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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

 


 

FORM 10-K

 


 

x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the fiscal year ended: December 31, 2004

 

OR

 

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from:                      to                     

 

Commission file number: 000-50926

 


 

FREMONT MICHIGAN INSURACORP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 


 

Michigan   42-1609947

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

933 E. Main St., Fremont, Michigan   49412
(Address of principal executive offices)   (Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (231) 924-0300

 


 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class


Common Stock, no par value,

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE

 


 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  x

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

 

The aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates (computed by reference to the price at which the common stock was last sold) as of the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter was: (Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp, Inc. was not publicly traded at the measurement date.)

 

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock, no par value, was 862,128 shares outstanding as of March 30, 2005.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement of the Registrant’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 12, 2005 are incorporated by reference in Part II and III of this report.

 



FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp, Inc. (the “Holding Company”) and Fremont Insurance Company (the “Insurance Company”) may from time to time make written or oral “forward-looking statements,” including statements contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the exhibits), in its reports to shareholders and in other communications by the Holding Company, which are made in good faith by the Holding Company pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can find many of these statements by looking for words such as “believes,” “intends,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “projects,” or similar expressions in this report. Determination of loss and loss adjustment expense reserves and amounts due from reinsurers are based substantially on estimates and the amounts so determined are inherently forward-looking.

 

The forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. We have identified several important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any results discussed, contemplated, projected, forecasted, estimated or budgeted in the forward-looking information. These factors, which are listed below, are difficult to predict and many are beyond our control:

 

    future economic conditions and the legal and regulatory environment in Michigan;

 

    the effects of weather-related and other catastrophic events;

 

    financial market conditions, including, but not limited to, changes in interest rates and values of investments;

 

    the impact of acts of terrorism and acts of war on investment and reinsurance markets;

 

    inflation;

 

    the cost, availability and collectibility of reinsurance;

 

    estimates and adequacy of loss reserves and trends in losses and loss adjustment expenses;

 

    heightened competition, including specifically the intensification of price competition, the entry of new competitors and the development of new products by new and existing competitors;

 

    our inability to obtain regulatory approval of, or to implement, premium rate increases;

 

    inability to carry out marketing and sales plans, including, among others, development of new products or changes to existing products and acceptance of the new or revised products in the market;

 

    unanticipated changes in industry trends and ratings assigned by nationally recognized rating organizations;

 

    adverse litigation or arbitration results;

 

    the ability to carry out our business plans; and

 

    adverse changes in applicable laws, regulations or rules governing insurance holding companies and insurance companies, and changes that affect the cost of, or demand for, our products.

 

Because forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Therefore, we caution you not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date of this filing.

 

All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information attributable to the Holding Company or the Insurance Company or any person acting on our behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly release any revisions that may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this filing.

 

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PART I

 

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

 

THE CONVERSION TRANSACTION AND THE HOLDING COMPANY

 

Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp, Inc. (the “Company” or the “Holding Company”) is a holding company owning all of the outstanding shares of Fremont Insurance Company (the “Insurance Company”). On October 12, 2004, the Insurance Company, formerly Fremont Mutual Insurance Company, converted from a mutual to a stock form of insurance company and subsequently on October 15, 2004, all of its outstanding capital stock was transferred to Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp, Inc. thereby becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp, Inc. Prior to the Conversion and since 1876, Fremont Mutual Insurance Company conducted business as a Michigan domiciled mutual property and casualty insurer. The Holding Company was formed on November 18, 2003 for the purpose of acquiring all of the stock of the Insurance Company. On October 15, 2004 the Holding Company issued and sold 862,118 shares of its Common Stock at $10 per share (the “Conversion”). As part of the Conversion, surplus note holders converted approximately $2,498,000 of principal and accrued interest on surplus notes into common stock of the Holding Company. The following table presents (in thousands) the net value of the common stock issued as well as the net cash proceeds received as a result of the Conversion:

 

Gross value of common stock issued

   $ 8,621  

Less: Offering costs

     (1,116 )
    


Net value of common stock issued

     7,505  

Less: Surplus notes and accrued interest converted to common stock

     (2,498 )
    


Net cash received

   $ 5,007  
    


 

Except for $250,000 that was retained for administrative expenses, the Holding Company, in exchange for all of the stock in the Insurance Company, contributed to the Insurance Company all of the net cash proceeds from the sale of the Holding Company Common Stock.

 

The Conversion has been accounted for as a simultaneous conversion, recapitalization and share offering which did not change the historical accounting basis of the Insurance Company’s financial statements.

 

The Holding Company is subject to regulation by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services (“OFIS”) as its primary regulator because it is the holding company for Fremont Insurance Company.

 

OVERVIEW OF BUSINESS

 

The Insurance Company is a property and casualty insurance company that provides insurance to farms, small businesses and individuals in Michigan. We were founded in 1876 and have served Michigan policyholders for over 128 years. We market policies through approximately 170 independent insurance agencies. We have four business segments: personal, commercial, farm and marine. As of December 31, 2004, we had approximately 49,500 policies in force and assets of $68.7 million.

 

The Company’s executive offices are located at 933 E. Main Street, Fremont, Michigan 49412-9753, and the telephone number is (231) 924-0300. Our website address is www.fmic.com. Information on the Company’s website is not a part of this Form 10-K. The Company makes available free of charge on its website, or provides a link to, the Company’s Forms 3, 4, 5, 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed and any amendments to these Forms, that have been filed with the SEC as soon as reasonably practicable after the Company electronically files such material with, or furnishes it to the SEC. To access these filings, go to the Company’s website and click on “Investor Information”, then click on “SEC Filings.”

 

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BUSINESS STRATEGIES

 

Our principal strategies for the future are to:

 

    Diversify our product lines and mix of business by increasing personal auto insurance and commercial lines insurance in order to enhance profitability and lessen the impact of property losses on overall results; and

 

    Attract and retain profitable agencies having diverse customer bases located in our targeted growth markets within Michigan.

 

Diversification of Lines of Business. A primary strategy is further diversification of our product lines and reduced dependence upon homeowners insurance. We plan to achieve this diversification by focusing more of our resources on our personal auto and commercial lines, such as businessowners, farm, commercial multi-peril and workers’ compensation coverages. Additional resources have been added to foster the growth in this category which has been historically profitable. The product line’s emphasis is in small to mid-sized commercial risks and includes the workers’ compensation component.

 

In 2000 the personal auto and commercial package policy product lines represented 10.6% and 5.3%, respectively, of direct written premiums. Comparatively, in 2004 the personal auto and commercial package policy product lines represented 18.2% and 9.9%, respectively, of direct written premiums. Over the past six years we have diversified our product mix, allowing us to take advantage of recent pricing improvements in the home insurance segment, while moderating our risk in any one product segment. While we have broadened our product mix the majority of our direct written premiums continues to be generated from homeowners’ policies and farm policies which represented 35.2% and 11.3%, respectively, of direct written premiums in 2004.

 

Part of our diversification strategy involves improving our farm and “country estate” programs. We were originally founded to provide affordable insurance to the farm community. We have recognized the need to refine and adjust our current program to meet changing market conditions, such as consolidation in the farm industry, and the need for broader coverages. We have added enhancements to this product such as an incentive structure to attract and retain higher quality risks.

 

Profitable Agencies. We initiated an intense agency review process in 1999 to improve agency profitability. Since then, approximately 90 agencies have been canceled. During the last five years, 20 agencies were added to service Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The agency count is now approximately 170 agencies. Over $9 million in business from canceled agencies was replaced with predominately profitable agency relationships. These changes will continue to improve our business since, as a group, the terminated agencies and their policies had produced losses at a higher level than our overall premium base. We will continue to actively monitor our agencies with a focus on identifying potential problems early and maintaining profitable relationships.

 

The need to submit profitable business has been reinforced through direct communication with our agents and their participation in Insurance Company sponsored meetings. A direct benefit to agents has been an enhanced contingency commission program that has been well received by agents. Through this new program, many agencies submitting profitable business have increased their commission by over 10% above their regular base commission.

 

Business Plan

 

We continue to focus exclusively on the Michigan market with greater emphasis on geographic and product diversification and development of niche categories within existing lines. The Company has taken steps to improve its underwriting results by canceling unprofitable agents and is targeting reductions of business where it has unacceptably high concentration of risk.

 

Our agency reorganization process has been intense but was needed to reduce the negative impact that poorly performing agencies were having on rates and the resulting penalty forced upon profitable agencies. We feel the

 

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existing agency structure is better organized from a regional standpoint and that our goals and expectations are better understood by the remaining agents. We will continue to monitor our agency performance.

 

Rate adequacy has improved. By rate adequacy we mean that the premium rate charged for a given line of business is expected to be sufficient to return an underwriting profit after payment of losses, loss adjustment expenses, policy acquisition costs and other underwriting expenses. The pricing increases of the Insurance Company have mitigated the premium reduction resulting from the agency reorganization. Items that have significantly impacted industry pricing include moderate investment return from required reserves and increased reinsurance costs due to catastrophes and reinsurer performance.

 

Underwriting income is projected to grow in the future as a result of many initiatives of the Insurance Company, including:

 

    Focus on underwriting for profit rather than volume;

 

    Elimination of quota share reinsurance;

 

    High reliance on analytical factors to evaluate risks;

 

    Adequate pricing of risk within the industry;

 

    Increased fee income from partial payment, late payment and policy reinstatement;

 

    Increased emphasis on profit sharing for agencies and employees;

 

    Results of intense agency review and development of clearer expectations from agencies;

 

    Diversification of geographic risk to reduce reinsurance costs from a maximum probable loss standpoint;

 

    Utilization of external consulting expertise to complement internal management;

 

    Increased recognition of the value that smaller companies, such as the Insurance Company, can provide agencies;

 

    Development of stronger relationships between agents and the Insurance Company; and

 

    Increased utilization of technology internally and with our agency force.

 

The property and casualty business is affected by weather events that often are the driving factor from a profitability standpoint. Geographic diversification and the shift to add more small commercial business, less sensitive to weather, are designed to reduce risk factors.

 

Management of operating expenses, including loss adjusting and underwriting expenses, requires close attention. Loss adjusting expense as a percentage of net premiums earned was 10.2%, 11.6% and 12.0% for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively. A major customer service component continues to be the use of Insurance Company in-house adjusters for handling most claims. Underwriting expense as a percentage of net premiums earned was 34.2%, 37.1% and 37.9% for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively. We continue to take positive steps to reduce that ratio, including:

 

    Annual objective to process more premium per employee;

 

    Adoption of technological interface and communications with agents;

 

    Implementation of an imaging system and refining internal workflow processes to reduce paper handling;

 

    Greater accountability to budgetary plans by department managers;

 

    Diversification of product lines to include lower commission products, such as personal auto coverage; and

 

    Reduction in the number of agencies that must be serviced by our marketing department.

 

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SEGMENT INFORMATION

 

The Company defines its operations as property and casualty insurance operations. The Company writes four major insurance lines exclusively in the State of Michigan: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Farm and Marine. All revenues are generated from external customers and the Company does not have a significant reliance on any single major customer.

 

The Company evaluates product line profitability based on underwriting gain (loss). Certain expenses are allocated based on assumptions and estimates made by management. Underwriting gain (loss) by product line would change if different methods were applied. The Company does not allocate assets, net investment income, net realized gains (losses) on investments, other income (expense), interest expense or demutualization expenses to its product lines.

 

Segment data for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 is included in the footnotes to the financial statements which are included herein under Part II, Item 8—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

 

PRODUCTS

 

We offer a variety of property and casualty insurance products primarily designed to meet the insurance needs of rural and suburban property owners and small businesses located in Michigan. The four primary segments of our business are personal, commercial, farm and marine. The following table presents the direct written premiums, net written premiums and net premiums earned by major product line within each segment for the periods indicated:

 

     Year Ended December 31,

     2004

   2003

   2002

     (In thousands)

Direct premiums written:

                    

Personal lines:

                    

Homeowners

   $ 14,274    $ 12,947    $ 11,805

Mobilowners

     1,552      1,575      1,708

Personal auto

     7,395      5,596      4,797

Rental dwelling

     1,460      1,487      1,520

Inland marine

     547      512      499
    

  

  

       25,228      22,117      20,329

Commercial lines:

                    

Business owners

     2,165      2,174      1,768

Commercial package

     4,031      4,318      3,784

Commercial auto

     780      1,007      993

Workers compensation

     1,352      1,626      1,670

Other commercial products

     894      734      620
    

  

  

       9,222      9,859      8,835

Farm

     4,566      4,241      3,892

Marine

     1,524      1,267      1,055
    

  

  

Total

   $ 40,540    $ 37,484    $ 34,111
    

  

  

 

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     Year Ended December 31,

     2004

   2003

   2002

     (In thousands)

Net premiums written:

                    

Personal lines:

                    

Homeowners

   $ 12,851    $ 6,417    $ 5,580

Mobilowners

     1,407      788      810

Personal auto

     6,731      2,866      2,650

Rental dwelling

     1,336      749      725

Inland marine

     488      257      238
    

  

  

       22,813      11,077      10,003

Commercial lines:

                    

Business owners

     1,957      1,081      824

Commercial package

     3,601      2,128      1,770

Commercial auto

     740      517      520

Workers compensation

     1,457      1,036      686

Other commercial products

     466      286      245
    

  

  

       8,221      5,048      4,045

Farm

     4,091      2,123      1,847

Marine

     1,379      643      510
    

  

  

Total

   $ 36,504    $ 18,891    $ 16,405
    

  

  

 

     Year Ended December 31,

     2004

   2003

   2002

     (In thousands)

Net premiums earned:

                    

Personal lines:

                    

Homeowners

   $ 8,944    $ 6,042    $ 6,033

Mobilowners

     1,023      832      913

Personal auto

     5,526      2,660      2,607

Rental dwelling

     989      764      870

Inland marine

     355      252      268
    

  

  

       16,837      10,550      10,691

Commercial lines:

                    

Business owners

     1,468      998      853

Commercial package

     2,744      2,035      1,519

Commercial auto

     620      518      396

Workers compensation

     1,249      1,070      445

Other commercial products

     373      310      171
    

  

  

       6,454      4,931      3,384

Farm

     2,912      2,033      1,866

Marine

     993      585      485
    

  

  

Total

   $ 27,196    $ 18,099    $ 16,426
    

  

  

 

Personal Lines. Personal lines policies include repair and replacement cost homeowners, repair and replacement cost mobilowners, rental dwelling and personal auto. Many optional endorsements are available to insure items such as jewelry, fine arts and antiques. In addition, personal umbrella liability coverage is available as excess coverage over the liability limit on an underlying policy. The scope of the coverage is broader than the underlying policy coverage and covers an insured’s home (or business), autos, boats, etc. The Insurance

 

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Company requires an underlying policy to issue umbrella coverage. Coverage can also be written on a commercial or farm form. Up to $2 million limits are available.

 

    Homeowners. This line continues to be our largest product both in policy count and premium volume. The policy is a comprehensive policy providing both property and liability protection for homeowners, condominium owners and renters. Also, we insure eligible businesses in the home by adding commercial forms as an endorsement to the homeowner’s policy. Target areas in this line include moderately valued homes ($100,000 to $300,000).

 

    Mobilowners. This is a similar product to homeowners providing coverage for mobile home owners. Units are insured for either replacement cost or actual cash value depending on their age. During 2003, we introduced a “stated value” form as a niche product to insure older units for an amount over their current blue book value. This allows us to optimize our rates for these units and continue coverage on selected older units that exhibit a higher degree of care and maintenance.

 

    Rental Dwelling. This is a fire and wind coverage for rental dwellings with no more than four units per building. Liability coverage for the owner can also be added.

 

    Personal Auto. We introduced the personal auto line in May of 1999. The line was introduced to complement the homeowners/mobilowners/farmowners book and provide us with the ability to offer a multi-policy discount. Our emphasis is placed on multi-policy accounts rather than single policies with no support. The Insurance Company has been able to attain this goal with 85.6 % of auto policyholders receiving this discount. Other target market factors include age group 30-69 and low motor vehicle violation experience.

 

Commercial Lines. Commercial lines consist of products designed to serve primarily small business operations and targeted niche market risks, including the following:

 

    Business Owners Policy (BOP). The BOP provides a comprehensive policy (property and liability) for business owners in five categories listed below. Eligibility restrictions apply in all categories and generally deal with the size of the business (sales) or size of the structure housing the business.

 

    Bed & Breakfast/Condominiums. The B&B area is a niche product for the Insurance Company. Condominium coverages insure condominium owner associations.

 

    Mercantile. This includes retail businesses from gift shops and shoe stores to selected small restaurants.

 

    Offices. Generally, offices of all occupancies and buildings housing offices are eligible under this class.

 

    Service. Businesses in this category include barbers and beauticians to jewelry repair, mini storage and taxidermists.

 

    Wholesale. Most types of wholesalers are eligible for this category.

 

    Commercial Package Policy (CPP). The CPP policy is designed to insure a broader range of commercial operations than the BOP. Manufacturing risks, contractors and restaurants are typically covered under this program. This is the Insurance Company’s largest line among commercial lines as the policies are usually larger and generate higher premiums.

 

    Commercial Auto (CA). CA policies are written in conjunction with BOP or CPP policies to meet the requirements of those customers. CA covers vehicles owned by a business or used in businesses and owned by individuals. This includes vehicles from passenger cars to tractor-trailer rigs and earth moving equipment. The Insurance Company’s focus is to insure passenger cars, service vehicles (usually a pickup truck owned by a contractor and driven to the job site) and light, local delivery vehicles.

 

    Workers Compensation. The Insurance Company introduced workers compensation coverage in 1997 to complement our farmowners and commercial lines of business. We write the coverage to support our customers with Farm, BOP or CPP policies.

 

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    Other Commercial Products. Other commercial products include endorsements for equipment breakdown and inland marine coverages and umbrella liability coverage. The Insurance Company requires an underlying policy to issue umbrella coverage and up to $2 million limits are available.

 

Farm Line. The Insurance Company originated as a “farm fire” insurance provider and continues to be a strong provider of coverage for the agricultural industry in Michigan. This segment’s products include: farmowners for fully operating farms, country estate for the hobby or part time farmer, and farm for non-owner occupied farms. Farmowners and country estate policies are comprehensive policies offering protection similar to our homeowner’s policy but also offer the option to cover the insured’s farm buildings, farm personal property (livestock, machinery, etc.), and provide farm liability protection. The farm policy is primarily a fire, wind and liability product designed for non-owner-occupied farms. The country estate policy is the target market for the Insurance Company. Country estate policies make up 21.8% of the total direct written premiums in this segment.

 

Marine. Michigan leads the nation in the number of registered boats. This line is composed of the boat owner’s program (usually smaller and less expensive boats) and the yacht program. The Insurance Company offers a discount for boat policies supported by another policy (such as a homeowners policy), but will also write boat policies without a supporting policy. The boat owner’s policy has slightly less coverage than the yacht policy. The boat owner’s policy is designed for boats 32 feet long or less with values of $125,000 or less. Boats that exceed the length or value criteria for the boat owner’s policy are insured under the yacht program.

 

MARKETING

 

We market our property and casualty insurance products exclusively in Michigan through approximately 170 independent agencies. The agency force is considered the core for future growth and is geographically spread across the state of Michigan. Our objective is to be ranked among the top four insurers within each agency. Our independent agencies represent other insurance companies and are established businesses in the communities in which they operate. Our agencies generally market and write the full range of our products. We believe our relationships with our agencies are very good.

 

In recent years we have made changes in our agency force by eliminating unprofitable agencies to reduce the negative impact that poorly performing agencies were having on rates. We feel that the current agency structure is better organized from a regional standpoint and that our goals and expectations are better understood by the remaining agents.

 

We depend upon our agency force to produce new business and to provide customer service. Our network of independent agencies also serves as an important source of information about the needs of our policyholders. This information is used to develop new products and new product features.

 

We compensate agencies through a fixed base commission with an opportunity for profit sharing, depending on the profitability of the business we receive from the agency. Our agencies are monitored and supported by a marketing manager and three marketing representatives. Three personal lines underwriters and three commercial lines underwriters have each been assigned a number of agents for marketing support. The strength of this move is to put more people in the field to develop profitable relationships and gather market intelligence. Visitation reports are required for each agency visit and are reviewed by senior management.

 

Strategic Marketing Factors. We are committed to our independent agents and are constantly reviewing our agency relationships based on the following factors:

 

    Desire to do business with us. We want to be viable within each agency. We want agents to have a positive attitude toward us which, in turn, affects the type and kinds of business they submit to us. If an agent’s production does not reflect a desire to do business with the Company, we will sever the relationship in the best interests of the Company and the agency.

 

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    Profitability.