In the event that we incur losses recoverable under our reinsurance program, we record amounts recoverable from our reinsurers on paid losses plus an estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses. The estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses is a function of our liability for unpaid losses associated with the reinsured policies; therefore, the amount changes in conjunction with any changes to our estimate of unpaid losses. In the event that we incur losses recoverable under the reinsurance program, the estimate of amounts recoverable from reinsurers on unpaid losses may change at any point in the future because of its relation to our reserves for unpaid losses.
We estimate uncollectible amounts receivable from reinsurers based on an assessment of factors including the creditworthiness of the reinsurers and the adequacy of collateral obtained, where applicable. We had no uncollectible amounts under our reinsurance program or bad debt expense related to reinsurance for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Effective
The Company describes the recent pronouncements that have had or may have a significant effect on its financial statements or on its disclosures. The Company does not discuss recent pronouncements that a) are not anticipated to have an impact on, or b) are unrelated to its financial condition, results of operations, or related disclosures. For accounting pronouncements not yet adopted, Refer to Note 1 “Basis of Presentation, Nature of Business and Significant Accounting Policies and Practices” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further information.
FY 2023 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-24-030766.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Overview
We are a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company that primarily provides personal and commercial residential insurance products across our multi-state footprint. We provide personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia and commercial residential insurance in Florida, New Jersey, and New York. We provide personal residential insurance in Florida and South Carolina on both an admitted and non-admitted basis and in California on a non-admitted basis. As a vertically integrated insurer, we control or manage substantially all aspects of risk management, underwriting, claims processing and adjusting, actuarial rate making and reserving, customer service, and distribution. Our financial strength ratings are important to us in establishing our competitive position and can impact our ability to write policies.
Recent Developments
Economic and Market Factors
We continue to monitor the effects of general changes in economic and market conditions on our business. As a result of general inflationary pressures, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, increased cost of materials and labor needed for repairs and to otherwise remediate claims throughout all states in which we conduct business. Additionally, we anticipate continued rising costs and constrained availability of catastrophe reinsurance. We mitigate these conditions by continued exposure management, implementation of increased rates and the use of inflation guard, which ensures appropriate replacement cost values for our business to reflect the inflationary impact on costs to repair properties. Use of inflation guard impacts both premium and TIV.
In December 2023, the Company completed a public and private offering by issuing 3.9 million of its common stock for cash proceeds of approximately $24.7 million, net of offering costs. The Company intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate and operational purposes and to provide capital for anticipated growth and expansion efforts.
Goodwill impairment Charge (2022)
We evaluate goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment annually, or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is likely that the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets may exceed the implied fair value. Any impairment is charged to operations in the period that the impairment is identified. The evaluation of goodwill impairment requires considerable management judgment and includes a review of a variety of factors as described in Note 3, Intangible Assets, net to our consolidated financial statements. Any adverse change in those factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and a material impact on our financial results. During the second quarter of 2022, we concluded it was appropriate to perform an interim evaluation of goodwill for potential impairment given a variety of market trends. As a result of the analysis, management determined the entire amount of remaining goodwill was impaired, which reduced our carrying value of goodwill from $92.0 million to $0 based on the following factors: (i) disruptions in the equity markets, specifically for property and casualty insurance companies, largely due to weather-related catastrophe events; (ii) elevated loss ratios for property insurers in our markets; and (iii) trading of our stock below book value. These factors reduced our previously modeled fair value of the Company and resulted in a $92.0 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge, most of which is not tax deductible.
Supplemental Information
The Supplemental Information table below demonstrates progress on our initiatives by providing policy count, premiums-in-force, and TIV for Florida and all other states as of December 31, 2023 and comparing those metrics to December 31, 2022. One of our strategies has been to reduce personal lines exposure in Florida, given historical abusive claims practices. While the Florida legislature made significant progress aimed at curtailing assignment of benefits and litigated claims abuse, we continue to carefully manage our Florida personal lines exposure.
31
| | | At December 31, | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policies in force: | | 2023 | 2022 | % Change | |||||||||
| Florida | | 153,387 | | 182,673 | | (16.0 | ) | % | |||||
| Other States | | 297,288 | | 347,234 | | (14.4 | ) | % | |||||
| Total | | 450,675 | | 529,907 | | (15.0 | ) | % | |||||
| | | | | | |||||||||
| Premiums in force: | | | | | |||||||||
| Florida | $ | 695,010,638 | $ | 599,596,526 | | 15.9 | % | ||||||
| Other States | | 661,392,787 | | 684,469,189 | | (3.4 | ) | % | |||||
| Total | $ | 1,356,403,425 | $ | 1,284,065,715 | | 5.6 | % | ||||||
| | | | | | |||||||||
| Total Insured Value: | | | | | |||||||||
| Florida | $ | 103,535,162,876 | $ | 103,752,777,168 | | (0.2 | ) | % | |||||
| Other States | | 286,860,809,967 | | 306,070,446,229 | | (6.3 | ) | % | |||||
| Total | $ | 390,395,972,843 | $ | 409,823,223,397 | | (4.7 | ) | % |
Florida policies-in-force declined from the prior year by 16.0% while premiums-in-force increased 15.9%, and TIV was down by 0.2%. The increase in Florida premiums-in-force was driven by organic growth of our commercial residential business which generates higher average premium, rate increases across the book of business and use of inflation guard, partly offset by a premium reduction associated with fewer Florida personal lines policies. The Florida TIV remained relatively flat based on the reduction in personal lines policies offset by the strategic growth of our commercial residential portfolio, as well as use of inflation guard across the book of business. Compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, the policy count for markets outside of Florida decreased 14.4% due to underwriting actions and intentional exposure management, resulting in a TIV decrease of 6.3% while premiums-in-force decreased only 3.4% due to rating actions.
Strategic Profitability Initiatives
The following provides an update to our strategic initiatives that we expect will enable us to achieve consistent long-term quarterly earnings and drive shareholder value.
•
Generate underwriting profit though rate adequacy and more selective underwriting.
o
Significant rating actions throughout the book of business continues to favorably impact the book of business resulting in an increase in average premium per policy of 24.2% over the prior year.
o
Gross premiums earned increased 9.5% from the prior year, driven by rate actions taken in 2022 and 2023 as well as growth in commercial residential business, which helps drive the higher average premium.
o
Premiums-in-force of $1.4 billion are up 5.6% from the prior year while policy count is down 15.0% due to continued underwriting efforts aimed at rate adequacy, managing the reinsurance cost and improving the quality of the book of business.
o
Continued focus on timely rate actions, tightening underwriting criteria, and expanding restrictions on new business written in over-concentrated markets or products.
•
Allocate capital to products and geographies that maximize long-term returns.
o
Selectively increased commercial residential policy count driving an increase in premiums-in-force by 63.9% year over year while TIV only increased 20.7% and policies in force increased by only 3.0%. Commercial residential business tends to have a significantly lower attritional loss ratio and generates materially higher premium, and the TIV increase from growth is offset by a reduction in personal lines exposure, which manages reinsurance costs and is additive to underwriting income and return on equity. Commercial residential business represents 18.7% of in-force premium compared to 12.0% as of the prior year .
o
As part of our exposure management strategy, reduced policy count for Florida personal lines business by 16.3% as compared to the prior year. The disciplined underwriting and rating actions have reduced Florida personal lines TIV by 9.4% while reducing premiums in force by only 0.7% and improved the quality of our Florida book of business.
o
This disciplined underwriting approach resulted in a policy count reduction of 14.4% in other states, with a reduction in TIV by 6.3%, resulting in a reduction in premiums in force of only 3.4%.
•
Maintain a balanced and diversified portfolio.
32
o
Selective diversification of the portfolio by product and state, which can change based on market conditions, serves to reduce performance volatility.
o
No state represents over 26.5% of the Company’s TIV.
o
TIV for the top four states declined by 18.4%, while TIV for all other states increased by 88.0%.
o
In-force premium for the four states with the highest TIV decreased by 4.6% while in-force premium for all other states grew by 89.4%.
o
As a result of diversification efforts, personal lines TIV for the five states with the highest TIV decreased by 5.2% from the prior year period and represented 71.6% of all TIV at December 31, 2023 compared to 71.9% of all TIV at December 31, 2022.
•
Provide coverages suitable to the market and return targets.
o
Offering Excess & Surplus lines (“E&S”) policies in California, Florida, and South Carolina. This product allows greater flexibility in product terms as well as speed to market.
o
Continuing to evaluate other states for E&S and other products.
Reinsurance Commutation
As further described in Note 17, Commitments and Contingencies, to the condensed consolidated financial statements for the second quarter of 2023, our 2017 reinsurance agreement with the FHCF required a commutation no later than 60 months after the end of the contract year. As part of this process, Heritage and FHCF terminated the 2017 reinsurance agreement and agreed on the amount that the FHCF would pay to the Company to settle all outstanding losses owed under the agreement related to losses from Hurricane Irma. As such, this commutation process resulted in a final determination of and payment for known, unknown or unreported claims relating to Hurricane Irma. Social inflation and the litigated claims environment in the State of Florida, which affected Hurricane Irma claims, could result in adverse development of these claims, which creates uncertainty as to the ultimate cost to settle all of the remaining Hurricane Irma claims. Accordingly, the final amount paid by the FHCF could vary from the Company’s future estimation of losses to be recovered from the FHCF. As such, should further re-estimations to Hurricane Irma losses increase the Company's expected loss reserves, all the increase will be retained by the Company. The commutation process was finalized and binding for both parties upon completion which occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2023 and the final payment by the FHCF was received by the Company in September 2023.
Trends
Inflation, Underwriting and Pricing
We continue to address rising reinsurance and loss costs in the property insurance sector through continued implementation of increased rates and inflation guard factors resulting in an increase in the average premium per policy of 24.2% for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the prior year. The increase in average premium includes rate changes, inclusion of inflation in premiums as described below, and in the mix of business written. We experienced intentional growth of our commercial residential business during 2023 and this line of business generates significantly higher average premium per policy. New rates, which are subject to approval by our regulators, become effective when a policy is written or renewed, and the premium is earned pro rata over the policy period of one year. As a result of this timing, it can take up to twenty-four months for the complete impact of a rate change to be fully earned in our financial statements. For that reason, we account for inflation in our rate indications and filings with our regulators.
We invest in data analytics, using software and experienced personnel, to continuously evaluate our underwriting criteria and manage exposure to catastrophe and other losses. Our retention has remained steadily in the range of 90% despite the rate increases we have implemented, in large part due to a challenging property insurance market in many of the regions in which we operate. Weather losses and a higher cost of reinsurance have impacted these markets. While we believe our rates are generally competitive with private market insurers operating in our space, we are focused on managing exposure and achieving rate adequacy throughout our book of business.
We continue to experience rising inflation in the form of increased labor and material costs, which drive up claim costs throughout all states in which we conduct business. Our Florida personal lines market is also seeing claim costs impacted by litigated claims, which substantially increases loss costs thereby driving up rates for the insurance buying public. Our response to this phenomenon is a combination of raising rates and reducing exposure. Claims abuse has extended throughout much of Florida, generated from assignment of benefits, excessive roof claims, and unwarranted litigated claims which far exceeds levels experienced in other states. Correspondingly, our exposure reduction plan expanded to personal lines business throughout the state of Florida. Recent legislative changes have been made in Florida in each of the last three years, which we believe is making some progress
33
toward reducing losses from abusive claim reporting practices. The special legislative session of December 2022 included a number of additional provisions aimed at driving down claims abuses and stabilizing the Florida property insurance market. The impact of this legislation continues to be evaluated by management before growing exposures in the Florida personal lines market.
Our industry experienced significantly higher reinsurance costs and more constrained availability for catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance in the Spring 2022 renewals. This trend continued but to a lesser extent during the Spring 2023 renewals. As described herein, we are carefully managing exposure by reducing new personal lines business written in many geographies, non-renewing unprofitable business in compliance with regulatory requirements, and narrowing our underwriting requirements. We have improved the geographic distribution of our business, which is becoming more rate adequate. Our Florida net incurred losses and LAE declined for the year ended December 31, 2023, mostly due to more favorable weather, our improved portfolio, and legislative changes aimed at curtailing claims abuse. Our Florida net incurred losses and LAE for the year ended December 31, 2022 were significantly higher from a combination of adverse weather and exacerbation of losses on weather and other claims resulting from the litigated claims environment.
Key Components of our Results of Operations
Revenue
Gross premiums written represent, with respect to a period, the sum of direct premiums written (premiums from policies written during the period, net of any midterm cancellations and renewals of voluntary policies) and assumed premiums written (primarily premiums from state fair plan policies), in each case prior to ceding premiums to reinsurers.
Gross premiums earned represent the total premiums earned during a period from policies written. Premiums associated with new and renewal policies are earned ratably over the twelve-month term of the policy and premiums associated with assumed policies are earned ratably over the remaining term of the policy.
Ceded premiums represent the cost of our reinsurance during a period. We recognize the cost of our reinsurance program ratably over term of the arrangement, which is typically twelve months. Our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance generally incepts June 1 and runs through May 31 of the following year. Our net quota share treaty incepts December 31. Our other reinsurance programs may be purchased on a calendar or fiscal year basis.
Net premiums earned reflect gross premiums earned less ceded premiums during the period.
Net investment income represents interest earned on fixed maturity securities, short term securities and other investments, dividends on equity securities.
Net realized and unrealized gains or losses represent gains or losses on investment sales and unrealized gains or losses on equity securities.
Other revenue includes rental income due under non-cancelable leases for space at the Company’s commercial property in Clearwater, Florida, and all policy and pay-plan fees. Our regulators have approved a policy fee on each policy written for certain states; to the extent these fees are not subject to refund, the Company recognizes the income immediately when collected. The Company also charges pay-plan fees to policyholders that pay premiums in more than one installment and record the fees as income when collected.
Expenses
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) reflect losses paid, expenses paid to resolve claims, such as fees paid to adjusters, attorneys and investigators, and changes in our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses during the period, in each case net of losses ceded to reinsurers. Our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the estimated ultimate cost of resolving all reported claims plus all losses we incurred related to insured events that we assume have occurred as of the reporting date, but that policyholders have not yet reported to us (which are commonly referred to as incurred but not reported, or “IBNR”). We estimate our reserves for unpaid losses using individual case-based estimates for reported claims and actuarial estimates for IBNR losses. We continually review and adjust our estimated losses as necessary based on our evolving claims experience, new information obtained and industry development trends. If our unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses are considered deficient or redundant, we increase or decrease the liability in the period in which we identify the difference and reflect the change in our current period results of operations.
Policy acquisition costs (“PAC”) consist of: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We recognize policy acquisition costs ratably over the term of the underlying policy. We earn ceding commissions on our net quota share reinsurance contract and certain other reinsurance contracts, which are reported as a reduction to policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. Refer to Note 11 “Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10K. Ceding
34
commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
General and administrative expenses (“G&A”) include compensation and related benefits, professional fees, office lease and related expenses, information system expenses, corporate insurance, and other general and administrative costs. As noted above, a certain portion of our ceding commissions are allocated to general and administrative expenses.
Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state corporate level income taxes. The effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year and updated with actual amounts in the fourth quarter. The effective tax rate can vary from the 26.5% statutory federal and state blended rate depending on the amount of pretax income in proportion to permanent tax differences as well as state tax apportionment. The 2023 effective tax rate was favorably impacted by the release of valuation allowance associated with the operations of our captive reinsurer, Osprey. The December 31, 2022 effective tax rate was adversely impacted by the non-deductible goodwill impairment and the establishment of a valuation allowance associated with the operations of our captive reinsurer, Osprey.
Ratios
Ceded premium ratio represents ceded premiums earned as a percentage of gross premiums earned.
Net loss ratio represents net losses and LAE as a percentage of net premiums earned.
Net expense ratio represents PAC and G&A expenses as a percentage of net premiums earned. Ceding commission income is reported as a reduction of policy acquisition costs and G&A expenses.
Net combined ratio represents the sum of the net loss and expense ratio. The net combined ratio is a key measure of underwriting performance traditionally used in the property and casualty insurance industry. A net combined ratio under 100% generally reflects profitable underwriting results.
Overview of 2023 Financial Results
In the following section, we discuss our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, please Refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2023.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows provides information that will assist the reader in understanding our consolidated financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from year to year, including certain key performance indicators such as net combined ratio, ceded premium ratio, net expense ratio and net loss ratio, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our consolidated financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
•
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $45.3 million or $1.73 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $154.4 million or $5.86 diluted loss per share in the prior year. The increase was driven mostly by the positive impact of rate actions, underwriting actions, and exposure management undertaken during 2022 and 2023, which favorably affected 2023 results. Additionally, net income benefitted from significantly lower losses as described below and a $6.4 million reduction in the valuation allowance associated with certain tax elections made by Osprey. Certain factors adversely affected 2022 results and impacted the year over year variance. The 2022 net loss stemmed from a $90.8 million, net of income tax, non-cash goodwill impairment charge contributing a $3.45 loss per share, combined with higher losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred for the year as described below. In addition, during 2022 the Company recorded a $6.4 million valuation allowance against our net deferred tax asset related to certain tax elections made by Osprey, our captive reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda.
•
Gross premiums written of $1.34 billion, up 5.3% from $1.28 billion in the prior year, driven primarily by rate actions taken in all states with a policy count reduction of 7.2% driven substantially by a reduction in the number of Florida personal lines policies. The decline in gross premiums written associated with the decline in personal lines policies was more than offset by growth in the commercial line gross premiums written. Additionally, rate increases continued to meaningfully benefit written premiums throughout the book of business and use of inflation guard results in higher premium.
35
•
Gross premiums earned of $1.32 billion, up 9.5% from $1.28 billion in the prior year, reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months driven by a higher average premium per policy.
•
Net premiums earned of $697.2 million, up 9.4% from $637.1 million in the prior year, reflecting the higher gross earned premium outpacing the increase in ceded premiums for the year.
•
Losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred of $426.1 million, down 15.0% from $501.2 million in the prior year. The decrease primarily stems from lower weather and attritional losses as described below. Additionally, we experienced $1.6 million of favorable prior year development compared to $3.7 million of adverse prior year development in 2022.
•
Ceded premium ratio of 47.3%, flat from 47.3% in the prior year. The impact of higher catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance premium was partly offset by the increase in gross premiums earned.
•
Net loss ratio of 60.4%, an 18.3 point improvement over the prior year of 78.7%, driven by lower weather and attritional losses incurred and benefiting from higher net premiums earned as described above.
•
Net expense ratio of 35.2%, down 0.4 points from the prior year amount of 35.6%, as growth in net premiums earned outpaced higher policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses. The increase in policy acquisition costs is associated with the increase in gross premiums written. The increase in general and administrative expenses is driven mostly by software and other costs associated with the implementation of a new claims system that was placed in service in June 2023 as well human capital costs.
•
Net combined ratio of 95.6%, an 18.7 point improvement from 114.3% in the prior year, primarily driven by lower net loss and net expense ratios as described above.
•
Effective tax rate was 12.9% compared to 7.1% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2023 benefitted from a $6.4 million reduction in the valuation allowance against our Osprey net deferred tax assets that had been established in the prior year, as operating income at Osprey for the year ended December 31, 2023 resulted in sufficient positive evidence to release the valuation allowance on the Osprey net deferred assets. In contrast, for the year ended December 31, 2022 a $6.4 million valuation allowance was established against our Osprey net deferred tax assets whose utilization may be limited under the Internal Revenue Code. The effective tax rate for 2022 was also significantly lower than the statutory rate due to a non-cash, mostly tax non-deductible goodwill impairment of $92.0 million recorded in the second quarter. The effective tax rate can also vary driven by the impact of permanent differences in relation to the pre-tax income or loss each year.
36
Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||
| REVENUE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Gross premiums written | $ | 1,343,101 | $ | 1,275,031 | $ | 68,070 | 5.3 | % | ||||||||
| Change in gross unearned premiums | (19,458 | ) | (66,207 | ) | 46,749 | (70.6 | %) | |||||||||
| Gross premiums earned | 1,323,643 | 1,208,824 | 114,819 | 9.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Ceded premiums | (626,458 | ) | (571,759 | ) | (54,698 | ) | 9.6 | % | ||||||||
| Net premiums earned | 697,186 | 637,065 | 60,121 | 9.4 | % | |||||||||||
| Net investment income | 25,756 | 11,977 | 13,778 | 115.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Net realized losses and impairment losses | (972 | ) | (258 | ) | (713 | ) | 276.1 | % | ||||||||
| Other revenue | 13,529 | 13,676 | (147 | ) | (1.1 | %) | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 735,499 | $ | 662,460 | $ | 73,039 | 11.0 | % | ||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 426,129 | $ | 501,162 | $ | (75,033 | ) | (15.0 | %) | |||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 167,610 | 156,304 | 11,306 | 7.2 | % | |||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 77,777 | 70,396 | 7,381 | 10.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Goodwill or intangible asset impairment | 767 | 91,959 | (91,193 | ) | (99.2 | %) | ||||||||||
| Total expenses | 672,283 | 819,821 | (147,538 | ) | (180.0 | %) | ||||||||||
| Operating income (loss) | 63,216 | (157,361 | ) | 220,577 | (140.2 | %) | ||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 11,210 | 8,809 | 2,402 | 27.3 | % | |||||||||||
| Income (loss) before taxes | 52,006 | (166,170 | ) | 218,175 | (131.3 | %) | ||||||||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 6,698 | (11,807 | ) | 18,506 | (156.7 | %) | ||||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 45,308 | $ | (154,363 | ) | $ | 199,670 | (129.4 | %) | |||||||
| Basic net income (loss) per share | $ | 1.73 | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | 7.59 | (129.5 | %) | |||||||
| Diluted net income (loss) per share | $ | 1.73 | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | 7.59 | (129.5 | %) |
Total revenue
Total revenue was $735.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 11.0% compared to $662.5 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher net premiums earned and net investment income as described below.
Gross premiums written
Gross premiums written were $1.34 billion, up 5.3% year-over-year from $1.28 billion, reflecting a strategic and substantial increase in Florida commercial residential lines business and a higher average premium per policy throughout the book of business, partly offset by intentional targeted exposure management resulting in premium reductions of personal lines business in most states. We experienced premiums written growth of 15.3% in Florida driven by growth of the commercial residential portfolio and rate actions and a premium written reduction of 12.1% outside Florida driven by intentional exposure management which was partly offset by rate actions.
Premiums-in-force were $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2023, representing a 5.6% increase from the prior year due to continued proactive underwriting action and rate increases across the entire portfolio and strategic growth in our commercial residential product, despite a policy count reduction of approximately 79,000, driven by an intentional reduction in our personal lines policy count. Concurrently, TIV decreased by 4.7%.
Gross premiums earned
Gross premiums earned were $1.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 9.5% compared to $1.2 billion in the prior year, reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months driven by a higher average premium per policy, use of inflation guard, and organic growth of the commercial residential business.
Ceded premiums
Ceded premiums were $626.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 9.6% compared to $571.8 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to a higher cost of catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance.
37
Net premiums earned
Net premiums earned were $697.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 9.4% compared to $637.1 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher gross premiums earned outpacing higher ceded premiums as described above.
Net investment income
Net investment income, inclusive of realized investment gains (losses) and unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities, was $24.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 112.0% compared to $11.7 million in the prior year. The increase stems from a strategy to reinvest bond maturity proceeds into higher yielding short term instruments such as bank sweep accounts and treasury bills.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 426,129 | $ | 501,162 | $ | (75,033 | ) | (15.0 | %) | |||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 167,610 | 156,304 | 11,306 | 7.2 | % | |||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 77,777 | 70,396 | 7,381 | 10.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Goodwill or intangible asset impairment | 767 | 91,959 | (91,193 | ) | (99.2 | %) | ||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 672,283 | $ | 819,821 | $ | (147,538 | ) | (18.0 | %) |
Total operating expenses
Total operating expenses were $672.3 million, down 18.0% from $819.8 million in the prior year. As described below, lower operating expenses were driven by a reduction in losses and loss adjustment expenses, partly offset by higher acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses, mostly associated with growth in gross premiums written. Additionally significant goodwill impairment was recorded during 2022, resulting in no remaining Goodwill as of December 31, 2022. During 2023, named intangibles associated with a construction division were impaired given management changes to its operations.
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (LAE)
Losses and LAE were $426.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, down 15.0% compared to $501.2 million in the prior year. The decrease was driven by lower weather losses and lower attritional losses compared to the prior year. Net current accident year weather losses were $109.2 million, down $84.0 million from $193.2 million in the prior year. Current year catastrophe losses were $48.3 million compared to catastrophe weather losses of $132.4 million in the prior year. Other weather losses were $60.9 million, relatively flat from $60.8 million in the prior year. Attritional losses were lower, primarily associated with the reduction in personal lines policy count and related underwriting criteria enhancements, which improved the book of business.
Additionally, we experienced $1.6 million of favorable prior year development compared to $3.7 million of adverse prior year development in 2022.
Policy acquisition costs
Policy acquisition costs were $167.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 7.2% compared to $156.3 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to acquisition costs associated with growth in gross premiums written and is partly offset by higher ceding commission income.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses were $77.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, up 10.5% compared to $70.4 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to amortization of software and other costs that can no longer be capitalized associated with the implementation of a new claims system. Additional costs were incurred in the current year associated with the installation of the new telephone system. The new claims and telephone systems are expected to drive future efficiencies. In addition, the company incurred higher human capital costs in the current year.
Goodwill or intangible asset impairment
We evaluate goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment at least on an annual basis or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets may exceed their implied fair value. Goodwill was evaluated at the reporting unit level, for which we have one reporting unit level. Any impairment is charged to operations in the period that the impairment is identified. The Goodwill impairment evaluation includes a review of a variety of factors as described below, which require considerable management judgment. Any adverse change in these factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
38
As a result of our analysis for goodwill impairment, we impaired $92.0 million of goodwill during the second quarter of 2022, reducing our carrying value of goodwill to $0 at December 31, 2022. Additionally, during 2023, we impaired named intangibles associated with our construction division due to management changes to its operations. See the section titled “Goodwill Impairment Charge” above and Note 3 "Intangible Assets, net" of the notes to our consolidated financial statements for more detail on our prior year impairment of our goodwill.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||
| Operating income (loss) | $ | 63,216 | $ | (157,361 | ) | $ | 220,577 | (140.2 | %) | |||||||
| Interest expense, net | 11,210 | 8,809 | 2,402 | 27.3 | % | |||||||||||
| Income (loss) before taxes | 52,006 | (166,170 | ) | 218,175 | (131.3 | %) | ||||||||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 6,698 | (11,807 | ) | 18,506 | (156.7 | %) | ||||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 45,308 | $ | (154,363 | ) | $ | 199,670 | (129.4 | %) | |||||||
| Basic net income (loss) per share | $ | 1.73 | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | 7.59 | (129.5 | %) | |||||||
| Diluted net income (loss) per share | $ | 1.73 | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | 7.59 | (129.5 | %) |
Net income (loss)
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $45.3 million, up 129.4% from net loss of $154.4 million in the prior year. The increase was driven mostly by the positive impacts of rate actions, underwriting actions, and exposure management undertaken during 2022 and 2023, which resulted in higher net earned premium, significantly lower losses and loss adjustment expenses as described above and the benefit of a $6.4 million reduction in the valuation allowance associated with Osprey operations. The 2022 net loss stemmed from a $90.8 million, net of income tax, non-cash goodwill impairment charge contributing a $3.45 loss per share, combined with higher losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred for the year, driven largely by weather losses. In addition, during 2022 we recorded a $6.4 million valuation allowance against our net deferred tax asset resulting from the operation of certain tax elections made by Osprey, our captive reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda which reduced the income tax benefit for the year.
Interest expense, net
Interest expense was $11.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, above the prior year by 27.3% as a result of higher interest rates on our variable rate debt.
Provision (benefit) for income taxes
The provision for income taxes was $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to a benefit for income taxes of $11.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 was 12.9% compared to 7.1% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2023 benefitted from a $6.4 million reduction in the valuation allowance against our Osprey net deferred tax assets that had been established in the prior year as operating income at Osprey for the year ended December 31, 2023 resulted in full use of Osprey operating losses. In contrast, for the year ended December 31, 2022 a $6.4 million valuation allowance was established against our Osprey net deferred tax assets whose utilization may be limited under the Internal Revenue Code. The effective tax rate for pre-tax loss experienced for the year ended December 31, 2022 was also significantly lower than the statutory rate due to a non-cash, mostly tax non-deductible goodwill impairment of $92.0 million recorded in the second quarter. The effective tax rate can also vary driven by the impact of permanent differences in relation to the pre-tax income or loss each year.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Ceded premium ratio | 47.3 | % | 47.3 | % | ||||
| Net loss and LAE ratio | 61.1 | % | 78.7 | % | ||||
| Net expense ratio | 35.2 | % | 35.6 | % | ||||
| Net combined ratio | 96.3 | % | 114.3 | % |
Net combined ratio
The net combined ratio was 96.3% for the year ended December 31, 2023, an 18.7 point improvement from 114.3% in the prior year. The improvement stems primarily from a significantly lower net loss and LAE ratio, described below.
39
Ceded premium ratio
The ceded premium ratio was 47.3% for the year ended December 31, 2023, flat compared to the prior year. The increase in gross premiums earned year over year offset the increase in ceded premium.
Net loss and LAE ratio
The net loss and LAE ratio was 61.1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, a 17.6 point improvement from 78.7% in the prior year. The improvement primarily relates to significantly lower weather and attritional losses in the current year and higher net premiums earned as described above.
Net expense ratio
The net expense ratio was 35.2% for the year ended December 31, 2023, down 0.4 points from 35.6% in the prior year. The decrease primarily stems from the impact of higher net premiums earned which offset higher policy acquisition costs and G&A costs as described above.
Financial Condition – December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022
Cash and Cash Equivalents
At December 31, 2023, cash and cash equivalents increased to $463.6 million from $280.9 million at December 31, 2022. The increase is primarily due to re-investment of proceeds from the maturity of fixed income securities into higher earning short duration investments. In addition, the Company benefitted from significant reinsurance recoveries from Hurricane Irma and Ian during 2023. This includes recoveries from the FHCF from the Hurricane Irma loss commutation as referenced in Note 13, "Reserve for Unpaid Losses". Finally, the Company received proceeds of approximately $24.7 million from the December 14, 2023 public and private offering of shares of its common stock as referenced in Note 22, “Equity”.
Fixed Maturity Securities
At December 31, 2023, fixed income securities decreased by $74.9 million to $569.4 million from $653.6 million at December 31, 2022. The decrease is primarily due to re-investment of proceeds from maturity of fixed income securities into higher earning short duration investments as described above. Additionally, an insurance company affiliate liquidated approximately $27.0 million of investments in advance of maturity to generate cash for the payment of claims. This relates to claims for Maui wildfire catastrophic losses that occurred during the third quarter of 2023.
Reinsurance Recoverable on Paid and Unpaid Claims
At December 31, 2023, reinsurance recoverable on paid and unpaid claims decreased by $322.6 million to $482.4 million from $805.1 million at December 31, 2022. The decrease is primarily due to reinsurance reimbursements received during 2023 for claim payments related to Hurricanes Irma and Ian.
Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses
At December 31, 2023, unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses decreased by $285.8 million to $846.0 million from $1.1 billion at December 31, 2022. The decrease is primarily due to payment of Hurricane Irma and Ian claims during 2023.
Total Shareholders’ Equity
At December 31, 2023, total shareholders’ equity increased by $89.2 million to $220.3 million from $131.0 million at December 31, 2022. The increase is primarily due to net income for the year ended December 31, 2023, coupled with a reduction in unrealized losses on fixed maturity investments and proceeds from the public and private offering of shares of our common stock. Rising interest rates during 2022 resulted in significant unrealized losses at December 31, 2022. As interest rates tempered during 2023 and certain investments matured at face value, unrealized losses declined from the prior year.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal sources of liquidity include cash flows generated from operations, our cash, cash equivalents, our marketable securities balances and borrowings available under our credit facilities. As of December 31, 2023, we held $463.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and $569.4 million in investments, compared to $280.9 million in cash and $653.6 million in investments as of December 31, 2022. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was primarily driven by proceeds from issuance of our common stock in the December 2023 underwritten public offering, higher cash levels at our captive reinsurer Osprey to provide collateral for affiliate reinsurance transactions, timing of receipt of reinsurance recoveries, a reinsurance commutation with the FHCF for which proceeds were received in advance of claim payments made by the Company, and reinvesting proceeds from investment maturities to short term instruments which provided a higher yield than fixed income securities, which was partly offset by costs associated with an enhanced
40
policy, billing and claims system. The decrease in investments was driven by maturities which were not reinvested as described above which was partly offset by lower unrealized losses on our fixed income securities as interest rates stabilized.
We generally hold substantial cash balances to meet seasonal liquidity needs including amounts to pay quarterly reinsurance installments as well as meet the collateral requirements of Osprey, our captive reinsurance company, which is required to maintain a collateral trust account equal to the risk that it assumes from our insurance company affiliates.
We believe that our sources of liquidity are adequate to meet our cash requirements for at least the next twelve months.
We may continue to pursue the acquisition of complementary businesses and make strategic investments. We may increase capital expenditures consistent with our investment plans and anticipated growth strategy. Cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to fund such expenditures. As such, in addition to the use of our existing Credit Facilities, we may need to utilize additional debt to secure funds for such purposes.
Statement of Cash Flows
The net increases (decreases) in cash and cash equivalents are summarized in the following table:
| For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2023 vs 2022 Change | 2022 vs 2021 Change | ||||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating activities | $ | 70,415 | $ | (34,260 | ) | $ | 60,130 | $ | 104,675 | $ | (94,390 | ) | ||||||||
| Investing activities | 100,806 | (37,862 | ) | (124,480 | ) | 138,668 | 86,618 | |||||||||||||
| Financing activities | 14,546 | (5,058 | ) | (17,281 | ) | 19,604 | 12,223 | |||||||||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | 185,767 | $ | (77,180 | ) | $ | (81,631 | ) | $ | 262,947 | $ | 4,451 |
Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $70.4 million compared to net cash used in operating activities of $34.3 million during the prior year. The increase in cash provided by operating activities was primarily driven by timing of receipt of reinsurance recoveries including a reinsurance commutation with the FHCF for which proceeds were received in advance of claim payments made by the Company, timing of cash flows associated with claim and reinsurance payments, and higher cash levels at our captive reinsurer Osprey to provide collateral for affiliate reinsurance transactions.
Investing Activities
Net cash provided by investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $100.8 million compared to net cash used of $37.9 million in the prior year. The change in cash used in investing activities primarily relates to our reinvestment of proceeds from maturities into short term investments which provided security and liquidity while achieving higher yields, which was partly offset by costs associated with an enhanced policy, billing and claims system.
Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $14.5 million, compared to net cash used of $5.1 million in the prior year. The increase in cash provided by financing activities was primarily driven by the December 2023 underwritten public offering and contemporaneous private placement of an aggregate of 3,919,169 shares of our common stock resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $26.5 million before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and other offering expenses as referenced in Note 22. "Equity", partly offset by principal payments on debt.
Credit Facilities
The Company is party to a Credit Agreement by and among the Company, as borrower, certain subsidiaries of the Company from time to time party thereto as guarantors, the lenders from time to time party thereto (the “Lenders”), Regions Bank, as Administrative Agent and Collateral Agent, BMO Harris Bank N.A., as Syndication Agent, Hancock Whitney Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, as Co-Documentation Agents, and Regions Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets Corp., as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners (as amended from time to time, the “Credit Agreement”).
Based on the Company’s results for the third quarter of 2022, management considered it likely at that time that the Company would be out of compliance with certain financial covenants in the Credit Agreement. In order to avoid a covenant violation, on November 7, 2022, the Company and its subsidiary guarantors entered into an amendment to the Credit Agreement to, among other things, (i) decrease the Revolving Credit Facility commitments from $75 million to $50 million, (ii) establish a new $25 million Term Loan Facility (defined below) to refinance loans outstanding under the existing Revolving Credit Facility and to pay fees, costs and
41
expenses related thereto, (iii) reduce, from $50 million to $25 million, the aggregate amount of potential future increases to the Revolving Credit Facility commitments and/or Term Loan Facility commitments, (iii) modify the amortization of the existing term loan facility and new term loan facility to 10% per annum, paid quarterly, and (iv) increase the applicable margin for loans under the Credit Agreement to a range from 2.75% to 3.25% per annum for SOFR loans (plus a 0.10% credit adjustment spread) and based on a leverage ratio (an increase from the prior range of 2.50% to 3.00%). The amendment also modified certain financial covenants in the Credit Agreement which may limit the Company’s flexibility in connection with future financing transactions and in the allocation of capital in the future, including the Company’s ability to pay dividends and make stock repurchases, and contribute capital to its insurance subsidiaries that are not parties to the Credit Agreement.
The Credit Agreement, as amended, provides for (1) a five-year senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $100 million (the “Term Loan Facility”) and (2) a five-year senior secured revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $50 million (inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the revolving credit facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the revolving credit facility) (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and together with the Term Loan Facility, the “Credit Facilities”).
Term Loan Facility. The principal amount of the Term Loan Facility amortizes in quarterly installments, which began with the close of the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2019, in an amount equal to $1.9 million per quarter, payable quarterly, decreasing to $875,000 per quarter commencing with the quarter ending December 31, 2021, and increasing to $2.4 million per quarter commencing with the quarter ending December 31, 2022, with the remaining balance payable at maturity. The Term Loan Facility matures on July 28, 2026. As of November 7, 2022, after giving effect to the additional term loan advance that was used to refinance amounts outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility and to pay fees, costs and expenses related thereto, there was $73.9 million in aggregate principal outstanding under the Term Loan Facility. As of December 31, 2023, there was $79.6 million in aggregate principal outstanding under the Term Loan Facility.
Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility allows for borrowings of up to $50 million inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility. As of September 30, 2022, we had $25.0 million in borrowings and a $22.6 million letters of credit outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility. In connection with the incurrence of additional amounts under the Term Loan Facility pursuant to the amendment, the borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility were repaid in full. On December 23, 2022, the Company borrowed $10.0 million under the Revolving Credit facility. At December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance under the Revolving Credit facility was $10.0 million. The Company secured additional letters of credit during 2023; however at December 31, 2023 all of the letters of credit were terminated and the Company had no outstanding letter of credits issued from the Revolving Credit Facility.
At our option, borrowings under the Credit Facilities bear interest at rates equal to either (1) a rate determined by reference to SOFR, plus an applicable margin (described below) and a credit adjustment spread equal to 0.10% or (2) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of (a) the “prime rate” of Regions Bank, (b) the federal funds rate plus 0.50%, and (c) the adjusted term SOFR in effect on such day for an interest period of one month plus 1.00%, plus an applicable margin (described below).
The applicable margin for loans under the Credit Facilities varies from 2.75% per annum to 3.25% per annum (for SOFR loans) and 1.75% to 2.25% per annum (for base rate loans) based on our consolidated leverage ratio ranging from 1.25-to-1 to greater than 2.25-to-1. Interest payments with respect to the Credit Facilities are required either on a quarterly basis (for base rate loans) or at the end of each interest period (for SOFR loans) or, if the duration of the applicable interest period exceeds three months, then every three months. As of December 31, 2023, the borrowings under the Term Loan Facility and Revolving Credit Facility accruing interest at a rate of 8.179% and 8.198% per annum, respectively.
In addition to paying interest on outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, we are required to pay a quarterly commitment fee based on the unused portion of the Revolving Credit Facility, which is determined by our consolidated leverage ratio.
We may prepay the loans under the Credit Facilities, in whole or in part, at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions including minimum amounts and reimbursement of certain costs in the case of prepayments of SOFR loans. In addition, we are required to prepay the loan under the Term Loan Facility with the proceeds from certain financing transactions, involuntary dispositions or asset sales (subject, in the case of asset sales, to reinvestment rights).
All obligations under the Credit Facilities are or will be guaranteed by each existing and future direct and indirect wholly owned domestic subsidiary of the Company, other than all of the Company’s current and future regulated insurance subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantors”).
The Company and the Guarantors are party to a Pledge and Security Agreement, (as amended from time to time the “Security Agreement”), in favor of Regions Bank, as collateral agent. Pursuant to the Security Agreement, amounts borrowed under the Credit Facilities are secured on a first priority basis by a perfected security interest in substantially all of the present and future assets of the
42
Company and each Guarantor (subject to certain exceptions), including all of the capital stock of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries, other than its regulated insurance subsidiaries.
The Credit Agreement contains, among other things, covenants, representations and warranties and events of default customary for facilities of this type. The Company is required to maintain, as of each fiscal quarter (1) a maximum consolidated leverage ratio of 2.50 to 1.00, stepping down to 2.25 to 1.00 as of the second quarter of 2024 and 2.00 to 1.00 as of the second quarter of 2025, (2) a minimum consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.20 to 1.00 and (3) a minimum consolidated net worth for the Company and its subsidiaries, which is required to be not less than $100 million plus 50% of positive quarterly net income (including its subsidiaries and regulated subsidiaries) plus the net cash proceeds of any equity transactions. Events of default include, among other events, (i) nonpayment of principal, interest, fees or other amounts; (ii) failure to perform or observe certain covenants set forth in the Credit Agreement; (iii) breach of any representation or warranty; (iv) cross-default to other indebtedness; (v) bankruptcy and insolvency defaults; (vi) monetary judgment defaults and material nonmonetary judgment defaults; (vii) customary ERISA defaults; (viii) a change of control of the Company; and (ix) failure to maintain specified catastrophe retentions in each of the Company’s regulated insurance subsidiaries.
Convertible Note
On August 10, 2017 and September 6, 2017, the Company and Heritage MGA, LLC (the “Notes Guarantor”) entered into a purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., as the initial purchaser (the “Initial Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, and the Initial Purchaser agreed to purchase, $136.8 million aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 5.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2037 (the “Convertible Notes”) in a private placement transaction pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Purchase Agreement contained customary representations, warranties and agreements of the Company and the Notes Guarantor and customary conditions to closing, indemnification rights and obligations of the parties and termination provisions. The net proceeds from the offering of the Convertible Notes, after deducting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately $120.5 million. The offering of the Convertible Notes was completed on August 16, 2017.
The Company issued the Convertible Notes under an Indenture (the “Convertible Note Indenture”), dated August 16, 2017, by and among the Company, as issuer, the Notes Guarantor, as guarantor, and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee (the “Trustee”).
The Convertible Notes bear interest at a rate of 5.875% per year. Interest is payable semi-annually in arrears, on February 1 and August 1 of each year. The Convertible Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the Company that rank senior in right of payment to the Company’s future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Convertible Notes; equal in right of payment to the Company’s unsecured indebtedness that is not so subordinated; effectively junior to any of the Company’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and structurally junior to all indebtedness or other liabilities incurred by the Company’s subsidiaries other than the Notes Guarantor, which fully and unconditionally guarantee the Convertible Notes on a senior unsecured basis.
The Convertible Notes mature on August 1, 2037, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted.
Holders may convert their Convertible Notes at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding February 1, 2037, other than during the period from, and including, February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, only under the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on September 30, 2017, if the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock, for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the calendar quarter immediately preceding the calendar quarter in which the conversion occurs, is more than 130% of the conversion price of the Convertible Notes in effect on each applicable trading day; (2) during the ten consecutive business-day period following any five consecutive trading-day period in which the trading price for the Convertible Notes for each such trading day was less than 98% of the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock on such date multiplied by the then-current conversion rate; (3) if the Company calls any or all of the Convertible Notes for redemption, at any time prior to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding the redemption date; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events.
During the period from and including February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, and on or after February 1, 2037 until the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 1, 2037, holders may surrender their Convertible Notes for conversion at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances.
The conversion rate for the Convertible Notes was initially 67.0264 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $14.92 per share of common stock). The conversion rate is subject to adjustment in certain circumstances and is subject to increase for holders that elect to convert their Convertible Notes in
43
connection with certain corporate transactions (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture)) that occur prior to August 5, 2022.
Upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture), holders of the Convertible Notes may require the Company to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their Convertible Notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.
At any time prior to February 1, 2037, the Company may redeem for cash all or any portion of the Convertible Notes, at the Company’s option, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date. No sinking fund is provided for the Convertible Notes, which means that the Company is not required to redeem or retire the Convertible Notes periodically. Holders of the Convertible Notes are able to cause the Company to repurchase their Convertible Notes for cash on any of August 1, 2022, August 1, 2027 and August 1, 2032, in each case at 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the relevant repurchase date.
The Convertible Note Indenture contains customary terms and covenants and events of default. If an Event of Default (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) occurs and is continuing, the Trustee by notice to the Company, or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes then outstanding by notice to the Company and the Trustee, may declare 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, all the Convertible Notes to be immediately due and payable. In the case of certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization (as set forth in the Convertible Note Indenture) with respect to the Company, 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, the Convertible Notes automatically become immediately due and payable.
In January 2022, the Company repurchased $11.7 million principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes. As of December 31, 2023, there was $885,000 principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes, net of $21.1 million of Convertible Notes held by an insurance company subsidiary.
As discussed above, holders of the Convertible Notes issued by the Company had an optional put right, pursuant to the indenture governing the Convertible Notes, to require the Company to repurchase the aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes that are validly tendered. The Company received notice from the Depositary for the Convertible Notes that, on July 29, 2022, $10.9 million aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes has been validly tendered in accordance with the terms of the indenture and the Company’s notice with respect to the optional put right of the Convertible Notes, and the Company has requested that the Trustee cancel the Convertible Notes tendered. The outstanding balance as of December 31, 2023 of non-affiliated Notes was $885,000. On August 1, 2022, the Company made payments for the principal amount of the Convertible Notes tendered and unpaid interest in the aggregate amounts of $10.9 million and $320,041, respectively. In November 2022, the Company drew $10.0 million from the Revolving Credit Facility to replenish the cash used to pay the $10.9 million for the purchase of the tendered Convertible Notes.
FHLB Loan Agreements
In December 2018, a subsidiary of the Company received a 3.094% fixed interest rate cash loan of $19.2 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) Atlanta. On September 29, 2023, the Company restructured the December 2018 agreement to extend the maturity date to March 28, 2025, with a 5.109% fixed interest rate payable quarterly commencing on December 28, 2023. The subsidiary continues to be a member in the FHLB. Membership in the FHLB required an investment in FHLB’s common stock which was purchased in December 2018 and valued at $1.4 million. As of December 31, 2023, the common stock was valued at $1.4 million. The subsidiary is permitted to withdraw any portion of the pledged collateral over the minimum collateral requirement at any time, other than in the event of a default by the subsidiary. The proceeds from the loan were used to prepay the Company’s Senior Secured Notes due 2023 in 2018.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our material contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2023:
| Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments | Total | Less Than 1 Year | 1-3 Years | 3-5 Years | More than 5 - Years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Term loans, notes and interest (1) | $ | 106,057 | $ | 16,609 | $ | 89,448 | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||||
| Convertible debt (1) | 39,029 | 1,190 | 2,379 | 2,379 | 33,080 | ||||||||||||||
| Mortgage loan (1) | 11,019 | 354 | 768 | 9,897 | — | ||||||||||||||
| FHLB agreement (1) | 19,534 | 97 | 19,437 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Operating lease obligations | 32,961 | 4,825 | 9,585 | 9,687 | 8,864 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Contractual Obligations | $ | 208,600 | $ | 23,075 | $ | 121,618 | $ | 21,963 | $ | 41,944 |
44
(1)
Amounts represent principal and interest payments to debt obligations. Debt obligations are classified based on their stated maturity date. For further information on long-term debt, Refer to Note 14 “Long Term Debt” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The expected timing of payments of the obligations in the preceding table is estimated based on current information. Timing of payments and actual amounts paid may be different due to changes to agreed-upon amounts for some obligations.
Market Sensitive Instruments and Risk Management
Our investment results are subject to a variety of risks, including risks related to changes in the business, financial condition or results of operations of the entities in which we invest, as well as changes in general economic conditions and overall market conditions. We are also exposed to potential loss from various market risks, including changes in equity prices and interest rates.
In accordance with the SEC's Financial Reporting Release No 48, we performed sensitivity analysis, also referenced as the hypothetical analysis (refer to Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk) to determine the effects that market risk exposures could have on the Company's future portfolio's earnings, fair value or cash flow as of December 31, 2023. Market risk represents the risk of changes in the fair value of financial instrument and consists of several components, including liquidity, basis and price risks.
The sensitivity analysis performed as of December 31, 2023 presents hypothetical losses in cash flows, earnings and fair values of market sensitive instruments which were held by as of the year ended December 31, 2023 and are sensitive to changes in interest rates. This risk management discussion and the estimated amounts generated from the following sensitivity analysis represent forward-looking statements of market risk assuming certain adverse market conditions occur. Actual results in the future may differ materially from these projected results due to actual developments in the global financial markets. The analysis methods used by us to assess and mitigate risk should not be considered projections of future events of losses.
Exposure to market risk is managed and monitored by senior management of the parent company and its subsidiaries along with a nationally recognized asset manager. The investment committee, appointed by our board of directors approves the overall investment strategy and has responsibility to ensure that the investment positions are consistent with that strategy with an acceptable level of risk. Management of risk may include buying or selling instruments or entering into offsetting positions.
Fixed Income Securities
We invest in interest rate sensitive securities, primarily debt securities. We consider the effect of interest rate movements on the fair value of our fixed maturities, short-term investments and certain of our other investments, and investment funds accounted for using the equity method which invest in fixed income securities (collectively, “Fixed Income Securities”) and the corresponding change in unrealized appreciation. As interest rates rise, the fair value of our Fixed Income Securities falls, and the converse is also true. Based on historical observations, there is a low probability that all interest rate yield curves would shift in the same direction at the same time.
The Company’s invested assets at December 31, 2023 were $569.4 million, of which 98.5% was invested in fixed maturity and short-term investments, 0.3% in equity securities, and 1.2% in other investments. Because the primary purpose of the investment portfolio is to fund future claims payments, the Company employs a thoughtful investment philosophy that focuses on appropriate risk-adjusted returns. A significant majority of funds available for investment are deployed in a widely diversified portfolio of high quality, liquid, taxable U.S. government, tax-exempt and taxable U.S. municipal and taxable corporate and U.S. agency mortgage-backed bonds.
Effects of Inflation
General economic inflation has increased in recent quarters and may continue to remain at elevated levels for an extended period of time. The potential also exists, after a catastrophe loss or pandemic events like COVID-19, for the development of inflationary pressures in a local economy. This may have a material effect on the adequacy of our reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses, especially in longer-tailed lines of business, and on the market value of our investment portfolio through rising interest rates. The anticipated effects of inflation are considered in our pricing models, reserving processes and exposure management, across all lines of business and types of loss including natural catastrophe events. The actual effects of inflation on our results cannot be accurately known until claims are ultimately settled and will vary by the specific type of inflation affecting our business.
The carrying value of the Company’s fixed maturity portfolio at December 31, 2023 was $560.7 million. The Company closely monitors the duration of its fixed maturity investments, and investment purchases and sales are executed with the objective of having adequate funds available to satisfy the Company’s insurance and debt obligations. The weighted average credit quality of the Company’s fixed maturity portfolio, both including and excluding U.S. Treasury securities, was “A+” at both December 31, 2023 and 2022. Below investment grade securities represented 0.1% of the total fixed maturity investment portfolio at both December 31, 2023 and 2022. The weighted average effective duration of fixed maturities and short-term securities was 2.67 (3.14 excluding short-term securities) at December 31, 2023 and 3.18 (3.25 excluding short-term securities) at December 31, 2022.
45
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The following discussion and analysis presents the more significant factors that affected our financial conditions as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 and results of operations for each of the years then ended. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles of generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. While we base estimates on historical experience, current information and other factors deemed to be relevant, actual results could differ from those estimates.
We consider accounting estimates to be critical to reported financial results if (i) the accounting estimate requires management to make assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain and (ii) different estimates that management reasonably could have used for the accounting estimates in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. When we prepare our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we must make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts we report. Certain of these estimates result from judgments that can be subjective and complex. As a result of that subjectivity and complexity, and because we continuously evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on a variety of factors, actual results could materially differ from our estimates and assumptions if changes in one or more factors require us to make accounting adjustments.
Premiums. We recognize direct and assumed premiums written as revenue, net of ceded amounts, on a daily pro rata basis over the contract period of the related policies that are in force. For any portion of premiums not earned at the end of the reporting period, we record an unearned premium liability.
Premiums receivable represents amounts due from our policyholders for billed premiums and related policy fees. Our billing system is equity based such that policies are canceled if the unpaid premium exceeds the amount of premium earned. When we receive payments on amounts previously charged off, we credit bad debt expense in the period we receive the payment. Balances in premiums receivable and the associated allowance account are removed upon cancellation of the policy due to non-payment and returned agent commission. We recorded bad debt expense of approximately $855,750, $0 and $0 in 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.
When we receive premium payments from policyholders prior to the effective date of the related policy, we record an advance premium liability. On the policy effective date, we reduce the advance premium liability and record the premiums as described above.
Reserves for Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses. Reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, also referred to as loss reserves, represent the most significant accounting estimate inherent in the preparation of our financial statements. These reserves represent management’s best estimate of the amount we will ultimately pay for losses and loss adjustment expenses and we base the amount upon the application of various actuarial reserve estimation techniques as well as considering other material facts and circumstances known at the balance sheet date. We establish two categories of loss reserves as follows: Case reserves—When a claim is reported, we establish an initial estimate of the losses that will ultimately be paid on the reported claim. Our initial estimate for each claim is based upon the judgment of our claims professionals who are familiar with property and liability losses associated with the coverage offered by our policies. Then, our claims personnel perform an evaluation of the type of claim involved, the circumstances surrounding each claim and the policy provisions relating to the loss and adjust the reserve, as necessary. As claims mature, we increase or decrease the reserve estimates as deemed necessary by our claims department based upon additional information we receive regarding the loss, the results of on-site reviews and any other information we gather while reviewing the claims. IBNR reserves—Our IBNR reserves include true IBNR reserves plus “bulk” reserves. True IBNR reserves represent amounts related to claims for which a loss occurred on or before the date of the financial statements, but which have not yet been reported to us. Bulk reserves represent additional amounts that cannot be allocated to particular claims, but which are necessary to estimate ultimate losses on known claims. We estimate our IBNR reserves by projecting our ultimate losses using industry accepted actuarial methods and then deducting actual loss payments and case reserves from the projected ultimate losses. We review and adjust our IBNR reserves on a quarterly basis based on information available to us at the balance sheet date.
When we establish our reserves, we analyze various factors such as the evolving historical loss experience of the insurance industry as well as our experience, claims frequency and severity, our business mix, our claims processing procedures, legislative enactments, judicial decisions and legal developments in imposition of damages, and general economic conditions, including inflation. A change in any of these factors from the assumptions implicit in our estimates will cause our ultimate loss experience to be better or worse than indicated by our reserves, and the difference could be material. Due to the interaction of the foregoing factors, there is no precise method for evaluating the impact of any one specific factor in isolation, and an element of judgment is ultimately required. Due to the uncertain nature of any future projections, the ultimate amount we will pay for losses will be different from the reserves we record.
We determine our ultimate loss reserves by selecting an estimate within a relevant range of indications that we calculate using generally accepted actuarial techniques. Our selection of the point estimate is influenced by the analysis of our paid losses and incurred losses since inception.
46
Our external reserving actuaries evaluated the adequacy of our reserves as of December 31, 2023 and concluded that our reported loss reserves would meet the requirements of the insurance laws of the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, be consistent with reserves computed in accordance with accepted loss reserving standards and principles, and make a reasonable provision for all unpaid loss and loss adjustment expense obligations under the terms of our contracts and agreements. In addition to $292.1 million of recorded case reserves, we recorded $553.4 million of IBNR reserves as of December 31, 2023 to achieve overall gross reserves of $846.0 billion. At December 31, 2023, ceded IBNR and net IBNR were $277.2 million and $276.6 million, respectively.
The process of establishing our reserves is complex and inherently imprecise, as it involves using judgment that is affected by many variables. We believe a reasonably likely change in almost any of the factors we evaluate as part of our loss reserve analysis could have an impact on our reported results, financial position and liquidity.
The following table quantifies the pro forma impact of hypothetical changes in our net loss reserves on our net income and stockholders’ equity as of and for the year ended December 31, 2023 (in thousands):
| Actual | Low Estimate | % Change from Actual | High Estimate | % Change from Actual | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Loss Reserves | $ | 424,157 | $ | 347,145 | 18.2 | % | $ | 461,208 | (8.7 | )% | ||||||||||
| Impact on: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 45,307 | $ | 101,911 | 124.9 | % | $ | 18,074 | (60.1 | )% | ||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity | $ | 220,280 | $ | 276,884 | 25.7 | % | $ | 193,047 | (12.4 | )% | ||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and investments(1) | $ | 1,033,055 | $ | 1,089,659 | 5.5 | % | $ | 1,005,822 | (2.6 | )% |
(1)
Estimated cash, cash equivalents and investments is intended to reflect the impact of loss reserves, net of taxes.
Policy Acquisition Costs. We incur policy acquisition costs that vary with, and are directly related to, the production of new business. Policy acquisition costs consist of the following four items: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We capitalize policy acquisition costs to the extent recoverable, then we amortize those costs over the contract period of the related policy. We also earn ceding commission on our quota share reinsurance contracts, which is presented as a reduction of policy acquisition costs with any unearned ceding commission recognized as a liability. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
Our accounting policy is to allocate ceding commission between policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses for financial reporting purposes based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we earned ceding commission income of $64.8 million, $62.7 million and $57.1 million of which $48.7 million, $47.1 million and $43.0 million was allocable to policy acquisition costs.
Deferred taxes. At December 31, 2023, we assessed our deferred tax position and hold no valuation against our net deferred tax assets as there is sufficient evidence to support the recorded net deferred tax asset.
Provision for Premium Deficiency. At each reporting date, we determine whether we have a premium deficiency. A premium deficiency would result if the sum of our expected losses, deferred policy acquisition costs and policy maintenance costs (such as costs to store records and costs incurred to collect premiums and pay commissions) exceeded our related unearned premiums plus investment income. Should we determine that a premium deficiency exists, we would write off the unrecoverable portion of deferred policy acquisition costs. No accruals for premium deficiency were considered necessary as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Reinsurance. We follow industry practice of reinsuring a portion of our risks. Reinsurance involves transferring, or “ceding”, all or a portion of the risk exposure on policies we write to another insurer, known as a reinsurer. To the extent that our reinsurers are unable to meet the obligations they assume under our reinsurance agreements, we remain liable for the entire insured loss.
Our reinsurance agreements are prospective contracts. We record an asset, prepaid reinsurance premiums, and a liability, reinsurance payable, for the entire contract amount upon commencement of our new reinsurance agreements. We amortize our prepaid reinsurance premiums over the 12-month contract period.
In the event that we incur losses recoverable under our reinsurance program, we record amounts recoverable from our reinsurers on paid losses plus an estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses. The estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses is a function of our liability for unpaid losses associated with the reinsured policies; therefore, the amount changes in conjunction with any changes to our estimate of unpaid losses. In the event that we incur losses recoverable under the reinsurance program, the estimate of amounts recoverable from reinsurers on unpaid losses may change at any point in the future because of its relation to our reserves for unpaid losses.
47
We estimate uncollectible amounts receivable from reinsurers based on an assessment of factors including the creditworthiness of the reinsurers and the adequacy of collateral obtained, where applicable. We had no uncollectible amounts under our reinsurance program or bad debt expense related to reinsurance for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Effective
The Company describes the recent pronouncements that have had or may have a significant effect on its financial statements or on its disclosures. The Company does not discuss recent pronouncements that a) are not anticipated to have an impact on, or b) are unrelated to its financial condition, results of operations, or related disclosures. For accounting pronouncements not yet adopted, Refer to Note 1 “Basis of Presentation, Nature of Business and Significant Accounting Policies and Practices” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further information.
FY 2022 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-23-007569.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Overview
We are a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company that primarily provides personal and commercial residential insurance products across our multi-state footprint. We provide personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia and commercial residential insurance in Florida, New Jersey, and New York. We provide personal residential insurance in Florida on both an admitted and non-admitted basis and in California on a non-admitted basis. As a vertically integrated insurer, we control or manage substantially all aspects of risk management, underwriting, claims processing and adjusting, actuarial rate making and reserving, customer service, and distribution. Our financial strength ratings are important to us in establishing our competitive position and can impact our ability to write policies.
Trends
Inflation, Underwriting and Pricing
We continue to address rising reinsurance and loss costs in the property insurance sector through continued implementation of increased rates and inflation guard factors resulting in an increase in the average premium per policy of 18.1% for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the prior year 2021. New rates, which are subject to approval by our regulators, become effective when a policy is written or renewed, and the premium is earned pro rata over the policy period of one year. As a result of this timing, it can take up to twenty-four months for the complete impact of a rate change to be fully earned in our financial statements. For that reason, we account for inflation in our rate indications and filings with our regulators.
We invest in data analytics, using software and experienced personnel, to continuously evaluate our underwriting criteria and manage exposure to catastrophe and other losses. Our retention has remained steadily in the range of 90% despite the rate increases we have implemented, in large part due to a challenging property insurance market in many of the regions in which we operate. Weather losses and a higher cost of reinsurance have impacted these markets. While we believe our rates are generally competitive with private market insurers operating in our space, we are focused on managing exposure and achieving rate adequacy throughout our book of business.
We continue to experience rising inflation in the form of increased labor and material costs, which drive up claim costs throughout all states in which we conduct business. Our Florida personal lines market is also seeing claim costs impacted by litigated claims, which substantially increases loss costs thereby driving up rates for the insurance buying public. Our response to this phenomenon is a combination of raising rates and reducing exposure. Claims abuse has extended throughout much of Florida, generated from assignment of benefits, excessive roof claims, and unwarranted litigated claims which far exceeds levels experienced in other states. Correspondingly, our exposure reduction plan expanded to personal lines business throughout the state of Florida.
Our industry experienced higher reinsurance costs and more constrained availability for catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance in the Spring 2022 renewals. We anticipate continued cost increases and availability constraints for the 2023 renewal season. As described herein, we are carefully managing exposure by reducing new business written in certain geographies, non-renewing unprofitable business in compliance with regulatory requirements, increasing rates, where permitted by regulators, and narrowing our underwriting requirements.
While we see improvement in the geographic distribution of our business, which is becoming more rate adequate, our Florida loss costs have continued to increase from a combination of adverse weather and exacerbation of losses on weather and other claims resulting from the litigated claims environment.
Recent legislative changes have been made in Florida in each of the last three years, which we believe is making some progress toward reducing losses from abusive claim reporting practices.
The special legislative session of December 2022 included a number of additional provisions aimed at driving down claims abuses and stabilizing the Florida property insurance market. We plan to evaluate the impact of this legislation before growing exposures in the Florida personal lines market.
The table below provides policy count, premiums-in-force, and TIV for Florida and all other states. Our goal is to reduce exposure in Florida given historical abusive claims practices. Florida policies-in-force and TIV have each declined from the prior year but premiums in force increased as a result of rate actions taken. For markets outside of Florida, the premiums-in-force increased while the policy count decreased due to rate actions taken.
28
| | | At December 31, | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policies in force: | | 2022 | 2021 | % Change | |||||||||
| Florida | | 182,673 | | 215,074 | | (15.1 | ) | % | |||||
| Other States | | 347,234 | | 356,242 | | (2.5 | ) | % | |||||
| Total | | 529,907 | | 571,318 | | (7.2 | ) | % | |||||
| | | | | | |||||||||
| Premiums in force: | | | | | |||||||||
| Florida | $ | 599,596,526 | $ | 560,431,244 | | 7.0 | % | ||||||
| Other States | | 684,469,189 | | 611,972,698 | | 11.8 | % | ||||||
| Total | $ | 1,284,065,715 | $ | 1,172,103,942 | | 9.6 | % | ||||||
| | | | | | |||||||||
| Total Insured Value: | | | | | |||||||||
| Florida | $ | 103,752,777,168 | $ | 107,144,880,580 | | (3.2 | ) | % | |||||
| Other States | | 306,070,446,229 | | 290,830,572,887 | | 5.2 | % | ||||||
| Total | $ | 409,823,223,397 | $ | 397,975,453,467 | | 3.0 | % |
Strategic Profitability Initiatives
The following provides an update to our strategic initiatives that we expect will enable us to achieve consistent long-term quarterly earnings and drive shareholder value.
•
Generate underwriting profit though rate adequacy and more selective underwriting.
o
Significant rating actions throughout the book of business resulting in an increase in average premium per policy of 18.1% over fourth quarter 2021 and 5.6% over third quarter 2022.
o
Premiums-in-force of $1.3 billion are up 9.6% from fourth quarter 2021 while policy count is down 7.2% through more selective underwriting.
o
Continued focus on timely rate actions, tightening underwriting criteria, and expanding restrictions on new business written in over-concentrated markets or products.
•
Optimize capital allocation toward products and geographies that maximize long-term returns.
o
Increased commercial residential premium by 41.1% year over year while TIV only increased 21.5% and policies in force increased by only 0.4%.
o
Reduced policy count for Florida personal lines business by 16.2% as compared fourth quarter 2021. The disciplined underwriting and rating actions have reduced Florida personal lines TIV by 11.1% while reducing premiums in force by only 1.9%.
o
This disciplined underwriting approach resulted in a policy count reduction of 2.5% in other states while generating a 11.9% increase in premiums in force.
•
Improve portfolio diversity.
o
No state represents over 26% of the Company’s TIV.
o
The top four states grew TIV by an average 2.2% while the smallest five states grew by 56.7%.
o
As a result of diversification efforts, the top five personal lines states represented 79.2% of all TIV at fourth quarter 2022 compared to 79.8% of all TIV at fourth quarter 2021.
•
Provide coverages suitable to the market and return targets.
o
Offering Excess & Surplus lines (“E&S”) policies in California and Florida.
o
Expanding E&S to South Carolina during second quarter of 2023.
o
Continue to evaluate other states for E&S and other products.
29
Key Components of our Results of Operations
Revenue
Gross premiums written represent, with respect to a period, the sum of direct premiums written (premiums from policies written during the period, net of any midterm cancellations and renewals of voluntary policies) and assumed premiums written (primarily premiums from state fair plan policies), in each case prior to ceding premiums to reinsurers.
Gross premiums earned represent the total premiums earned during a period from policies written. Premiums associated with new and renewal policies are earned ratably over the twelve-month term of the policy and premiums associated with assumed policies are earned ratably over the remaining term of the policy.
Ceded premiums represent the cost of our reinsurance during a period. We recognize the cost of our reinsurance program ratably over term of the arrangement, which is typically twelve months. Our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance generally incepts June 1 and runs through May 31 of the following year. Our net quota share treaty incepts December 31. Our other reinsurance programs may be purchased on a calendar or fiscal year basis.
Net premiums earned reflect gross premiums earned less ceded premiums during the period.
Net investment income represents interest earned on fixed maturity securities, short term securities and other investments, dividends on equity securities.
Net realized and unrealized gains or losses represent gains or losses on investment sales and unrealized gains or losses on equity securities.
Other revenue includes rental income due under non-cancelable leases for space at the Company’s commercial property in Clearwater, Florida, and all policy and pay-plan fees. Our regulators have approved a policy fee on each policy written for certain states; to the extent these fees are not subject to refund, the Company recognizes the income immediately when collected. The Company also charges pay-plan fees to policyholders that pay premiums in more than one installment and record the fees as income when collected.
Expenses
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) reflect losses paid, expenses paid to resolve claims, such as fees paid to adjusters, attorneys and investigators, and changes in our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses during the period, in each case net of losses ceded to reinsurers. Our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the estimated ultimate cost of resolving all reported claims plus all losses we incurred related to insured events that we assume have occurred as of the reporting date, but that policyholders have not yet reported to us (which are commonly referred to as incurred but not reported, or “IBNR”). We estimate our reserves for unpaid losses using individual case-based estimates for reported claims and actuarial estimates for IBNR losses. We continually review and adjust our estimated losses as necessary based on our evolving claims experience, new information obtained and industry development trends. If our unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses are considered deficient or redundant, we increase or decrease the liability in the period in which we identify the difference and reflect the change in our current period results of operations.
Policy acquisition costs (“PAC”) consist of: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We recognize policy acquisition costs ratably over the term of the underlying policy. We earn ceding commissions on our net quota share reinsurance contract and certain other reinsurance contracts, which are reported as a reduction to policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. Refer to Note 11 “Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10K. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
General and administrative expenses (“G&A”) include compensation and related benefits, professional fees, office lease and related expenses, information system expenses, corporate insurance, and other general and administrative costs. As noted above, a certain portion of our ceding commissions are allocated to general and administrative expenses.
30
Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state corporate level income taxes. The effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year. The effective tax rate can vary from the 26.5% statutory federal and state blended rate depending on the amount of pretax income in proportion to permanent tax differences as well as state tax apportionment. The 2022 and 2021 effective tax rates were adversely impacted by the mostly non-deductible goodwill impairment reported of $92.0 million and $60.5 million, respectively. At December 31, 2022, the Company recognized a valuation allowance of $6.4 million against the net deferred tax asset generated at its foreign domiciled captive reinsurer, Osprey Re. The Company can only realize those net deferred tax assets to the extent Osprey Re generates future taxable income.
Ratios
Ceded premium ratio represents ceded premiums earned as a percentage of gross premiums earned.
Net loss ratio represents net losses and LAE as a percentage of net premiums earned.
Net expense ratio represents PAC and G&A expenses as a percentage of net premiums earned. Ceding commission income is reported as a reduction of policy acquisition costs and G&A expenses.
Net combined ratio represents the sum of the net loss and expense ratio. The net combined ratio is a key measure of underwriting performance traditionally used in the property and casualty insurance industry. A net combined ratio under 100% generally reflects profitable underwriting results.
Recent Developments
Economic and Market Factors
We continue to monitor the effects of general changes in economic and market conditions on our business. As a result of general supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, increased cost of materials and labor needed for repairs and to otherwise remediate claims.
Goodwill impairment Charge
We evaluate goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment annually, or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is likely that the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets may exceed the implied fair value. Any impairment is charged to operations in the period that the impairment is identified. The evaluation of goodwill impairment requires considerable management judgment and includes a review of a variety of factors as described in Note 3, Goodwill and Other Intangible assets to our consolidated financial statements. Any adverse change in those factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and a material impact on our financial results. During the second quarter of 2022, we concluded it was appropriate to perform an interim evaluation of goodwill for potential impairment given a variety of market trends. As a result of the analysis, management determined the entire amount of remaining goodwill was impaired, which reduced our carrying value of goodwill from $92.0 million to $0 based on the following factors: (i) disruptions in the equity markets, specifically for property and casualty insurance companies, largely due to recent weather-related catastrophe events; (ii) elevated loss ratios for property insurers in our markets; and (iii) trading of our stock below book value. These factors reduced our previously modeled fair value of the Company and resulted in a $92.0 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge, most of which is not tax deductible.
Overview of 2022 Financial Results
In the following section, we discuss our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, please Refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the SEC on March 14, 2022.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows provides information that will assist the reader in understanding our consolidated financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from year to year, including certain key performance indicators such as net combined ratio, ceded premium ratio, net expense ratio and net loss ratio, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our consolidated financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
•
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $154.4 million or $5.86 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $74.7 million or $2.69 per diluted share in the prior year, with the increase stemming from a $90.8 million, net of income tax, non-cash goodwill impairment charge in the second quarter contributing a $3.45 loss per share, compared to a $60.5
31
million, non-cash goodwill impairment charged reported in the fourth quarter of 2021 contributing a $2.18 loss per share; combined with higher losses and loss adjustments expenses incurred for the year ended December 31, 2022, which included net losses associated with Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. In addition, the Company recorded a $6.4 million valuation allowance against our net deferred tax asset related to certain tax elections made by Osprey Re, our captive reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda. The total amount of these expenses exceeded the increase in total revenue as described below.
•
Gross premiums written of $1.3 billion, up 9.5% from $1.2 billion in the prior year, driven primarily by rate actions taken in all states with a policy count reduction of 7.2% driven substantially by a reduction in the number of Florida personal lines policies. Rate increases continued to meaningfully benefit written premiums throughout the book of business.
•
Gross premiums earned of $1.2 billion, up 5.7% from $1.1 billion in the prior year, reflecting higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months driven by a higher average premium per policy.
•
Net premiums earned of $637.1 million, up 4.3% from $611.1 million in the prior year, reflecting the higher gross earned premium outpacing the increase in ceded premiums for the year.
•
Losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred of $501.2 million, up 17.3% from $427.4 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from retained losses from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 as well as an increase in attritional losses. Additionally, we experienced $3.7 million of adverse prior year development compared to $3.5 million of favorable prior year development in the prior year.
•
Ceded premium ratio of 47.3%, up 0.7 points from 46.6% in the prior year driven by a higher cost of the 2022-2023 catastrophe excess of loss program, stemming primarily from higher costs, which was partly offset by a higher cost for severe convective storm coverage in 2021 which did not recur in 2022. The ceded premium ratio change was dampened by the increase in gross premiums earned which exceeded the increase in the cost of the reinsurance program.
•
Net loss ratio of 78.7%, 8.8 points higher than the prior year of 69.9%, driven by higher losses incurred and higher ceded premium as described above.
•
Net expense ratio of 35.6%, up 0.9 points from the prior year amount of 34.7%, driven by a higher ceded premium ratio as described above, as well as higher policy acquisition associated with the increase in gross premiums written.
•
Net combined ratio of 114.3%, up 9.7 points from 104.6% in the prior year, driven by higher net loss and net expense ratios as described above.
•
Effective tax rate was 7.1% compared to 1.7% in the prior year. The effective tax rate for 2022 was significantly lower than the statutory rate due to a non-cash, mostly tax non-deductible goodwill impairment of $92.0 million recorded in the second quarter as well as a $6.4 million valuation allowance against our Osprey Re net deferred tax assets whose utilization may be limited under the Internal Revenue Code. The effective tax rate for 2021 was lower than the statutory rate primarily due to a mostly non-deductible non-cash goodwill impairment of $60.5 million. The effective tax rate can also vary driven by the impact of permanent differences in relation to the pre-tax income or loss each year.
32
Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||
| REVENUE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Gross premiums written | $ | 1,275,031 | $ | 1,164,879 | $ | 110,152 | 9.5 | % | ||||||||
| Change in gross unearned premiums | (66,207 | ) | (20,717 | ) | (45,490 | ) | 219.6 | % | ||||||||
| Gross premiums earned | 1,208,824 | 1,144,162 | 64,662 | 5.7 | % | |||||||||||
| Ceded premiums | (571,759 | ) | (533,091 | ) | (38,668 | ) | 7.3 | % | ||||||||
| Net premiums earned | 637,065 | 611,071 | 25,994 | 4.3 | % | |||||||||||
| Net investment income | 11,977 | 5,652 | 6,325 | 111.9 | % | |||||||||||
| Net realized gains | (258 | ) | (16 | ) | (242 | ) | NM | |||||||||
| Other revenue | 13,676 | 14,854 | (1,178 | ) | (7.9 | %) | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 662,460 | $ | 631,561 | $ | 30,899 | 4.9 | % | ||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 501,162 | $ | 427,370 | $ | 73,792 | 17.3 | % | ||||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 156,304 | 145,968 | 10,335 | 7.1 | % | |||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 70,396 | 65,787 | 4,610 | 7.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | 91,959 | 60,500 | 31,459 | 52.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 819,821 | 699,625 | 120,196 | 17.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Operating (loss) income | (157,361 | ) | (68,064 | ) | (89,296 | ) | 131.2 | % | ||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 8,809 | 7,970 | 839 | 10.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (166,170 | ) | (76,035 | ) | (90,135 | ) | 118.5 | % | ||||||||
| Benefit for income taxes | (11,807 | ) | (1,307 | ) | (10,500 | ) | 803.4 | % | ||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (154,362 | ) | $ | (74,727 | ) | $ | (79,635 | ) | 106.6 | % | |||||
| Basic net loss per share | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | (3.17 | ) | 118.0 | % | |||||
| Diluted net loss per share | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | (3.17 | ) | 118.0 | % |
NM – not meaningful
Total revenue
Total revenue was $662.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 4.9% compared to $631.6 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher net premiums earned and investment income partly offset by a reduction in policy fee income, as described below.
Gross premiums written
Gross premiums written of $1.3 billion, up 9.5% year-over-year from $1.2 billion. We experienced premiums written growth of 12.1% outside Florida and 7.1% in Florida. Growth throughout our book of business was largely driven by rate increases resulting in a higher average premium per policy. Premiums-in-force were $1.3 billion as of December 31, 2022, representing a 9.6% increase from the prior year due to continued proactive underwriting and rate actions despite a reduction in policy count reduction of approximately 40,000. The reduction in policies-in-force from the fourth quarter of 2021 reflects our intentional exposure management initiatives.
Gross premiums earned
Gross premiums earned were $1.2 billion for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 5.7% compared to $1.1 billion in the prior year. The increase in gross premiums earned reflects higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months driven by rate increases, which resulted in higher average premium per policy, as described above.
Ceded premiums
Ceded premiums were $571.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 7.3% compared to $533.1 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to a higher cost of catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coupled with higher ceded premiums for our quota share coverage due to the higher gross premiums written in the northeast, partly offset by a lower cost for our severe convective storm coverage from the prior year.
Net premiums earned
Net premiums earned were $637.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 4.3% compared to $611.1 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher gross premiums earned, partly offset by higher ceded premiums as described above.
33
Net investment income
Net investment income, inclusive of realized investment gains (losses) and unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities, was $11.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 109.0% compared to $5.6 million in the prior year. The increase stems from a higher interest rate environment in 2022 as compared to the prior year.
Other revenue
Other revenue was $13.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, down 7.9% compared to $14.9 million in the prior year. The decrease was driven largely by lower policy fee income as a result of the reduction in policy count in Florida.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 501,162 | $ | 427,370 | $ | 73,792 | 17.3 | % | ||||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 156,304 | 145,968 | 10,335 | 7.1 | % | |||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 70,396 | 65,787 | 4,610 | 7.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | 91,959 | 60,500 | 31,459 | 52.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 819,821 | $ | 699,625 | $ | 120,196 | 17.2 | % |
Total operating expenses
Total operating expenses were $819.8 million, or 17.2% from $699.6 million in the prior year. As described below, the drivers included the increase in losses and loss adjustment expenses, an increase in acquisition costs, and additional goodwill impairment.
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (LAE)
Losses and LAE were $501.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 17.3% compared to $427.4 million in the prior year. The increase was driven primarily by more severe catastrophe weather activity in 2022 than in 2021. The remainder was driven by higher attritional losses, as well as unfavorable loss development of $3.7 million in 2022 compared to favorable loss development of $3.5 million in 2021.
Policy acquisition costs
Policy acquisition costs were $156.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 7.1% compared to $146.0 million in the prior year. Higher acquisition costs were driven by the increase in gross premiums written.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses were $70.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 7.0% compared to $65.8 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to higher human capital costs, mostly driven by employee benefits costs, as well as the non-recurrence of a $1.5 million state tax credit recorded in 2021.
Goodwill impairment
We evaluate goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment at least on an annual basis or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets may exceed their implied fair value. Goodwill is evaluated at the reporting unit level, for which we have one reporting unit level. Any impairment is charged to operations in the period that the impairment is identified. The Goodwill impairment evaluation includes a review of a variety of factors as described below, which require considerable management judgment. Any adverse change in these factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
As a result of our analysis for goodwill impairment, we impaired $60.5 million of goodwill in the fourth quarter of 2021 and impaired the entire amount of remaining goodwill in the second quarter of 2022, reducing our carrying value of goodwill from $92.0 million at December 31, 2021 to $0 at December 31, 2022. See the section titled “Goodwill Impairment Charge” above and Note 3 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements for more detail on our impairment of goodwill.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | (157,361 | ) | $ | (68,064 | ) | $ | (89,296 | ) | 131.2 | % | |||||
| Interest expense, net | 8,809 | 7,970 | 839 | 10.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (166,170 | ) | (76,035 | ) | (90,135 | ) | 118.5 | % | ||||||||
| Benefit for income taxes | (11,807 | ) | (1,307 | ) | (10,500 | ) | 803.4 | % | ||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (154,362 | ) | $ | (74,727 | ) | $ | (79,635 | ) | 106.6 | % | |||||
| Basic net (loss) income per share | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | (3.17 | ) | 118.0 | % | |||||
| Diluted net (loss) income per share | $ | (5.86 | ) | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | (3.17 | ) | 118.0 | % |
34
Net loss
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $154.4 million, up 106.6% from net loss of $74.7 million in the prior year. The increase primarily relates to a goodwill impairment charge as described in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements coupled with higher catastrophe weather losses described above and a $6.4 million valuation allowance against our net deferred tax asset as described above, partly offset by higher total revenue as described above.
Interest expense, net
Interest expense was $8.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, above the prior year by 10.5% as a result of rising interest rates.
Benefit for income taxes
The benefit for income taxes was $11.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to a benefit for income taxes of $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The effective tax rate for the current year is 7.1% compared to 1.7% for the prior year. Our effective tax rate for both years was impacted by the non-deductible goodwill impairment of $92.0 million recognized during the second quarter of 2022 and $60.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2021. See further discussion of the goodwill impairment in the Note 3 of the Notes to our consolidated financial statements. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 was also impacted by a $6.4 million valuation allowance against our net deferred tax asset related to certain tax elections made by Osprey Re, our captive reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda, whose utilization may be limited under the Internal Revenue Code. Finally, the effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year, including changes to pre-tax income and from the impact of permanent differences on pre-tax income or loss.
Ratios
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | |||||||
| Ceded premium ratio | 47.3 | % | 46.6 | % | ||||
| Net loss and LAE ratio | 78.7 | % | 69.9 | % | ||||
| Net expense ratio | 35.6 | % | 34.7 | % | ||||
| Net combined ratio | 114.3 | % | 104.6 | % |
Net combined ratio
The net combined ratio was 114.3% for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 9.7 points from 104.6% in the prior year. The increase stems primarily from a higher net loss and net expense ratios, described below.
Ceded premium ratio
The ceded premium ratio was 47.3% for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 0.7 points from 46.6% in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from ceded premium growth that was partly offset by growth in gross premiums earned as described above.
Net loss and LAE ratio
The net loss and LAE ratio was 78.7% for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 8.8 points from 69.9% in the prior year. The increase primarily relates to higher weather and attritional losses in the current year as a percentage of net premium earned, mostly driven by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole and $3.7 million of unfavorable prior year reserve development in 2022 compared to $3.5 million of favorable prior year reserve development in 2021, as a percentage of net premiums earned.
Net expense ratio
The net expense ratio was 35.6% for the year ended December 31, 2022, up 0.9 points from 34.7% in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from the impact of a higher ceded premium ratio as well as higher policy acquisition associated with the increase in gross premiums written.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal sources of liquidity include cash flows generated from operations, our cash, cash equivalents, our marketable securities balances and borrowings available under our credit facilities. As of December 31, 2022, we held $280.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and $653.6 million in investments, compared to $359.3 million and $694.7 million as of December 31, 2021. The decrease in cash and cash equivalents was primarily driven by payment of reinsurance premiums, claim payment, stock repurchases,
35
and payment of dividends. The decrease in investments was driven by higher unrealized losses on our fixed income securities caused by rising interest rates.
We generally hold substantial cash balances to meet seasonal liquidity needs including amounts to pay quarterly reinsurance installments as well as meet the collateral requirements of Osprey, our captive reinsurance company, which is required to maintain a collateral trust account equal to the risk that it assumes from our insurance company affiliates.
We believe that our sources of liquidity are adequate to meet our cash requirements for at least the next twelve months.
We may continue to pursue the acquisition of complementary businesses and make strategic investments. We may increase capital expenditures consistent with our investment plans and anticipated growth strategy. Cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to fund such expenditures. As such, in addition to the use of our existing Credit Facilities, we may need to utilize additional debt to secure funds for such purposes.
Statement of Cash Flows
The net increases (decreases) in cash and cash equivalents are summarized in the following table:
| For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2022 vs 2021 Change | 2021 vs 2020 Change | ||||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating activities | $ | (34,260 | ) | $ | 60,130 | $ | 170,211 | $ | (94,390 | ) | $ | (110,081 | ) | |||||||
| Investing activities | (37,862 | ) | (124,480 | ) | 22,062 | 86,618 | (146,542 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Financing activities | (5,058 | ) | (17,281 | ) | (28,898 | ) | 12,223 | 11,617 | ||||||||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | (77,180 | ) | $ | (81,631 | ) | $ | 163,376 | $ | 4,451 | $ | (245,006 | ) |
Operating Activities
Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $34.3 million compared to net cash provided by of $60.1 million during the prior year. The decrease in cash from operating activities relates primarily to timing of cash flows associated with claim and reinsurance payments as well as reinsurance reimbursements during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $37.9 million compared to net cash used of $124.5 million in the prior year. The change in cash used in investing activities relates primarily to allocations of funds for investment in each period. Strategic sales of investments to yield realized gains in 2020 produced proceeds which were re-invested in 2021, driving up the cash used for investing activities for that period.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $5.1 million, compared to net cash used of $17.3 million in the prior year. The decrease in cash used for financing activities was primarily driven by draws from our Revolving Credit Facility (defined below) totaling $35 million to purchase and retire $22.5 million of Convertible Notes and contribute capital to our captive reinsurer, Osprey Re.
Credit Facilities
The Company is party to a Credit Agreement by and among the Company, as borrower, certain subsidiaries of the Company from time to time party thereto as guarantors, the lenders from time to time party thereto (the “Lenders”), Regions Bank, as Administrative Agent and Collateral Agent, BMO Harris Bank N.A., as Syndication Agent, Hancock Whitney Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, as Co-Documentation Agents, and Regions Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets Corp., as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners (as amended from time to time, the “Credit Agreement”).
Based on the Company’s results for the third quarter of 2022, management considered it likely at that time that the Company would be out of compliance with certain financial covenants in the Credit Agreement. In order to avoid a covenant violation, on November 7, 2022, the Company and its subsidiary guarantors entered into an amendment to the Credit Agreement to, among other things, (i) decrease the Revolving Credit Facility commitments from $75 million to $50 million, (ii) establish a new $25 million Term Loan Facility (defined below) to refinance loans outstanding under the existing Revolving Credit Facility and to pay fees, costs and expenses related thereto, (iii) reduce, from $50 million to $25 million, the aggregate amount of potential future increases to the Revolving Credit Facility commitments and/or Term Loan Facility commitments, (iii) modify the amortization of the existing term loan facility and new term loan facility to 10% per annum, paid quarterly, and (iv) increase the applicable margin for loans under the
36
Credit Agreement to a range from 2.75% to 3.25% per annum for SOFR loans (plus a 0.10% credit adjustment spread) and based on a leverage ratio (an increase from the prior range of 2.50% to 3.00%). The amendment also modified certain financial covenants in the Credit Agreement which may limit the Company’s flexibility in connection with future financing transactions and in the allocation of capital in the future, including the Company’s ability to pay dividends and make stock repurchases, and contribute capital to its insurance subsidiaries that are not parties to the Credit Agreement.
The Credit Agreement, as amended, provides for (1) a five-year senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $100 million (the “Term Loan Facility”) and (2) a five-year senior secured revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $50 million (inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the revolving credit facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the revolving credit facility) (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and together with the Term Loan Facility, the “Credit Facilities”).
Term Loan Facility. The principal amount of the Term Loan Facility amortizes in quarterly installments, which began with the close of the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2019, in an amount equal to $1.9 million per quarter, payable quarterly, decreasing to $875,000 per quarter commencing with the quarter ending December 31, 2021, and increasing to $2.4 million per quarter commencing with the quarter ending December 31, 2022, with the remaining balance payable at maturity. The Term Loan Facility matures on July 28, 2026. As of November 7, 2022, after giving effect to the additional term loan advance that was used to refinance amounts outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility and to pay fees, costs and expenses related thereto, there was $73.9 million in aggregate principal outstanding under the Term Loan Facility. As of December 31, 2022, there was $89.1 million in aggregate principal outstanding under the Term Loan Facility.
Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility allows for borrowings of up to $50 million inclusive of a sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit equal to the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility and a sublimit for swingline loans equal to the lesser of $25 million and the unused amount of the Revolving Credit Facility. As of September 30, 2022, we had $25.0 million in borrowings and a $22.6 million letters of credit outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility. In connection with the incurrence of additional amounts under the Term Loan Facility pursuant to the amendment, the borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility were repaid in full. On December 23, 2022, the Company borrowed $10.0 million under the Revolving Credit facility. At December 31, 2022, the Company had unused letters of credit totaling $32.6 million.
At our option, borrowings under the Credit Facilities bear interest at rates equal to either (1) a rate determined by reference to SOFR, plus an applicable margin (described below) and a credit adjustment spread equal to 0.10% or (2) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of (a) the “prime rate” of Regions Bank, (b) the federal funds rate plus 0.50%, and (c) the adjusted term SOFR in effect on such day for an interest period of one month plus 1.00%, plus an applicable margin (described below).
The applicable margin for loans under the Credit Facilities varies from 2.75% per annum to 3.25% per annum (for SOFR loans) and 1.75% to 2.25% per annum (for base rate loans) based on our consolidated leverage ratio ranging from 1.25-to-1 to greater than 2.25-to-1. Interest payments with respect to the Credit Facilities are required either on a quarterly basis (for base rate loans) or at the end of each interest period (for SOFR loans) or, if the duration of the applicable interest period exceeds three months, then every three months. As of December 31, 2022, the borrowings under the Term Loan Facility and Revolving Credit Facility accruing interest at a rate of 7.32% and 7.42% per annum, respectively.
In addition to paying interest on outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, we are required to pay a quarterly commitment fee based on the unused portion of the Revolving Credit Facility, which is determined by our consolidated leverage ratio.
We may prepay the loans under the Credit Facilities, in whole or in part, at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions including minimum amounts and reimbursement of certain costs in the case of prepayments of SOFR loans. In addition, we are required to prepay the loan under the Term Loan Facility with the proceeds from certain financing transactions, involuntary dispositions or asset sales (subject, in the case of asset sales, to reinvestment rights).
All obligations under the Credit Facilities are or will be guaranteed by each existing and future direct and indirect wholly owned domestic subsidiary of the Company, other than all of the Company’s current and future regulated insurance subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantors”).
The Company and the Guarantors are party to a Pledge and Security Agreement, (as amended from time to time the “Security Agreement”), in favor of Regions Bank, as collateral agent. Pursuant to the Security Agreement, amounts borrowed under the Credit Facilities are secured on a first priority basis by a perfected security interest in substantially all of the present and future assets of the Company and each Guarantor (subject to certain exceptions), including all of the capital stock of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries, other than its regulated insurance subsidiaries.
The Credit Agreement contains, among other things, covenants, representations and warranties and events of default customary for facilities of this type. The Company is required to maintain, as of each fiscal quarter (1) a maximum consolidated leverage ratio of 2.50 to 1.00, stepping down to 2.25 to 1.00 as of the second quarter of 2024 and 2.00 to 1.00 as of the second quarter of 2025, (2) a minimum consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.20 to 1.00 and (3) a minimum consolidated net worth for the Company and its subsidiaries, which is required to be not less than $100 million plus 50% of positive quarterly net income (including its subsidiaries
37
and regulated subsidiaries) plus the net cash proceeds of any equity transactions. Events of default include, among other events, (i) nonpayment of principal, interest, fees or other amounts; (ii) failure to perform or observe certain covenants set forth in the Credit Agreement; (iii) breach of any representation or warranty; (iv) cross-default to other indebtedness; (v) bankruptcy and insolvency defaults; (vi) monetary judgment defaults and material nonmonetary judgment defaults; (vii) customary ERISA defaults; (viii) a change of control of the Company; and (ix) failure to maintain specified catastrophe retentions in each of the Company’s regulated insurance subsidiaries.
Convertible Notes
On August 10, 2017, the Company and Heritage MGA, LLC (the “Notes Guarantor”) entered into a purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., as the initial purchaser (the “Initial Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, and the Initial Purchaser agreed to purchase, $125.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 5.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2037 (the “Convertible Notes”) in a private placement transaction pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Purchase Agreement contained customary representations, warranties and agreements of the Company and the Notes Guarantor and customary conditions to closing, indemnification rights and obligations of the parties and termination provisions. The net proceeds from the offering of the Convertible Notes, after deducting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately $120.5 million. The offering of the Convertible Notes was completed on August 16, 2017.
The Company issued the Convertible Notes under an Indenture (the “Convertible Note Indenture”), dated August 16, 2017, by and among the Company, as issuer, the Notes Guarantor, as guarantor, and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee (the “Trustee”).
The Convertible Notes bear interest at a rate of 5.875% per year. Interest is payable semi-annually in arrears, on February 1 and August 1 of each year. The Convertible Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the Company that rank senior in right of payment to the Company’s future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Convertible Notes; equal in right of payment to the Company’s unsecured indebtedness that is not so subordinated; effectively junior to any of the Company’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and structurally junior to all indebtedness or other liabilities incurred by the Company’s subsidiaries other than the Notes Guarantor, which fully and unconditionally guarantee the Convertible Notes on a senior unsecured basis.
The Convertible Notes mature on August 1, 2037, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted.
Holders may convert their Convertible Notes at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding February 1, 2037, other than during the period from, and including, February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, only under the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on September 30, 2017, if the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock, for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the calendar quarter immediately preceding the calendar quarter in which the conversion occurs, is more than 130% of the conversion price of the Convertible Notes in effect on each applicable trading day; (2) during the ten consecutive business-day period following any five consecutive trading-day period in which the trading price for the Convertible Notes for each such trading day was less than 98% of the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock on such date multiplied by the then-current conversion rate; (3) if the Company calls any or all of the Convertible Notes for redemption, at any time prior to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding the redemption date; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events.
During the period from and including February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, and on or after February 1, 2037 until the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 1, 2037, holders may surrender their Convertible Notes for conversion at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances.
The conversion rate for the Convertible Notes was initially 67.0264 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $14.92 per share of common stock). The conversion rate is subject to adjustment in certain circumstances and is subject to increase for holders that elect to convert their Convertible Notes in connection with certain corporate transactions (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture)) that occur prior to August 5, 2022.
Upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture), holders of the Convertible Notes may require the Company to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their Convertible Notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.
38
At any time prior to February 1, 2037, the Company may redeem for cash all or any portion of the Convertible Notes, at the Company’s option, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date. No sinking fund is provided for the Convertible Notes, which means that the Company is not required to redeem or retire the Convertible Notes periodically. Holders of the Convertible Notes are able to cause the Company to repurchase their Convertible Notes for cash on any of August 1, 2022, August 1, 2027 and August 1, 2032, in each case at 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the relevant repurchase date.
The Convertible Note Indenture contains customary terms and covenants and events of default. If an Event of Default (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) occurs and is continuing, the Trustee by notice to the Company, or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes then outstanding by notice to the Company and the Trustee, may declare 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, all the Convertible Notes to be immediately due and payable. In the case of certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization (as set forth in the Convertible Note Indenture) with respect to the Company, 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, the Convertible Notes automatically become immediately due and payable.
In January 2022, the Company repurchased $11.7 million principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes. As of December 31, 2022, there was $885,000 principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes, net of $21.1 million of Convertible Notes held by an insurance company subsidiary.
As discussed above, holders of the Convertible Notes issued by the Company had an optional put right, pursuant to the indenture governing the Convertible Notes, to require the Company to repurchase the aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes that are validly tendered. The Company received notice from the Depositary for the Convertible Notes that, on July 29, 2022, $10.9 million aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes has been validly tendered in accordance with the terms of the indenture and the Company’s notice with respect to the optional put right of the Convertible Notes, and the Company has requested that the Trustee cancel the Convertible Notes tendered. The outstanding balance as of December 31, 2022 of non-affiliated Notes was $885,000. On August 1, 2022, the Company made payments for the principal amount of the Convertible Notes tendered and unpaid interest in the aggregate amounts of $10.9 million and $320,041, respectively. The Company has drawn $10.0 million from the Revolving Credit Facility to replenish the cash used to pay the $10.9 million for the purchase of the tendered Convertible Notes.
FHLB Loan Agreements
In December 2018, a subsidiary of the Company pledged U.S. government and agency fixed maturity securities with an estimated fair value of $24.3 million as collateral and received $19.2 million in a cash loan under an advance agreement with the FHLB Atlanta. The loan originated on December 12, 2018 and bears a fixed interest rate of 3.094% with interest payments due quarterly commencing in March 2019. The principal balance on the loan has a maturity date of December 13, 2023. In connection with the agreement, the subsidiary became a member of FHLB. Membership in the FHLB required an investment in FHLB’s common stock which was purchased on December 31, 2018 and valued at $1.4 million. As of December 31, 2022, the common stock was valued at $1.5 million. The subsidiary is permitted to withdraw any portion of the pledged collateral over the minimum collateral requirement at any time, other than in the event of a default by the subsidiary. The proceeds from the loan were used to prepay the Company’s Senior Secured Notes due 2023 in 2018.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our material contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2022:
| Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments | Total | Less Than 1 Year | 1-3 Years | 3-5 Years | More than 5 - Years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Term loans, notes and interest (1) | $ | 119,873 | $ | 16,563 | $ | 30,253 | 73,057 | $ | — | ||||||||||
| Convertible debt (1) | 1,613 | 52 | 104 | 104 | 1,353 | ||||||||||||||
| Mortgage loan (1) | 17,783 | 893 | 1,786 | 1,786 | 13,318 | ||||||||||||||
| FHLB agreement (1) | 19,802 | 19,802 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Operating lease obligations | 36,898 | 4,678 | 9,301 | 9,360 | 13,559 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Contractual Obligations | $ | 195,969 | $ | 41,988 | $ | 41,444 | $ | 84,307 | $ | 28,230 |
(1)
Amounts represent principal and interest payments to debt obligations. Debt obligations are classified based on their stated maturity date. For further information on long-term debt, Refer to Note 14 “Long Term Debt” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
39
The expected timing of payments of the obligations in the preceding table is estimated based on current information. Timing of payments and actual amounts paid may be different due to changes to agreed-upon amounts for some obligations.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The following discussion and analysis presents the more significant factors that affected our financial conditions as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 and results of operations for each of the years then ended. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles of generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. While we base estimates on historical experience, current information and other factors deemed to be relevant, actual results could differ from those estimates.
We consider accounting estimates to be critical to reported financial results if (i) the accounting estimate requires management to make assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain and (ii) different estimates that management reasonably could have used for the accounting estimates in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. When we prepare our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we must make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts we report. Certain of these estimates result from judgments that can be subjective and complex. As a result of that subjectivity and complexity, and because we continuously evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on a variety of factors, actual results could materially differ from our estimates and assumptions if changes in one or more factors require us to make accounting adjustments.
Premiums. We recognize direct and assumed premiums written as revenue, net of ceded amounts, on a daily pro rata basis over the contract period of the related policies that are in force. For any portion of premiums not earned at the end of the reporting period, we record an unearned premium liability.
Premiums receivable represents amounts due from our policyholders for billed premiums and related policy fees. Our billing system is equity based such that policies are canceled if the unpaid premium exceeds the amount of premium earned. When we receive payments on amounts previously charged off, we credit bad debt expense in the period we receive the payment. Balances in premiums receivable and the associated allowance account are removed upon cancellation of the policy due to non-payment. We recorded bad debt expense of approximately $0, $0 and $161,300 in 2022, 2021, 2020, respectively.
When we receive premium payments from policyholders prior to the effective date of the related policy, we record an advance premium liability. On the policy effective date, we reduce the advance premium liability and record the premiums as described above.
Reserves for Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses. Reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, also referred to as loss reserves, represent the most significant accounting estimate inherent in the preparation of our financial statements. These reserves represent management’s best estimate of the amount we will ultimately pay for losses and loss adjustment expenses and we base the amount upon the application of various actuarial reserve estimation techniques as well as considering other material facts and circumstances known at the balance sheet date. We establish two categories of loss reserves as follows: Case reserves—When a claim is reported, we establish an initial estimate of the losses that will ultimately be paid on the reported claim. Our initial estimate for each claim is based upon the judgment of our claims professionals who are familiar with property and liability losses associated with the coverage offered by our policies. Then, our claims personnel perform an evaluation of the type of claim involved, the circumstances surrounding each claim and the policy provisions relating to the loss and adjust the reserve, as necessary. As claims mature, we increase or decrease the reserve estimates as deemed necessary by our claims department based upon additional information we receive regarding the loss, the results of on-site reviews and any other information we gather while reviewing the claims. IBNR reserves—Our IBNR reserves include true IBNR reserves plus “bulk” reserves. True IBNR reserves represent amounts related to claims for which a loss occurred on or before the date of the financial statements, but which have not yet been reported to us. Bulk reserves represent additional amounts that cannot be allocated to particular claims, but which are necessary to estimate ultimate losses on known claims. We estimate our IBNR reserves by projecting our ultimate losses using industry accepted actuarial methods and then deducting actual loss payments and case reserves from the projected ultimate losses. We review and adjust our IBNR reserves on a quarterly basis based on information available to us at the balance sheet date.
40
When we establish our reserves, we analyze various factors such as the evolving historical loss experience of the insurance industry as well as our experience, claims frequency and severity, our business mix, our claims processing procedures, legislative enactments, judicial decisions and legal developments in imposition of damages, and general economic conditions, including inflation. A change in any of these factors from the assumptions implicit in our estimates will cause our ultimate loss experience to be better or worse than indicated by our reserves, and the difference could be material. Due to the interaction of the foregoing factors, there is no precise method for evaluating the impact of any one specific factor in isolation, and an element of judgment is ultimately required. Due to the uncertain nature of any future projections, the ultimate amount we will pay for losses will be different from the reserves we record.
We determine our ultimate loss reserves by selecting an estimate within a relevant range of indications that we calculate using generally accepted actuarial techniques. Our selection of the point estimate is influenced by the analysis of our paid losses and incurred losses since inception.
Our external reserving actuaries evaluated the adequacy of our reserves as of December 31, 2022 and concluded that our reported loss reserves would meet the requirements of the insurance laws of the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, be consistent with reserves computed in accordance with accepted loss reserving standards and principles, and make a reasonable provision for all unpaid loss and loss adjustment expense obligations under the terms of our contracts and agreements. In addition to $300.6 million of recorded case reserves, we recorded $831.2 million of IBNR reserves as of December 31, 2022 to achieve overall gross reserves of $1.1 billion. At December 31, 2022, ceded IBNR and net IBNR were $546.0 million and $285.2 million, respectively.
The process of establishing our reserves is complex and inherently imprecise, as it involves using judgment that is affected by many variables. We believe a reasonably likely change in almost any of the factors we evaluate as part of our loss reserve analysis could have an impact on our reported results, financial position and liquidity.
The following table quantifies the pro forma impact of hypothetical changes in our net loss reserves on our net income and stockholders’ equity as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 (in thousands):
| Actual | Low Estimate | % Change from Actual | High Estimate | % Change from Actual | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Loss Reserves | $ | 372,126 | $ | 294,847 | 20.8 | % | $ | 393,989 | (5.9 | )% | ||||||||||
| Impact on: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (154,363 | ) | $ | (97,564 | ) | (36.8 | )% | $ | (170,433 | ) | (10.4 | )% | |||||||
| Stockholders’ equity | $ | 131,039 | $ | 187,838 | (43.3 | )% | $ | 114,969 | 12.3 | % | ||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and investments(1) | $ | 934,451 | $ | 991,250 | (6.1 | )% | $ | 918,381 | 1.7 | % |
(1)
Estimated cash, cash equivalents and investments is intended to reflect the impact of loss reserves, net of taxes.
Policy Acquisition Costs. We incur policy acquisition costs that vary with, and are directly related to, the production of new business. Policy acquisition costs consist of the following four items: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We capitalize policy acquisition costs to the extent recoverable, then we amortize those costs over the contract period of the related policy. We also earn ceding commission on our quota share reinsurance contracts, which is presented as a reduction of policy acquisition costs with any unearned ceding commission recognized as a liability. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
Our accounting policy is to allocate ceding commission between policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses for financial reporting purposes based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. For the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, we earned ceding commission income of $61.8 million, $62.7 million and $57.1 million of which $46.5 million, $47.1 million and $43.0 million was allocable to policy acquisition costs.
Deferred taxes. At December 31, 2022, we assessed our deferred tax position and hold a $6.4 million valuation against our net deferred tax assets. We intend to continue maintaining the valuation allowance on our net deferred tax asset until there is sufficient evidence to support the reversal of all or some portion of the allowance.
41
Provision for Premium Deficiency. At each reporting date, we determine whether we have a premium deficiency. A premium deficiency would result if the sum of our expected losses, deferred policy acquisition costs and policy maintenance costs (such as costs to store records and costs incurred to collect premiums and pay commissions) exceeded our related unearned premiums plus investment income. Should we determine that a premium deficiency exists, we would write off the unrecoverable portion of deferred policy acquisition costs. No accruals for premium deficiency were considered necessary as of December 31, 2022 and 2021.
Reinsurance. We follow industry practice of reinsuring a portion of our risks. Reinsurance involves transferring, or “ceding”, all or a portion of the risk exposure on policies we write to another insurer, known as a reinsurer. To the extent that our reinsurers are unable to meet the obligations they assume under our reinsurance agreements, we remain liable for the entire insured loss.
Our reinsurance agreements are prospective contracts. We record an asset, prepaid reinsurance premiums, and a liability, reinsurance payable, for the entire contract amount upon commencement of our new reinsurance agreements. We amortize our prepaid reinsurance premiums over the 12-month contract period.
In the event that we incur losses recoverable under our reinsurance program, we record amounts recoverable from our reinsurers on paid losses plus an estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses. The estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses is a function of our liability for unpaid losses associated with the reinsured policies; therefore, the amount changes in conjunction with any changes to our estimate of unpaid losses. In the event that we incur losses recoverable under the reinsurance program, the estimate of amounts recoverable from reinsurers on unpaid losses may change at any point in the future because of its relation to our reserves for unpaid losses.
We estimate uncollectible amounts receivable from reinsurers based on an assessment of factors including the creditworthiness of the reinsurers and the adequacy of collateral obtained, where applicable. We had no uncollectible amounts under our reinsurance program or bad debt expense related to reinsurance for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Effective
The Company describes the recent pronouncements that have had or may have a significant effect on its financial statements or on its disclosures. The Company does not discuss recent pronouncements that a) are not anticipated to have an impact on, or b) are unrelated to its financial condition, results of operations, or related disclosures. For accounting pronouncements not yet adopted, Refer to Note 1 “Basis of Presentation, Nature of Business and Significant Accounting Policies and Practices” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further information.
FY 2021 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-22-003575.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Please read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., is a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company that primarily provides personal and commercial residential insurance products across its multi-state footprint. We provide personal residential insurance in sixteen states and commercial residential insurance in three of those states, while maintaining licenses in one additional state. As a vertically integrated insurer, we control or manage substantially all aspects of underwriting, customer service, actuarial analysis, distribution and claims processing and adjusting.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows provides information that will assist the reader in understanding our consolidated financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from year to year, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our consolidated financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes that appear elsewhere in this document.
COVID-19 and Other Matters
We continue to monitor the short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 virus and its variants. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we saw negligible impact to our business, and that trend continued through the fourth quarter of 2021. As a residential property insurer, we view our business as somewhat insulated because property owners and renters generally view our products as a necessity. The majority of our gross and net premiums written are from renewals of expiring policies. New business, which accounts for a smaller portion of our revenue, may be impacted if consumers are not buying as many new homes in our geographies, but this could be partially or fully offset by increased retention in our renewal portfolio. In a prolonged recessionary and social-distancing environment, we could experience disruptions to our independent agency distribution channel, which may have a negative impact on our revenues and financial condition. Changes in the cost of materials and labor for home repairs can influence our loss costs associated with claims. The Company has implemented return-to-office and hybrid programs, with the latter including a combination of in-office and remote work.
While we acknowledge uncertainties associated with future economic conditions, we do not expect a material impact to our business going forward. We will continue to monitor economic conditions and, in the case of a prolonged economic slowdown as a result of COVID-19, will take necessary actions to mitigate any negative impacts to our business, operations or financial results.
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
The CARES Act was enacted on March 27, 2020 in the United States. The CARES Act and related notices include several significant provisions, including delaying certain payroll tax payments, mandatory transition tax payments under the TCJ Act, and estimated income tax payments that were deferred to future periods. As of December 31, 2021, the Company has paid back 50% of the deferred payroll tax to the IRS with the remaining balance due in December 2022. We do not currently expect the CARES Act to have a material impact on our liquidity or our financial results, except for the benefit associated with a 5 year carryback of our 2020 tax net operating loss. We will continue to monitor and assess the impact the CARES Act and similar legislation may have on our business and financial results.
Goodwill Impairment Charge
Goodwill impairment
We evaluate goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment at least on an annual basis or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets may exceed their implied fair value. Goodwill is evaluated at the reporting unit level, for which we have one reporting unit level. Any impairment is charged to operations in the period that the impairment is identified. The evaluation of such factors requires considerable management judgment. Any adverse change in these factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and could have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we completed our annual analysis of goodwill for potential impairment. As a result of the analysis, we impaired a portion of our goodwill, reducing our carrying value of goodwill from $152.5 million to $92 million.
30
Key Components of our Results of Operations
Revenue
Gross premiums written represent, with respect to a period, the sum of direct premiums written (premiums from policies written during the period, net of any midterm cancellations and renewals of voluntary policies) and assumed premiums written (primarily premiums from state fair plan policies), in each case prior to ceding premiums to reinsurers.
Gross premiums earned represent the total premiums earned during a period from policies written. Premiums associated with new and renewal policies are earned ratably over the twelve-month term of the policy and premiums associated with assumed policies are earned ratably over the remaining term of the policy.
Ceded premiums represent the cost of our reinsurance during a period. We recognize the cost of our reinsurance program ratably over term of the arrangement, which is typically twelve months. Our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance generally incepts June 1 and runs through May 31 of the following year. Our net quota share treaty incepts December 31. Our other reinsurance programs may be purchased on a calendar or fiscal year basis.
Net premiums earned reflect gross premiums earned less ceded premiums during the period.
Net investment income represents interest earned on fixed maturity securities, short term securities and other investments, dividends on equity securities.
Net realized and unrealized gains or losses represent gains or losses on investment sales and unrealized gains or losses on equity securities.
Other revenue includes rental income due under non-cancelable leases for space at the Company’s commercial property in Clearwater, Florida, and all policy and pay-plan fees. Our regulators have approved a policy fee on each policy written for certain states; to the extent these fees are not subject to refund, the Company recognizes the income immediately when collected. The Company also charges pay-plan fees to policyholders that pay premiums in more than one installment and record the fees as income when collected.
Expenses
Losses and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) reflect losses paid, expenses paid to resolve claims, such as fees paid to adjusters, attorneys and investigators, and changes in our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses during the period, in each case net of losses ceded to reinsurers. Our reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses represent the estimated ultimate cost of resolving all reported claims plus all losses we incurred related to insured events that we assume have occurred as of the reporting date, but that policyholders have not yet reported to us (which are commonly referred to as incurred but not reported, or “IBNR”). We estimate our reserves for unpaid losses using individual case-based estimates for reported claims and actuarial estimates for IBNR losses. We continually review and adjust our estimated losses as necessary based on our evolving claims experience, new information obtained and industry development trends. If our unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses are considered deficient or redundant, we increase or decrease the liability in the period in which we identify the difference and reflect the change in our current period results of operations.
Policy acquisition costs (“PAC”) consist of: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We recognize policy acquisition costs ratably over the term of the underlying policy. We earn ceding commissions on our net quota share reinsurance contract and certain other reinsurance contracts, which are reported as a reduction to policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. Refer to Note 11 “Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10K. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
General and administrative expenses (“G&A”) include compensation and related benefits, professional fees, office lease and related expenses, information system expenses, corporate insurance, and other general and administrative costs. As noted above, a certain portion of our ceding commissions are allocated to general and administrative expenses.
Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state corporate level income taxes. The effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year. The effective tax rate can vary from the 26.5% statutory federal and state blended rate depending on the amount of pretax income in proportion to permanent tax differences as well as state tax apportionment. The 2020 effective tax rate was favorably impacted by the rate benefit associated with the 2020 tax loss carrybacks afforded through the CARES Act enactment.
31
Ratios
Ceded premium ratio represents ceded premiums earned as a percentage of gross premiums earned.
Net loss ratio represents net losses and LAE as a percentage of net premiums earned.
Net expense ratio represents PAC and G&A expenses as a percentage of net premiums earned. Ceding commission income is reported as a reduction of policy acquisition costs and G&A expenses.
Net combined ratio represents the sum of the net loss and expense ratio. The net combined ratio is a key measure of underwriting performance traditionally used in the property and casualty insurance industry. A net combined ratio under 100% generally reflects profitable underwriting results.
Financial Results Highlights for the Year Ended December 31, 2021
•
Net loss was $74.7 million, or $(2.69) per diluted share.
•
Book value per share decreased to $12.82 down 19.6% from year-end 2020.
•
Gross premiums written and gross premiums in force of $1.2 billion, with gross premiums written up 7.8% year-over-year, including 16.2% growth outside Florida and a 0.1% reduction in Florida.
•
Policies-in-force of 571,316, down 1.7% year-over-year.
•
Realized and unrealized capital losses of $16,000, down from gains of $22.4 million in the prior year.
•
Favorable prior year reserve development of $3.5 million.
•
Net current accident year weather losses of $148.1 million, up from $134.2 million in the prior year. Current accident year weather losses include $67.5 million of catastrophe losses, down from $83.5 million in the prior year, and $80.7 million of other weather losses, up from $50.7 million in the prior year.
•
Repurchased 1.3 million shares for $8.2 million at an average price of $6.52 per share, well below GAAP book value per share.
•
Board of Directors approved a new $25.0 million share repurchase authorization through December 31, 2022.
•
Total capital returned to shareholders of $14.9 million, including $0.06 per share regular quarterly dividend.
Results of Operations
In the following section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, please Refer to Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 9, 2021.
Please read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
32
Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands, expect per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||
| REVENUE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Gross premiums written | $ | 1,164,879 | $ | 1,080,100 | $ | 84,779 | 7.8 | % | ||||||||
| Change in gross unearned premiums | (20,717 | ) | (83,258 | ) | 62,541 | (75.1 | %) | |||||||||
| Gross premiums earned | 1,144,162 | 996,842 | 147,320 | 14.8 | % | |||||||||||
| Ceded premiums | (533,091 | ) | (452,120 | ) | (80,971 | ) | 17.9 | % | ||||||||
| Net premiums earned | 611,071 | 544,722 | 66,349 | 12.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Net investment income | 5,652 | 12,302 | (6,650 | ) | (54.1 | %) | ||||||||||
| Net realized gains | (16 | ) | 22,395 | (22,411 | ) | (100.1 | %) | |||||||||
| Other revenue | 14,854 | 13,966 | 888 | 6.4 | % | |||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 631,561 | $ | 593,385 | $ | 38,176 | 6.4 | % | ||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 427,370 | $ | 373,387 | $ | 53,983 | 14.5 | % | ||||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 145,968 | 128,276 | 17,692 | 13.8 | % | |||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 65,787 | 81,537 | (15,750 | ) | (19.3 | %) | ||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | 60,500 | — | 60,500 | NM | ||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 699,625 | 583,200 | 116,425 | 20.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Operating (loss) income | (68,064 | ) | 10,185 | (78,249 | ) | (768.3 | %) | |||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 7,970 | 7,972 | (2 | ) | (0.0 | %) | ||||||||||
| (Loss) income before income taxes | (76,034 | ) | 2,213 | (78,248 | ) | NM | ||||||||||
| Benefit for income taxes | (1,307 | ) | (7,113 | ) | 5,806 | (81.7 | %) | |||||||||
| Net (loss) income | $ | (74,727 | ) | $ | 9,326 | $ | (84,053 | ) | (901.3 | %) | ||||||
| Basic net (loss) income per share | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | 0.33 | $ | (3.02 | ) | (915.2 | %) | ||||||
| Diluted net (loss) income per share | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | 0.33 | $ | (3.02 | ) | (915.2 | %) |
NM – not meaningful
Gross premiums written
Gross premiums written of $1.2 billion, up 7.8% year-over-year, including 16.2% growth outside Florida and a 0.1% reduction in Florida. The overall increase relates largely to rate-driven organic growth and policy count growth outside Florida. The largest amount of growth occurred in the northeast. Rate increases materially benefited the growth in 2021 gross premiums written, contributing to a 10.1% increase in average premium per policy across the book and a 15.5% increase per policy in our Florida personal residential book.
Gross premiums earned
Gross premiums earned were $1.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 14.8% compared to $996.8 million in the prior year. The increase in gross premiums earned reflects higher gross premiums written over the last twelve months.
Ceded premiums
Ceded premiums were $533.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 17.9% compared to $452.1 million in the prior year. The increase is primarily attributable to purchasing increased reinsurance coverage for a larger book of business. Ceded premiums associated with our quota share coverage increased due to the higher gross premiums written in the northeast. Additionally, favorable reinsurance premium true ups in the prior year contributed to the 2021 overall ceded premium increase.
Net premiums earned
Net premiums earned were $611.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 12.2% compared to $544.7 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher gross premiums earned, partly offset by higher ceded premiums.
Net investment income
Net investment income, inclusive of realized investment gains (losses) and unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities, was $5.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, down 83.8% compared to $34.7 million in the prior year. The decrease relates primarily to higher realized gains on investments sold in the prior year, coupled with a lower interest rate environment as the proceeds from those 2020 investment sales were re-invested.
33
Other revenue
Other revenue was $14.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 6.4% compared to $14.0 million in the prior year. The increase was driven largely by policy fee income associated with growing gross premiums written.
Total revenue
Total revenue was $631.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 6.4% compared to $593.4 million in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from higher net premiums earned partly offset by the decrease in net investment income, as described above.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Losses and loss adjustment expenses | $ | 427,370 | $ | 373,387 | $ | 53,983 | 14.5 | % | ||||||||
| Policy acquisition costs | 145,968 | 128,276 | 17,692 | 13.8 | % | |||||||||||
| General and administrative expenses | 65,787 | 81,537 | (15,750 | ) | (19.3 | %) | ||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | 60,500 | — | 60,500 | NM | ||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 699,625 | $ | 583,200 | $ | 116,425 | 20.0 | % |
Losses and loss adjustment expenses
Losses and LAE were $427.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 14.5% compared to $373.4 million in the prior year. The majority of the increase stems from a larger book of business, a $13.9 million uptick in current accident year weather losses and a $16.1 million reduction in favorable reserve development from prior year.
Policy acquisition costs
Policy acquisition costs were $146.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, up 13.8% compared to $128.3 million in the prior year. Higher acquisition costs relate to the increase in gross premiums written.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses were $65.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, down 19.3% compared to $81.5 million in the prior year. The decrease primarily relates to separation payments to two of our executive officers as well as vesting of a significant amount of stock compensation in 2020.
Goodwill impairment
We evaluate goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment at least on an annual basis or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets may exceed their implied fair value. Goodwill is evaluated at the reporting unit level, for which we have one reporting unit level. Any impairment is charged to operations in the period that the impairment is identified. The evaluation Goodwill impairment includes a review of a variety of factors as described below, which require considerable management judgment. Any adverse change in these factors could have a significant impact on the recoverability of goodwill and could have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we completed our annual analysis of goodwill for potential impairment. As a result of the analysis, we impaired a portion of our goodwill, reducing our carrying value of goodwill from $152.5 million to $92 million based on the following factors: (i) disruptions in the equity markets, specifically for property and casualty insurance companies, largely due to recent weather-related catastrophe events; (ii) elevated loss ratios for property insurers in our markets; and (iii) trading of our stock below book value. These factors reduced our previously modeled fair value of the Company and resulted in a $60.5 million goodwill impairment charge, which is not tax deductible.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | (68,064 | ) | $ | 10,185 | $ | (78,249 | ) | (768.3 | %) | ||||||
| Interest expense, net | 7,970 | 7,972 | (2 | ) | (0.0 | %) | ||||||||||
| (Loss) income before income taxes | (76,034 | ) | 2,213 | (78,248 | ) | NM | ||||||||||
| Benefit for income taxes | (1,307 | ) | (7,113 | ) | 5,806 | (81.6 | %) | |||||||||
| Net (loss) income | $ | (74,727 | ) | $ | 9,326 | $ | (84,053 | ) | (901.3 | %) | ||||||
| Basic net (loss) income per share | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | 0.33 | $ | (3.02 | ) | (915.2 | %) | ||||||
| Diluted net (loss) income per share | $ | (2.69 | ) | $ | 0.33 | $ | (3.02 | ) | (915.2 | %) |
34
Interest expense, net
Interest expense was $8.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, flat from the prior year.
Benefit for income taxes
The benefit for income taxes was $1.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 compared to a benefit for income taxes of $7.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. The effective tax rate for the current year is 1.7% compared to (321.3%) for the prior year. The variance in the effective tax rate relates primarily to a tax net operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was carried back five years under The CARES Act and deductible at a 35% corporate income tax rate rather than the current 21% statutory corporate income tax rate. Our effective tax rate was also impacted by the non-deductible goodwill impairment recognized during the fourth quarter of 2021. See further discussion of the goodwill impairment in the critical accounting estimates section and Note 1 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements. Additionally, the effective tax rate can fluctuate throughout the year as estimates used in the quarterly tax provision are updated with additional information throughout the year, including changes to pre-tax income. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the effective tax rate was lower than the statutory rate primarily due to the impact of permanent differences on the pre-tax loss.
Net (loss) income
Net loss for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 was $74.7 million, down 901.3% from net income of $9.3 million in the prior year. The decrease primarily relates to a goodwill impairment charge as described in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements and large realized investment gains and income tax benefits in the prior year which offsets the increase in revenue over the prior year, each of which is described above.
Ratios
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Ceded premium ratio | 46.6 | % | 45.4 | % | ||||
| Net loss and LAE ratio | 69.9 | % | 68.5 | % | ||||
| Net expense ratio | 34.7 | % | 38.5 | % | ||||
| Net combined ratio | 104.6 | % | 107.0 | % |
Ceded premium ratio
The ceded premium ratio was 46.6% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, up 1.2 points from 45.4% in the prior year. The increase primarily stems from ceded premium growth that outpaced growth in gross premiums earned, as described above.
Net loss ratio
The net loss and LAE ratio was 69.9% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, up 1.4 points from 68.5% in the prior year. The increase primarily relates to lower favorable prior year reserve development as a percentage of net premiums earned, coupled with higher weather losses in the current year.
Net expense ratio
The net expense ratio was 34.7% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, down 3.8 points from 38.5% in the prior year. The decrease primarily stems from growth in net premiums earned and lower general and administrative expenses, as described above.
Net combined ratio
The net combined ratio was 104.6% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, down 2.4 points from 107.0% in the prior year. The decrease stems from a lower net expense ratio, partly offset by a higher net loss ratio, as described above.
35
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal sources of liquidity include cash flows generated from operations, our cash, cash equivalents, our marketable securities balances and borrowings available under our credit facilities. As of December 31, 2021, we held $364.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $694.7 million in investments, compared to $446.4 million and $589.0 million as of December 31, 2020. The decrease in cash and cash equivalents was primarily due to the re-investment in fixed income securities in 2021 using proceeds from sales of fixed income securities in 2020.
We generally hold substantial cash balances to meet seasonal liquidity needs including amounts to pay quarterly reinsurance installments as well as meet the collateral requirements of Osprey, our captive reinsurance company, which is required to maintain a collateral trust account equal to the risk that it assumes from our insurance company affiliates.
We believe that our sources of liquidity are adequate to meet our cash requirements for at least the next twelve months.
We may continue to pursue the acquisition of complementary businesses and make strategic investments. We may increase capital expenditures consistent with our investment plans and anticipated growth strategy. Cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to fund such expenditures. As such, in addition to the use of our existing Credit Facilities, we may need to utilize additional debt to secure funds for such purposes.
Statement of Cash Flows
The net increases (decreases) in cash and cash equivalents are summarized in the following table:
| For the Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2021 vs 2020 Change | 2020 vs 2019 Change | |||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operating activities | $ | 60,130 | $ | 170,211 | $ | 119,657 | $ | (110,081 | ) | $ | 50,554 | ||||||||
| Investing activities | (124,480 | ) | 22,062 | (53,585 | ) | (146,542 | ) | 75,647 | |||||||||||
| Financing activities | (17,281 | ) | (28,898 | ) | (45,434 | ) | 11,617 | 16,536 | |||||||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | (81,631 | ) | $ | 163,375 | $ | 20,638 | $ | (245,006 | ) | $ | 142,737 |
Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities for December 31, 2021 was $60.1 million compared to net cash provided by of $170.2 million during the prior year. The decrease was driven primarily by the net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 coupled with an increase in claim payments, a smaller increase in unearned premiums due to significant premium growth during 2020, and collection of income taxes receivable in 2021 related to our income tax return filings from previous years.
Investing Activities
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 was ($124.5) million compared to net cash provided by of $22.1 million in the prior year. The variance relates primarily to proceeds from strategic sales of fixed income securities in 2020 the proceeds of which were re-invested during 2021.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $17.3 million, compared net cash used of $28.9 million in the prior year. The variance relates primarily to payments on our term loan facility during 2020, coupled with larger purchases of treasury stock in 2020, as well as income tax withholding in 2020 related to the vesting of a large amount of restricted stock.
Credit Facilities
The Company is party to a credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) by and among the Company, as borrower, certain subsidiaries of the Company from time to time party thereto as guarantors, the lenders from time to time party thereto (the “Lenders”), Regions Bank, as Administrative Agent and Collateral Agent, BMO Harris Bank N.A., as Syndication Agent, Hancock Whitney Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, as Co-Documentation Agents, and Regions Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets Corp., as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners (as amended from time to time, the “Credit Agreement”).
The Credit Agreement, as amended, provides for (1) a five-year senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $75 million (the “Term Loan Facility”) and (2) a five-year senior secured revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal
36
amount of $75 million (inclusive of a $5 million sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit and a $10 million sublimit for swingline loans) (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and together with the Term Loan Facility, the “Credit Facilities”).
Term Loan Facility. The principal amount of the Term Loan Facility amortizes in quarterly installments, which began with the close of the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2019, in an amount equal to $1.9 million per quarter, payable quarterly, decreasing to $875,000 per quarter commencing with the quarter ending December 31, 2021 and increasing to $1.3 million per quarter commencing with the quarter ending December 31, 2024, with the remaining balance payable at maturity. The Term Loan Facility matures on July 27, 2026. As of December 31, 2021, there was $70.0 million in aggregate principal outstanding on the Term Loan Facility. On July 28, 2021, the principal amount of the term loan outstanding under the Term Loan Facility was increased by $13.75 million to a total of $70.0 million from $56.25 million prior to the advance.
Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility allows for borrowings of up to $75 million inclusive of a $5 million sublimit for the issuance of letters of credit and a $10 million sublimit for swingline loans. As of December 31, 2021, and December 31, 2020, we had no borrowings and no letters of credit outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility.
At our option, borrowings under the Credit Facilities bear interest at rates equal to either (1) a rate determined by reference to LIBOR (based on one, two, three or six-month interest periods), adjusted for statutory reserve requirements, plus an applicable margin or (2) a base rate determined by reference to the greatest of (a) the “prime rate” of Regions Bank, (b) the federal funds rate plus 0.50%, and (c) the LIBOR index rate applicable for an interest period of one month plus 1.00%, plus an applicable margin.
The applicable margin for loans under the Credit Facilities varies from 3.25% per annum to 3.75% per annum (for LIBOR loans) and 1.5% to 2.0% per annum (for base rate loans) based on our consolidated leverage ratio. Interest payments with respect to the Credit Facilities are required either on a quarterly basis (for base rate loans) or at the end of each interest period (for LIBOR loans) or, if the duration of the applicable interest period exceeds three months, then every three months. As of December 31, 2021, the borrowing under our Credit Facilities were accruing interest at a rate of 2.9375% per annum.
In addition to paying interest on outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, we are required to pay a quarterly commitment fee based on the unused portion of the Revolving Credit Facility, which is determined by our consolidated leverage ratio.
We may prepay the loans under the Credit Facilities, in whole or in part, at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions including minimum amounts and reimbursement of certain costs in the case of prepayments of LIBOR loans. In addition, we are required to prepay the loan under the Term Loan Facility with the proceeds from certain financing transactions, involuntary dispositions or asset sales (subject, in the case of asset sales, to reinvestment rights).
All obligations under the Credit Facilities are or will be guaranteed by each existing and future direct and indirect wholly owned domestic subsidiary of the Company, other than all of the Company’s current and future regulated insurance subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantors”).
The Company and the Guarantors are party to a Pledge and Security Agreement, (as amended from time to time the “Security Agreement”), in favor of Regions Bank, as collateral agent. Pursuant to the Security Agreement, amounts borrowed under the Credit Facilities are secured on a first priority basis by a perfected security interest in substantially all of the present and future assets of the Company and each Guarantor (subject to certain exceptions), including all of the capital stock of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries, other than its regulated insurance subsidiaries.
The Credit Agreement contains, among other things, covenants, representations and warranties and events of default customary for facilities of this type. The Company is required to maintain, as of each fiscal quarter (1) a maximum consolidated leverage ratio of 2.75 to 1.00 for each fiscal quarter ending in 2021, stepping down to 2.50 to 1.00 in 2022 and thereafter; (2) a minimum consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.20 to 1.00 and (3) a minimum consolidated net worth for the Company and its subsidiaries. Events of default include, among other events, (i) nonpayment of principal, interest, fees or other amounts; (ii) failure to perform or observe certain covenants set forth in the Credit Agreement; (iii) breach of any representation or warranty; (iv) cross-default to other indebtedness; (v) bankruptcy and insolvency defaults; (vi) monetary judgment defaults and material nonmonetary judgment defaults; (vii) customary ERISA defaults; (viii) a change of control of the Company; and (ix) failure to maintain specified catastrophe retentions in each of the Company’s regulated insurance subsidiaries.
Convertible Notes
On August 10, 2017, the Company and Heritage MGA, LLC (the “Notes Guarantor”) entered into a purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., as the initial purchaser (the “Initial Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, and the Initial Purchaser agreed to purchase, $125.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 5.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2037 (the “Convertible Notes”) in a private placement transaction pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Purchase Agreement contained customary representations, warranties and agreements of the Company and the Notes Guarantor and customary conditions to closing, indemnification rights and obligations of the parties and termination provisions. The net proceeds from the offering of the Convertible Notes, after deducting
37
discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately $120.5 million. The offering was completed on August 16, 2017.
The Company issued the Convertible Notes under an Indenture (the “Convertible Note Indenture”), dated August 16, 2017, by and among the Company, as issuer, the Notes Guarantor, as guarantor, and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee (the “Trustee”).
The Convertible Notes bear interest at a rate of 5.875% per year. Interest began accruing on August 16, 2017 and is payable semi-annually in arrears, on February 1 and August 1 of each year, starting on February 1, 2018. The Convertible Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the Company that rank senior in right of payment to the Company’s future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Convertible Notes; equal in right of payment to the Company’s unsecured indebtedness that is not so subordinated; effectively junior to any of the Company’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and structurally junior to all indebtedness or other liabilities incurred by the Company’s subsidiaries other than the Notes Guarantor, which fully and unconditionally guarantee the Convertible Notes on a senior unsecured basis.
The Convertible Notes mature on August 1, 2037, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted.
Holders may convert their Convertible Notes at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding February 1, 2037, other than during the period from, and including, February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, only under the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on September 30, 2017, if the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock, for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the calendar quarter immediately preceding the calendar quarter in which the conversion occurs, is more than 130% of the conversion price of the Convertible Notes in effect on each applicable trading day; (2) during the ten consecutive business-day period following any five consecutive trading-day period in which the trading price for the Convertible Notes for each such trading day was less than 98% of the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock on such date multiplied by the then-current conversion rate; (3) if the Company calls any or all of the Convertible Notes for redemption, at any time prior to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding the redemption date; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events.
During the period from and including February 1, 2022 to the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 5, 2022, and on or after February 1, 2037 until the close of business on the second business day immediately preceding August 1, 2037, holders may surrender their Convertible Notes for conversion at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances.
The conversion rate for the Convertible Notes was initially 67.0264 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $14.92 per share of common stock). The conversion rate is subject to adjustment in certain circumstances and is subject to increase for holders that elect to convert their Convertible Notes in connection with certain corporate transactions (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture)) that occur prior to August 5, 2022.
Upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) (but not, at the Company’s election, a public acquirer change of control (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture), holders of the Convertible Notes may require the Company to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their Convertible Notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.
Except as described below, the Company may not redeem the Convertible Notes prior to August 5, 2022. On or after August 5, 2022 but prior to February 1, 2037, the Company may redeem for cash all or any portion of the Convertible Notes, at the Company’s option, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date. No sinking fund is provided for the Convertible Notes, which means that the Company is not required to redeem or retire the Convertible Notes periodically. Holders of the Convertible Notes are able to cause the Company to repurchase their Convertible Notes for cash on any of August 1, 2022, August 1, 2027 and August 1, 2032, in each case at 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the relevant repurchase date.
The Convertible Note Indenture contains customary terms and covenants and events of default. If an Event of Default (as defined in the Convertible Note Indenture) occurs and is continuing, the Trustee by notice to the Company, or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes then outstanding by notice to the Company and the Trustee, may declare 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, all the Convertible Notes to be immediately due and payable. In the case of certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization (as set forth in the Convertible Note Indenture) with respect to the Company, 100% of the principal of, and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on, the Notes automatically become immediately due and payable.
In the second quarter of 2018, the Company repurchased $10.6 million principal amount of Convertible Notes for cash. In the fourth quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019, the Company repurchased Convertible Notes in the aggregate principal amount of
38
$81.6 million for a combination of cash and the issuance of an aggregate of 3,880,653 shares of the Company’s common stock, valued at $53.0 million, leaving $23.4 million in aggregate principal amount outstanding as of December 31, 2021. In January 2022, the Company reacquired an additional $11.7 million principal amount of outstanding Convertible Notes.
FHLB Loan Agreements
In December 2018, a subsidiary of the Company pledged U.S. government and agency fixed maturity securities with an estimated fair value of $31.0 million as collateral and received $19.2 million in a cash loan under an advance agreement with the FHLB Atlanta. The loan originated on December 12, 2018 and bears a fixed interest rate of 3.094% with interest payments due quarterly commencing in March 2019. The principal balance on the loan has a maturity date of December 13, 2023. In connection with the agreement, the subsidiary became a member of FHLB. Membership in the FHLB required an investment in FHLB’s common stock which was purchased on December 31, 2018 and valued at $1.4 million. The subsidiary is permitted to withdraw any portion of the pledged collateral over the minimum collateral requirement at any time, other than in the event of a default by the subsidiary. The proceeds from the loan was used to prepay the Company’s Senior Secured Notes due 2023 in 2018.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our material contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2021:
| Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments | Total | Less Than 1 Year | 1-3 Years | 3-5 Years | More than 5 - Years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Term loans, notes and interest (1) | $ | 77,260 | $ | 5,515 | $ | 11,141 | 60,603 | $ | — | ||||||||||
| Convertible debt (1) | 35,793 | 1,376 | 2,751 | 2,751 | 28,915 | ||||||||||||||
| Mortgage loan (1) | 18,601 | 893 | 1,786 | 1,786 | 14,137 | ||||||||||||||
| FHLB agreement (1) | 20,375 | 602 | 19,773 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Operating lease obligations | 37,444 | 4,566 | 8,694 | 7,960 | 16,224 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Contractual Obligations | $ | 189,473 | $ | 12,952 | $ | 44,145 | $ | 73,100 | $ | 59,276 |
(1)
Amounts represent principal and interest payments to debt obligations. Debt obligations are classified based on their stated maturity date. For further information on long-term debt, Refer to Note 14 “Long Term Debt” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The expected timing of payments of the obligations in the preceding table is estimated based on current information. Timing of payments and actual amounts paid may be different due to changes to agreed-upon amounts for some obligations.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The following discussion and analysis presents the more significant factors that affected our financial conditions as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 and results of operations for each of the years then ended. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles of generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. While we base estimates on historical experience, current information and other factors deemed to be relevant, actual results could differ from those estimates.
We consider accounting estimates to be critical to reported financial results if (i) the accounting estimate requires management to make assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain and (ii) different estimates that management reasonably could have used for the accounting estimates in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets. Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets arise as a result of business combinations and consist of the excess of the fair value of consideration paid over the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed. Goodwill is subject to evaluation for impairment using a fair value-based test. This evaluation is performed annually, during the fourth quarter or more frequently if facts and circumstances warrant. An impairment loss would be recognized if, and to the extent that, the carrying value of goodwill exceeded the implied value. We review amortizable intangible assets for impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that carrying amounts may not be recoverable. If we have concluded that impairment exists, the carrying amount is reduced to fair value. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recognized $60.5 million for a goodwill impairment charge. There was deemed to be no impairment of the amortizable intangible assets.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Including Intangible Assets Subject to Amortization. We assess the recoverability of long-lived assets when events or circumstances indicate that the assets might have become impaired. We determine whether the assets can be recovered from undiscounted future cash flows and, if not recoverable, we would recognize impairment to reduce the carrying value to
39
fair value. Recoverability of long-lived assets is dependent upon, among other things, our ability to maintain profitability, so as to be able to meet its obligations when they become due. No impairment was recognized in any period presented.
Premiums. We recognize direct and assumed premiums written as revenue, net of ceded amounts, on a daily pro rata basis over the contract period of the related policies that are in force. For any portion of premiums not earned at the end of the reporting period, we record an unearned premium liability.
Premiums receivable represents amounts due from our policyholders for billed premiums and related policy fees. Our billing system is equity based such that policies are cancelled if the unpaid premium exceeds the amount of premium earned. When we receive payments on amounts previously charged off, we credit bad debt expense in the period we receive the payment. Balances in premiums receivable and the associated allowance account are removed upon cancellation of the policy due to non-payment. We recorded bad debt expense of approximately $0, $161,300 and $290,300 in 2021, 2020, 2019, respectively.
When we receive premium payments from policyholders prior to the effective date of the related policy, we record an advance premium liability. On the policy effective date, we reduce the advance premium liability and record the premiums as described above.
Reserves for Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses. Reserves for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, also referred to as loss reserves, represent the most significant accounting estimate inherent in the preparation of our financial statements. These reserves represent management’s best estimate of the amount we will ultimately pay for losses and loss adjustment expenses and we base the amount upon the application of various actuarial reserve estimation techniques as well as considering other material facts and circumstances known at the balance sheet date. We establish two categories of loss reserves as follows: Case reserves—When a claim is reported, we establish an initial estimate of the losses that will ultimately be paid on the reported claim. Our initial estimate for each claim is based upon the judgment of our claims professionals who are familiar with property and liability losses associated with the coverage offered by our policies. Then, our claims personnel perform an evaluation of the type of claim involved, the circumstances surrounding each claim and the policy provisions relating to the loss and adjust the reserve, as necessary. As claims mature, we increase or decrease the reserve estimates as deemed necessary by our claims department based upon additional information we receive regarding the loss, the results of on-site reviews and any other information we gather while reviewing the claims. IBNR reserves—Our IBNR reserves include true IBNR reserves plus “bulk” reserves. True IBNR reserves represent amounts related to claims for which a loss occurred on or before the date of the financial statements, but which have not yet been reported to us. Bulk reserves represent additional amounts that cannot be allocated to particular claims, but which are necessary to estimate ultimate losses on known claims. We estimate our IBNR reserves by projecting our ultimate losses using industry accepted actuarial methods and then deducting actual loss payments and case reserves from the projected ultimate losses. We review and adjust our IBNR reserves on a quarterly basis based on information available to us at the balance sheet date.
When we establish our reserves, we analyze various factors such as the evolving historical loss experience of the insurance industry as well as our experience, claims frequency and severity, our business mix, our claims processing procedures, legislative enactments, judicial decisions and legal developments in imposition of damages, and general economic conditions, including inflation. A change in any of these factors from the assumptions implicit in our estimates will cause our ultimate loss experience to be better or worse than indicated by our reserves, and the difference could be material. Due to the interaction of the foregoing factors, there is no precise method for evaluating the impact of any one specific factor in isolation, and an element of judgment is ultimately required. Due to the uncertain nature of any future projections, the ultimate amount we will pay for losses will be different from the reserves we record.
We determine our ultimate loss reserves by selecting an estimate within a relevant range of indications that we calculate using generally accepted actuarial techniques. Our selection of the point estimate is influenced by the analysis of our paid losses and incurred losses since inception.
Our external reserving actuaries evaluated the adequacy of our reserves as of December 31, 2021 and concluded that our reported loss reserves would meet the requirements of the insurance laws of the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, be consistent with reserves computed in accordance with accepted loss reserving standards and principles, and make a reasonable provision for all unpaid loss and loss adjustment expense obligations under the terms of our contracts and agreements. In addition to $297.0 million of recorded case reserves, we recorded $293.2 million of IBNR reserves as of December 31, 2021 to achieve overall gross reserves of $590.2 million. At December 31, 2021, ceded IBNR and net IBNR were $76.8 million and $216.4 million, respectively.
The process of establishing our reserves is complex and inherently imprecise, as it involves using judgment that is affected by many variables. We believe a reasonably likely change in almost any of the factors we evaluate as part of our loss reserve analysis could have an impact on our reported results, financial position and liquidity.
40
The following table quantifies the pro forma impact of hypothetical changes in our net loss reserves on our net income and stockholders’ equity as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021 (in thousands):
| Actual | Low Estimate | % Change from Actual | High Estimate | % Change from Actual | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Loss Reserves | $ | 288,409 | $ | 264,399 | 8.3 | % | $ | 378,583 | (31.3 | )% | ||||||||||
| Impact on: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net (loss) income | $ | (74,727 | ) | $ | (57,079 | ) | (23.6 | )% | $ | (141,005 | ) | (88.7 | )% | |||||||
| Stockholders’ equity | $ | 343,051 | $ | 360,699 | (5.1 | )% | $ | 276,773 | 19.3 | % | ||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and investments(1) | $ | 1,054,035 | $ | 1,071,683 | (1.7 | )% | $ | 987,758 | 6.3 | % |
(1)
Estimated cash, cash equivalents and investments is intended to reflect the impact of loss reserves, net of taxes.
Policy Acquisition Costs. We incur policy acquisition costs that vary with, and are directly related to, the production of new business. Policy acquisition costs consist of the following four items: (i) commissions paid to outside agents at the time of policy issuance, (ii) policy administration fees paid to a third-party administrator at the time of policy issuance, (iii) premium taxes and (iv) inspection fees. We capitalize policy acquisition costs to the extent recoverable, then we amortize those costs over the contract period of the related policy. We also earn ceding commission on our quota share reinsurance contracts, which is presented as a reduction of policy acquisition costs with any excess unearned ceding commission recognized as a liability. Ceding commission income is deferred and earned over the contract period. The amount and rate of ceding commissions earned on the net quota share contract can slide within a prescribed minimum and maximum, depending on loss performance and how future losses develop.
We earn ceding commission on its gross and net quota share reinsurance contracts. Our accounting policy is to allocate ceding commission between policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses for financial reporting purposes. Ceding commission is allocated between policy acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses based upon the proportion these costs bear to production of new business. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we earned ceding commission income of $62.7 million, $57.1 million and $62.4 million of which $47.1 million, $43.0 million and $47.0 million was allocable to policy acquisition costs.
Provision for Premium Deficiency. At each reporting date, we determine whether we have a premium deficiency. A premium deficiency would result if the sum of our expected losses, deferred policy acquisition costs and policy maintenance costs (such as costs to store records and costs incurred to collect premiums and pay commissions) exceeded our related unearned premiums plus investment income. Should we determine that a premium deficiency exists, we would write off the unrecoverable portion of deferred policy acquisition costs. No accruals for premium deficiency were considered necessary as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
Reinsurance. We follow industry practice of reinsuring a portion of our risks. Reinsurance involves transferring, or “ceding”, all or a portion of the risk exposure on policies we write to another insurer, known as a reinsurer. To the extent that our reinsurers are unable to meet the obligations they assume under our reinsurance agreements, we remain liable for the entire insured loss.
Our reinsurance agreements are prospective contracts. We record an asset, prepaid reinsurance premiums, and a liability, reinsurance payable, for the entire contract amount upon commencement of our new reinsurance agreements. We amortize our prepaid reinsurance premiums over the 12-month contract period.
In the event that we incur losses recoverable under our reinsurance program, we record amounts recoverable from our reinsurers on paid losses plus an estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses. The estimate of amounts recoverable on unpaid losses is a function of our liability for unpaid losses associated with the reinsured policies; therefore, the amount changes in conjunction with any changes to our estimate of unpaid losses. In the event that we incur losses recoverable under the reinsurance program, the estimate of amounts recoverable from reinsurers on unpaid losses may change at any point in the future because of its relation to our reserves for unpaid losses.
We estimate uncollectible amounts receivable from reinsurers based on an assessment of factors including the creditworthiness of the reinsurers and the adequacy of collateral obtained, where applicable. We had no uncollectible amounts under our reinsurance program or bad debt expense related to reinsurance for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Effective
The Company describes the recent pronouncements that have had or may have a significant effect on its financial statements or on its disclosures. The Company does not discuss recent pronouncements that a) are not anticipated to have an impact on, or b) are unrelated to its financial condition, results of operations, or related disclosures. For accounting pronouncements not yet adopted, Refer to Note 1 “Basis of Presentation, Nature of Business and Significant Accounting Policies and Practices” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further information.
41
Seasonality of our Business
Our insurance business is seasonal; hurricanes typically occur during the period from June 1 through November 30 and winter storms generally impact the first and fourth quarters each year. With our catastrophe reinsurance program effective on June 1 each year, any variation in the cost of our reinsurance, whether due to changes to reinsurance rates or changes in the total insured value of our policy base will occur and be reflected in our financial results beginning June 1 of each year, subject to certain adjustments.