UNIVERSAL INSURANCE HOLDINGS, INC. (UVE) Business

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (“UVE,” and together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, “we,” “our,” “us,” or the “Company”) is a holding company offering property and casualty insurance and value-added insurance services. We develop, market, and underwrite insurance products for consumers predominantly in the personal residential homeowners lines of business and perform substantially all other insurance-related services for our primary insurance entities, including risk management, claims management, and distribution. Our primary insurance entities, Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (“UPCIC”) and American Platinum Property and Casualty Insurance Company (“APPCIC” and together with UPCIC, the “Insurance Entities”), offer insurance products through both our appointed independent agent network and our online distribution channels across our multi-state footprint (primarily in Florida). The Insurance Entities seek to produce an underwriting profit (defined as earned premium minus losses, loss adjustment expense (“LAE”), policy acquisition costs and other operating costs and expenses) over the long term; maintain a conservative balance sheet to prepare for years in which the Insurance Entities are not able to achieve an underwriting profit; and generate investment income on assets.

Business Strategy

UVE’s strategic focus is on creating a best-in-class experience for our customers and delivering strong shareholder returns across underwriting cycles. While weather-related volatility is an inherent part of property insurance, particularly in coastal markets such as Florida, our strategy includes generating non-risk bearing income that enhances returns in profitable underwriting periods, while serving as a buffer and potentially still allowing for consolidated profitability in challenging underwriting periods. We have more than 25 years of experience providing protection solutions. We continue to focus on disciplined underwriting in opportune markets and maintaining a resilient balance sheet that is enhanced by our reinsurance program. We have made substantial efforts in recent years to innovate across all of our service businesses, including continued development of our digital agency Clovered.com, where we have 39 carrier partners, and utilization of digital applications where applicable to administer claims. We continue to evaluate ways in which we can improve the customer experience across all touchpoints of the insurance value chain.

Products and Services

Insurance Products

UPCIC, our primary risk-bearing insurance entity, which accounts for the substantial majority of our Insurance Entities’ business, primarily distributes policies through our independent agency network and offers the following types of personal residential insurance: homeowners, renters/tenants, condo unit owners, and dwelling/fire. UPCIC also offers allied lines, coverage for other structures, and personal property, liability, and personal articles coverages. APPCIC writes similar lines of insurance as UPCIC, but is only licensed in Florida and Georgia. APPCIC primarily distributes policies through our digital platforms, and beginning in the current year through our independent agency network.

Our Insurance Entities, UPCIC and APPCIC, are both currently rated “A” (“Exceptional”) by Demotech, Inc. (“Demotech”) and “A-” by Kroll Bond Rating Agency (“Kroll”), which are rating agencies specializing in evaluating insurer financial strength and stability. Our combined statutory capital and surplus was approximately $509.1 million at December 31, 2025.

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Risk Management

Our subsidiary, Evolution Risk Advisors, Inc. (“ERA,” formerly Universal Risk Advisors, Inc.), is the managing general agent for the Insurance Entities. In this capacity, ERA advises on actuarial issues, oversees distribution, administers claims payments, performs policy administration and underwriting, and assists with reinsurance negotiations. ERA’s underwriting service evaluates insurance risk and exposures on an individual and portfolio basis and assists the Insurance Entities with pricing risks. All underwriting is performed utilizing our state-filed rate and rule manuals as the basis of our rate-making and risk assessment. ERA collects fees from the Insurance Entities for the services it provides, as well as certain policy fees from insureds. Our subsidiary, Universal Inspection Corporation d/b/a Wicklow Inspection Corporation, complements ERA and our Insurance Entities by conducting inspections as part of our underwriting process.

The Insurance Entities rely heavily on reinsurance to limit potential exposure to catastrophic events. In most years, reinsurance coverage is one of the most significant costs we incur. In conjunction with ERA, our licensed reinsurance intermediary, Blue Atlantic Reinsurance Corporation (“BARC”), partners with a third-party reinsurance broker to place and manage our reinsurance programs for the Insurance Entities. BARC receives commission revenue, net of third-party co-broker fees, from third-party reinsurers in connection with these services, which can serve to mitigate reinsurance costs.

Due to our exposure to Florida’s residential property insurance market, we face risks associated with the adverse conditions that have affected the magnitude of both catastrophe and non-catastrophe losses and LAE in Florida in recent years. Although the Florida legislature passed law changes to address market abuses, including substantial reforms in December 2022, the benefits of these law changes may not be fully realized for several years while the Company continues to settle and respond to claims that occurred prior to reforms taking full effect. We have sought, and continue to seek, to mitigate these risks through our exposure management initiatives, efforts to attain rate adequacy, implementing product updates, and tailoring our claims and legal processes to market conditions.

As we are a property and casualty insurance company with a concentration in Florida and other coastal states, natural catastrophes are among the most serious risks facing our customers and communities. Changing climate conditions are increasing the unpredictability of natural catastrophes, such as hurricanes, floods, severe convective storms, and wildfires, leading to significant property losses. Our responsive claims team helps to restore our customers’ lives after catastrophic losses. Our enterprise risk management framework, overseen by senior management and the Board of Directors (the “Board of Directors” or the “Board”), models and assesses loss probabilities. We seek to mitigate catastrophe risk for our customers and shareholders through prudent exposure management, underwriting initiatives, and sensitivity to geographic concentrations as well as through reinsurance as noted above.

Claims Management

Our subsidiary, Universal Adjusting Corporation d/b/a Alder Adjusting (“Alder”), manages our claims processing and adjusting functions from claim inception to conclusion, which we believe allows us to increase efficiency and provide a high level of customer service. Alder updates its claims-handling procedures over time in response to market trends. Through Alder, we have adopted initiatives to adjust and pay straightforward, meritorious claims as promptly as possible through timely analysis and on-site field adjusting. Alder also has increased its use of technology to inspect properties and facilitate adjusting claims. In addition to our in-house claims operation, we assign some field inspections to third-party adjusters. Our relationships with these adjusters enable us to continue to provide high quality and timely service following a catastrophe, such as a hurricane in coastal states, and during any other period of unusually high claim volume. Through our continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives, we continue to evaluate ways in which we can improve the customer’s claims experience. Alder’s data intelligence allows the Insurance Entities, ERA, and our reinsurance partners to identify trends and refine the underwriting process and guidelines to seek adequate pricing and identify needed adjustments. Our claims management operations provide cost-effective solutions in servicing claims for the Insurance Entities and generates additional fee income from adjusting claims ceded to reinsurers.

Our in-house claims litigation team continues to focus on more effectively and efficiently protecting our rights in litigation, including through subrogation. Subrogation is the act of seeking reimbursement from a third party that caused a covered event to an insured for the amount we paid on the insured’s behalf. Reflecting our efforts to improve and enhance our claims operations and to address emerging claims and litigation trends, approximately 54% of our employees work in our claims management operations. Of these employees, 56% comprise our in-house claims litigation team.

Distribution

We market and sell our products primarily through our network of approximately 9,500 licensed independent agents (3,900 in Florida). Our strong relationships with our independent agents and their relationships with their customers are critical to our ability to identify, attract, and retain profitable business. We actively participate in the recruitment and training of our independent agents and provide each agency with training sessions on topics such as underwriting guidelines and submitting claims.

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We utilize an attractive commission-based compensation plan as an incentive for independent agents to place business with us. We also strive to provide excellent service to our independent agents and brokers, which has yielded long-standing partnerships with our independent agents (a number of which have relationships with us that span more than a decade) that benefit the Company in our target markets through hard and soft market cycles. Our internal staff and specialists support our independent agents by providing access to our in-house technology systems to assist with the delivery of service to our policyholders. This arrangement creates a collaborative environment between the Company and our independent agents on continuous improvement initiatives and allows our independent agents to provide quotes within minutes. Our technology systems have evolved into a highly valued tool that enables agents to quickly understand the status of a policy and assist their clients with policy-related questions.

In addition to distributing our products through our independent agency network, we offer direct-to-consumer online distribution, including through our wholly-owned digital insurance agency, Clovered, which is operational across our multi-state footprint. As a personal lines property and casualty insurance agency, Clovered also partners with third-party insurance carriers and offers a wide suite of property and casualty insurance products, allowing us to earn non-risk bearing commission revenue for placing insurance on their behalf.

Investments

Funds in excess of operating needs for the Insurance Entities and UVE are invested in accordance with our investment policy guidelines. The Investment Committee of our Board oversees the investment portfolio and reports overall investment results to our Board, on a quarterly basis. The investment activities of the Insurance Entities are subject to regulation and supervision by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“FLOIR”). See below under “—Government Regulation.” The Insurance Entities may only make investments that are consistent with regulatory guidelines, and our more restrictive investment policy guidelines for the Insurance Entities, including but not limited to, credit quality and concentration thresholds by issuer, by security type, and in aggregate, an average duration cap, and quarterly realized loss budget requirements. The primary objectives of our investment portfolio are the preservation of capital and providing adequate liquidity for claims payments and other cash needs. The portfolio’s secondary investment objective is to generate a stable risk-commensurate return with an emphasis on investment income while at the same time maintaining the high-quality standards of the portfolio. Our investment guidelines for fixed-income investments limit duration to 5 years or less and require a portfolio average credit rating of A- or better. UVE is not subject to the statutory investment guidelines governing insurance companies. Therefore, the investments made by UVE may differ from those made by the Insurance Entities.

See “Part II—Item 8—Note 3 (Investments)” for more information about our investments.

Markets and Competition

Markets

We sell insurance products in the following 19 states: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin. We have an additional license to write in Tennessee. During 2025, 72.6% of our overall direct premiums written were in Florida. The Florida market as a whole tends to consistently be a top-three personal residential homeowners insurance market in the United States based on direct premiums written, due in large part to higher average pricing levels that are necessary to address the hurricane risk exposure in the state, the litigation environment, and other market conditions.

Hurricanes or other catastrophic events can significantly impact earnings for insurance carriers in Florida and other coastal states, depending on the strength of their reinsurance programs and partners and the level of net retention to which the carriers subscribe. For example, volatility and market dislocation were evident in Florida following Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons (during which eight hurricanes made landfall in coastal states), as well as following 2017 (Hurricane Irma), 2018 (Hurricanes Michael and Florence), 2022 (Hurricane Ian), 2023 (Hurricane Idalia) and 2024 (Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton). Earnings of insurance carriers can also be affected by years similar to 2020 where there was a heightened frequency of events (e.g., Hurricanes Sally, Isaias, Zeta and Eta). Given the potential for significant personal property damage, the availability of homeowners insurance and claims servicing are vitally important to coastal states’ residents. The benefits of UVE’s reinsurance strategy in 2025 and the specific programs are further discussed below and in “Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Competition

The market for homeowners insurance typically is highly competitive. In many of the states in which we write business, we compete with small or regional insurers that might have greater familiarity with the local markets than we do. We also compete with large national insurers, many of which have substantial brand awareness, experience, and capital resources. Within the Florida marketplace, dislocating weather events of recent years and other market conditions, such as a proliferation of first-party litigation, have impacted competition from other admitted market insurers, but competition has started to show signs of normalization.

The personal residential homeowners insurance industry is strictly regulated. As a result, it is difficult for insurance companies to differentiate their products, which creates low barriers to entry (other than regulatory capital and other requirements) and in typical circumstances results in a highly competitive market based largely on price and the customer experience. The nature, size and experience of our primary competitors varies across the states in which we do business.

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Several states, including Florida, have insurance mechanisms that provide insurance to consumers who are not otherwise able to obtain coverage in the private insurance market. The largest such insurance mechanism is Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”). The degree to which these state-authorized insurance mechanisms compete with private insurers such as the Insurance Entities varies over time depending on market and public policy considerations beyond our control. Citizens’ rate changes are limited by law, and accordingly, in times of rising insurance rates its premiums can significantly lag those of the authorized market. This in turn causes Citizens to increasingly become the low-cost option for many policyholders; in essence, in hard markets Citizens has a statutorily-created, and ultimately consumer-subsidized, pricing advantage over authorized insurers operating in the state, including the Insurance Entities. Although the gap between Citizens’ premiums and admitted market premiums typically narrows as market conditions improve, its premium can remain competitive with those in the admitted market for several years due to cumulative effects of the statutory caps and public policy decisions.

Price

Pricing has generally been defined by “hard” and “soft” cyclical markets. Hard markets are those in which policy premiums are increasing (as a result of periods of capital shortages resulting in a lack of insurance availability, relatively low levels of price competition, and more selective underwriting of risks). Soft markets are those in which pricing has stabilized or is decreasing (as a result of periods of greater capital availability, relatively high levels of price competition and less restrictive underwriting standards). Many factors influence the pricing environment, including, but not limited to, catastrophic events, loss experience, GDP growth/contraction, inflation, interest rates, legislation, primary insurance and reinsurance capacity and availability, share-of-wallet competition, the prevalence of litigation (including claims representation abuses, solicited claims and other first-party litigation), technological advancements in distribution, underwriting, claims management and overall operational efficiencies, and the risk appetite of competitors.

Our successful track record in writing homeowners insurance in catastrophe-exposed areas has enabled us to develop sophisticated risk selection and pricing techniques that strive to identify desirable risks and accurately price the risk of loss while allowing us to be competitive in our target markets. This risk selection and pricing approach allows us to offer competitive products in areas that have a high demand for property insurance.

The premiums we charge are based on rates specific to individual risks and locations and are generally subject to regulatory review. We periodically submit our rate revisions to regulators as required by law or as we deem necessary or appropriate for our business. The premiums we charge to policyholders are affected by legislative enactments and administrative rules, including state-mandated programs in Florida requiring residential property insurance companies like us to provide premium discounts when policyholders verify that insured properties have certain construction features, such as windstorm loss reduction techniques or devices.

Customer Experience

Drivers of the customer experience include reliability and value, financial strength, and ease-of-use. We strive to provide excellent reliability and value through the strength of our distribution networks, high-quality service to our policyholders and independent agents, our claims handling ability and product features tailored to our markets.

The current trends in the industry in regard to ease-of-use suggest an increased focus on utilizing technology in the distribution channel, enabling technology and machine learning in the underwriting domain, as well as utilizing actionable intelligence in claims management services. We strive to improve the customer experience across all consumer touch points. We are committed to delivering solutions that enable the consumer to prepare, protect, and recover from losses as well as to learn about insurance. We believe effective integration and knowledge transfer to the consumer will result in improved customer satisfaction and encourage consumer retention. In addition, UVE’s strong operating teams and streamlined in-house value-added services strive to provide value to consumers through operating efficiencies across the business. Our monthly weighted average renewal retention rate for the year ended December 31, 2025 was 92.5%.

Reinsurance

Reinsurance enables the Insurance Entities to limit potential exposures to catastrophic events. Reinsurance contracts are typically classified as treaty or facultative contracts. Treaty reinsurance provides coverage for all or a portion of a specified group or class of risks ceded by the primary insurer, while facultative reinsurance provides coverage for specific individual risks. Within each classification, reinsurance can be further classified as quota share or excess of loss. Quota-share reinsurance is where the primary insurer and the reinsurer share proportionally or pro-rata in the direct premiums and losses of the insurer. Excess-of-loss reinsurance indemnifies the primary insurer for all or a portion of the loss in excess of an agreed upon amount or retention.

Developing and implementing our reinsurance strategy to adequately protect our balance sheet and Insurance Entities in the event of one or more catastrophes while maintaining efficient reinsurance costs has been a key strategic priority for UVE. For 2025, the Insurance Entities utilized excess of loss reinsurance in various forms. The benefits of the reinsurance strategy in 2025 and the specific programs are further discussed in “Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

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In order to limit our potential exposure to catastrophic events, the Insurance Entities purchase significant reinsurance from a variety of third-party reinsurers, including traditional reinsurers, alternative capital providers, and government entities such as the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (the “FHCF”). The FLOIR requires the Insurance Entities, like all residential property insurance companies doing business in Florida, to have a certain amount of capital and reinsurance coverage in order to cover losses upon the occurrence of a single catastrophic event and a series of catastrophic events occurring in the same hurricane season. The Insurance Entities’ respective 2025-2026 reinsurance programs meet the FLOIR’s requirements, which are based on, among other things, successfully demonstrating cohesive and comprehensive reinsurance programs that satisfy a series of stress test catastrophe loss scenarios based on past historical events. Similarly, the Insurance Entities’ respective 2025-2026 reinsurance programs meet the stress test and review requirements of Demotech’s Financial Stability Rating® of “A” (Exceptional) and Kroll’s insurer financial strength rating of “A-”.

FHCF is a statutorily-created entity in Florida that provides a layer of reimbursement (reinsurance) protection at a price that is typically lower than what would otherwise be available in the third-party reinsurance market. The purpose of the FHCF is to protect and advance the state’s interest in maintaining residential property insurance capacity in Florida by providing reimbursements to insurers for a portion of their Florida hurricane losses. Most property and casualty insurers operating in Florida, including the Insurance Entities, are subject to assessment if the FHCF lacks sufficient claims-paying resources to meet its reimbursement obligations to insurers. When applicable, FHCF assessments are added to policyholders’ premiums and are collected and remitted by the insurers, including the Insurance Entities. All homeowners insurance companies that write business in Florida, including the Insurance Entities, are required to obtain a specified minimum level of reimbursement protection through the FHCF. In addition, the Florida legislature from time to time has adopted programs of limited duration and amount by which insurance companies are able to optionally purchase additional coverage administered by the FHCF. The Insurance Entities currently purchase reimbursement protection at the maximum level of mandatory coverage offered by the FHCF. Currently, the FHCF provides $17 billion of aggregate capacity annually to its participating insurers, which may be adjusted by statute from time to time and which is allocated among participating insurers according to factors such as the participating insurers’ relative hurricane exposures and their respective coverage elections.

We believe the Insurance Entities’ retentions under their respective reinsurance programs are appropriate and structured to protect our customers. We evaluate the sufficiency of our reinsurance programs by subjecting the Insurance Entities’ personal residential exposures to statistical testing using a third-party hurricane model. This model combines simulations of the natural occurrence patterns and characteristics of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other catastrophes with information on property values, construction types, and occupancy classes. Simulations are based on historical events over both long-term or short-term time periods, which inherently recognize trends caused by climate change. The model outputs provide information concerning the potential for large losses before they occur, so companies can prepare for their financial impact. Furthermore, as part of our operational excellence initiatives, we continually look to enable new technology to refine our data intelligence on catastrophe risk modeling.

Seasonality

The nature of our business tends to be seasonal during the year, reflecting consumer behaviors in connection with the Florida residential real estate market and the hurricane season. We have historically experienced higher direct premiums written in the second and third quarters of our fiscal year and lower direct premiums written in the first and fourth quarters of our fiscal year. Correspondingly, we have historically experienced a higher volume of claims submitted in the third and fourth quarters of our fiscal year during and immediately subsequent to the peak of hurricane season, and a lower volume of claims submitted in the first and second quarters of our fiscal year.

Government Regulation

We are subject to extensive regulation in the markets we serve, primarily at the state level, and will become subject to the regulations of additional states in which we seek to conduct business in the future. These regulations cover all aspects of our business and are generally designed to protect the interests of policyholders, as opposed to the interests of shareholders. Such regulations relate to authorized lines of business, capital and surplus requirements, allowable rates and policy forms, investment parameters, underwriting requirements and guidelines, transactions with affiliates, dividend limitations, changes in control, market conduct, maximum amount allowable for premium financing service charges, and a variety of other financial and non-financial components of our business. From time to time, states also enact legislation designed to increase consumer protections and curtail fraud or abuses in the insurance market.

State insurance laws and regulations affect substantially all aspects of our business. Accordingly, interpretations of those laws and changes to those laws over time have significant impacts on our business, whether favorable or unfavorable. For example, the Insurance Entities experienced significant increases in losses and LAE in the years prior to 2022 as Florida laws in effect at the time led to a proliferation of solicited, represented and litigated claims. The market has improved in the years that have followed as the Florida legislature passed reforms to address the key underlying drivers of the insurance market’s deterioration. The Florida market therefore has experienced both the unfavorable effects of the pre-reform laws and the evolving favorable effects of the law changes. Changes in laws and government regulations often apply only prospectively and can result in extended periods before their effects, whether favorable or unfavorable, are fully recognized.

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Examinations

As part of their regulatory oversight process, state insurance departments conduct periodic financial examinations of the books, records, accounts and operations of insurance companies that are authorized to transact business in their states. In general, insurance regulatory authorities defer to the insurance regulatory authority in the state in which an insurer is domiciled; however, insurance regulatory authorities in any state in which we operate may conduct examinations at their discretion. Under Florida law, the periodic financial examinations generally occur every five years, although the FLOIR or other states may conduct limited or full scope reviews more frequently. In addition, the state insurance regulatory authorities in states where the Insurance Entities operate from time to time make inquiries, conduct investigations, and administer market conduct examinations with respect to the Insurance Entities’ compliance with applicable insurance laws and regulations. These inquiries or examinations may address, among other things, the form and content of disclosures to consumers, advertising, sales practices, underwriting and claims practices, cancellation and nonrenewal procedures, and complaint handling. The reports arising from insurance authorities’ examination processes typically are available to the public at the conclusion of the examinations. In addition, insurance companies and other companies are subject to other types of audits, examinations or other similar inquiries by governmental authorities based on the nature of the business they conduct.

Insurance Holding Company Laws

UVE, as the ultimate parent company of the Insurance Entities, is subject to certain laws of the State of Florida governing insurance holding company systems. These laws, among other things, (i) require us to file periodic information with the FLOIR, including information concerning our capital structure, ownership, financial condition and general business operations, (ii) regulate certain transactions between our Insurance Entities and affiliates, including the amount of dividends and other distributions the Insurance Entities may pay, the terms of surplus notes and amounts that our affiliates can charge the Insurance Entities for services such as policy administration and claims administration, and (iii) restrict the ability of any one person to acquire certain levels of our voting securities without prior regulatory approval.

The Florida Insurance Code prohibits any person from acquiring control of the Insurance Entities or their holding companies unless that person has filed a notification with specified information with the FLOIR and has obtained the FLOIR’s prior approval. Under the Florida Insurance Code, acquiring 10% or more of the voting securities of an insurance company or its parent company is presumptively considered an acquisition of control of the insurance company, although such presumption may be rebutted. Some state insurance laws require prior notification to state insurance regulators of an acquisition of control of a non-domiciliary insurance company doing business in that state.

Insurance holding company regulations also govern the amount any affiliate of the holding company may charge the Insurance Entities for services (e.g., claims adjustment, administration, management fees and commissions). Further, insurance holding company regulations may also require prior approval of insurance regulators for amendments to or terminations of certain affiliate agreements.

Florida holding company laws also require certain insurers to submit an Own Risk and Solvency Assessment, or ORSA, summary report to the FLOIR each year, summarizing the insurer’s evaluation of the adequacy of its risk management framework. The Company filed its most recent ORSA summary report in May 2025.

Capital Requirements

State insurance authorities monitor insurance companies’ solvency and capital requirements using various statutory requirements and industry ratios. States require minimum capital levels based on the lines of business written by a company and set requirements regarding the ongoing amount and composition of capital. Certain state regulators also require deposits in their respective states. See “Part II—Item 8—Note 5 (Insurance Operations)” for more information about state deposits. As a company grows, additional capital measures and standards may be implemented by a regulator. Regulatory authorities use a risk-based capital (“RBC”) model published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) to monitor and regulate the capital adequacy and solvency of licensed property and casualty insurance companies. These guidelines measure three major areas of risk facing property and casualty insurers: (i) underwriting risks, which encompass the risk of adverse loss developments and inadequate pricing, (ii) declines in asset values arising from credit risk and (iii) other business risks. Most states, including Florida, have enacted the NAIC guidelines as statutory requirements, and insurers having less surplus than required by applicable statutes and ratios are subject to varying degrees of regulatory action depending on the level of capital inadequacy. As of December 31, 2025, the Insurance Entities’ RBC ratios exceed applicable statutory requirements.

Restrictions on Dividends and Distributions

As a holding company with no significant business operations of its own, we rely on dividend payments from our subsidiaries as our principal source of cash to pay shareholder dividends, purchase our common shares, support subsidiary operations and development, and meet our short- and long-term obligations. Dividends paid by our subsidiaries other than the Insurance Entities are not subject to the statutory restrictions set forth in the Florida Insurance Code. Dividends paid by UVE to our shareholders in 2025 were paid from the earnings of UVE and our subsidiaries other than the Insurance Entities.

State insurance laws govern the payment of dividends by insurance companies. The maximum amount of dividends that can be paid by Florida insurance companies such as the Insurance Entities without prior approval of the FLOIR is subject to restrictions relating to statutory surplus. The maximum dividend that may be paid by the Insurance Entities to their immediate parent company without prior approval is limited to the lesser of statutory net income from operations of the preceding calendar year or statutory unassigned surplus as of the preceding year end.

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Underwriting and Marketing Restrictions

From time to time, regulatory and legislative bodies in Florida and in other states have adopted or proposed new laws or regulations to address the cyclical nature of the insurance industry, catastrophic events, and insurance capacity and pricing. These regulations (i) restrict certain policy non-renewals or cancellations and require advance notice of certain policy non-renewals and (ii) from a practical standpoint, limit or delay rate changes for a specified period during or after a catastrophe event. Most states, including Florida, also have insurance laws requiring that rate schedules and other information be filed for review by the insurance regulatory authority. The insurance regulatory authority may disapprove a rate filing if it finds that the proposed rates would be inadequate, excessive, or unfairly discriminatory. Rates, which are not necessarily uniform for all insurers, vary by many factors including class of business, hazard covered, risk location and size of risk.

Most states, including Florida, require licensure and insurance regulatory authority approval prior to the marketing of new insurance products. Typically, licensure review is comprehensive and includes a review of a company’s business plan, solvency, reinsurance, character and experience of its officers and directors, rates, forms, and other financial and non-financial aspects of the company. The insurance regulatory authorities may prohibit entry into a new market by not granting a license or by withholding approval for an insurer to write new lines of business. The Insurance Entities are subject to comprehensive regulatory oversight and regulations, which include periodic reporting to regulators and regulatory examinations to assure they maintain compliance with statutory requirements, and the payment of fees, premium taxes, and assessments in order to maintain their licenses.

Privacy and Information Security Regulation

Federal and state laws and regulations require certain business entities to protect the security and confidentiality of non-public personal information and to notify customers and other individuals about their policies and practices relating to their collection and disclosure of customer information and their practices relating to protecting the security and confidentiality of that information. The NAIC issued a model law on cybersecurity, which is leading to adoption of the same or similar provisions in the states where we do business. In addition, some states have adopted, and others might adopt, cybersecurity regulations that differ from proposed model acts or from the laws enacted in other states. Federal and state lawmakers and regulatory bodies may be expected to consider additional or more detailed regulation regarding these subjects and the privacy and security of non-public personal information.

Statutory Insurance Organizations

Many states in which the Insurance Entities operate have statutorily-mandated insurance organizations or other insurance mechanisms in which the Insurance Entities are required to participate or to potentially pay assessments. Each state has insurance guaranty association laws providing for the payment of policyholders’ claims when insurance companies doing business in that state become insolvent. These guaranty associations typically are funded by assets of the failed insurance companies and by assessments on insurance companies transacting business in the respective states. When the Insurance Entities are subject to assessments, in some instances they must promptly remit the assessed amounts to the guaranty associations. The Insurance Entities subsequently seek to recover the remitted assessment amounts through recoupments from policyholders. In other instances, the Insurance Entities might be directed to collect assessments by adding a surcharge to their policies and remitting the collected amounts to the guaranty associations. This surcharge approach, which is currently in effect in Florida, does not result in out-of-pocket payments by the Insurance Entities that must be recovered through recoupments. However, in the event the Insurance Entities are required to pay assessments up front and recover those amounts through recoupments, they might not be able to fully recoup the amounts of those assessments. Such unrecovered amounts can be credited against future assessments, or the remaining receivable may be written off. While we cannot predict the amount or timing of future guaranty association assessments, we believe that any such assessments will not have a material effect on our financial position or results of operations.

Human Capital Resources

The Company is a vertically integrated insurance holding company with its employees performing substantially all insurance and support related services for our Insurance Entities, including policy underwriting, marketing, online distribution, risk management and claims management. As of December 31, 2025, we had 929 full-time employees, of whom 89% are based in Florida. Approximately 54% of our employees work in our claims management operations. Our in-house claims litigation team represents 30% of our full-time employees. In the event we experience an unusually high volume of claims due to a hurricane or severe weather event, in addition to cross-trained staff, the Company utilizes outsourced third-party adjusters and outsourced call center support to maintain regulatory and internal service standards.

Our business is dependent on adequate levels of staff to service our new business and policies in force, process reported claims, and provide support services to the Company. Support services consist of technology, human resources, finance, corporate, and internal audit teams. We anticipate staffing needs and make changes to our staff to assure our regulatory requirements are met and our service standards to customers are achieved.

Given our focus on operational excellence and continuous improvement, our objective is to create a collaborative work environment with many opportunities for advancement in order to attract energetic and entrepreneurial talent. To that end, we provide extensive training and development sessions, strong benefits, and competitive pay to employees at all levels in the organization, including equity awards to key contributors.

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We continue our support of diversity to create an inclusive culture and deliver a sustainable talent model to enhance performance and broaden perspectives.

None of our employees are represented by a labor union.

Available Information

Our corporate headquarters is located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Our investor website is UniversalInsuranceHoldings.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments thereto, are available, free of charge, through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after their filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These filings are also available on the SEC’s website at sec.gov.