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8-K - FORM 8K - UNITED INSURANCE HOLDINGS CORP.a31dec11er8k.htm
Exhibit 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNITED INSURANCE HOLDINGS CORP. REPORTS 2011 FOURTH QUARTER AND
YEAR-END FINANCIAL RESULTS; MANAGEMENT CHANGES AND DIVIDEND

Company to Host Quarterly Conference Call at 10:00 A.M. on March 15, 2012

Financial and Operational Highlights

Fourth quarter 2011 net income of $3.2 million, or $0.31 per diluted share
Year-to-date 2011 net income of $8.1 million, or $0.77 per diluted share
Fourth quarter 2011 gross premiums written increased 39% to $43.5 million
Homeowners policies in force totaling 101,800 at December 31, 2011
Cash and investment holdings of $165.9 million at December 31, 2011
Book value per share of $5.31 at December 31, 2011
Quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share approved by Board of Directors and will be payable on April 5, 2012 to shareholders of record as of March 26, 2012

 
 
St. Petersburg, FL - March 14, 2012: United Insurance Holdings Corp. (OTCBB: UIHC) (United or the Company), a property and casualty insurance holding company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and for the year ended December 31, 2011.

2011 Fourth Quarter

Net income for the fourth quarter was $3.2 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, compared to net income of $2.9 million or $0.27 per diluted share, during the same period last year. Net premiums earned increased to $24.8 million from $18.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net investment income, realized gains and other revenues decreased to $1.6 million for the quarter compared to $5.7 million in the prior year quarter.

Losses and loss adjustment expenses decreased to $9.5 million for the quarter from $10.1 million during the same period of last year. Policy acquisition costs increased to $7.8 million from $6.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Operating expenses increased to $1.1 million from $854,000 during the same period of last year. General and administrative expenses increased to $2.9 million from $1.8 million for the fourth quarter of last year.

2011 Year-to-Date

For the year-to-date period, net income was $8.1 million, or $0.77 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $925,000, or $0.09 per diluted share for the same period last year. The Company's net premiums earned increased to $90.1 million, from $66.9 million during the same period of last year. Net investment income, realized gains and other revenues decreased to $6.3 million for the year-to-date period from $13.1 million during the same period of last year.

Losses and loss adjustment expenses decreased to $38.9 million from $42.5 million while policy acquisition costs increased to $29.1 million from $24.9 million for the same period last year. Operating expenses increased to $5.1 million from $4.0 million during the same period of last year. General and administrative



expenses increased to $9.7 million from $7.5 million while interest expense decreased to $548,000 from $1.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2010.

Balance Sheet Highlights

United's cash and investment holdings totaled $165.9 million at December 31, 2011, compared to $126.2 million at December 31, 2010. United's cash and investment holdings consist primarily of investments in high-quality money market instruments, U.S. Government and agency securities and high-quality corporate debt. Fixed maturities represented approximately 97% and 93% of United's total investments at December 31, 2011, and December 31, 2010, respectively.



The Company returned to profitability as it continued to benefit from the various rate increases it has implemented since 2009, including average rate increases during 2011 of 15.9% and 7.5% on its Florida homeowners' policies, 14.9% on its Florida dwelling policies and 6% on its South Carolina homeowner policies. Because rate increases may take as long as two years to fully impact net income, United expects to benefit from the additional impact of its rate increases through December 2013.

“Overall, 2011 has been a year of solid and consistent growth for us,” said Mel Russell, United's Executive Vice President. “We are finally seeing the benefit from the necessary rate increases we have been implementing.”

In addition to the positive impact of the rate increases, the Company continued its geographic expansion. During the fourth quarter of 2011, United Property & Casualty Insurance Company (UPC), one of the Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries, began writing policies in Massachusetts, and gained approval from the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation to write property and casualty insurance in the state as an admitted carrier. During the first quarter of 2012, UPC will begin writing policies in Rhode Island, and it is currently awaiting the approval of applications pending in two additional states.

“We have been working hard to continue our successful expansion into other states without compromising our conservative underwriting criteria,” continued Mr. Russell, “and our efforts are progressing well. We look forward to continuing our strong momentum into 2012 and beyond.”

The Company also benefited from improvement in losses and loss adjustment expenses, which decreased during 2011 as a result of positive development on prior accident years.
 
Management Changes

Today the Board announced that it has expanded the size of the board to 9 members and has appointed William W. Hood III and Kern M. Davis as directors. The Board also announced that Mel Russell has been promoted to Executive Vice President of United Insurance Holdings Corp. and has been appointed President of United Property & Casualty Insurance Company.



Conference Call Details

March 15, 2012 - 10:00 A.M. ET
Participant Dial-In Numbers:
(United States): 877-407-0782
(International): 201-689-8567


Webcast

To listen to the live webcast, please go to www.upcic.com (“Events and Presentations”) and click on the conference call link, or go to: : http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=167502.

About United Insurance Holdings Corp.

Founded in 1999, United Property and Casualty Insurance Company, a subsidiary of United Insurance Holdings Corp., writes and services property and casualty insurance in Florida, South Carolina, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. From its headquarters in St. Petersburg, United's team of dedicated employees manages a completely integrated insurance company, including sales, underwriting, customer service and claims. The Company distributes its homeowners, dwelling fire and flood products through many agency groups and conducts business through four wholly-owned subsidiaries. Homeowners insurance constitutes the majority of United's premiums and policies.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those discussed herein. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “would,” “estimate,” “or “continue” or the other negative variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding: the impact of the additional rate increases, and the expansion into other states. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed or implied herein include, without limitation, the success of the Company's marketing initiatives, inflation and other changes in economic conditions (including changes in interest rates and financial markets); the impact of new Federal and State regulations that affect the property and casualty insurance market; the costs of reinsurance and the collectability of reinsurance, assessments charged by various governmental agencies; pricing competition and other initiatives by competitors; our ability to obtain regulatory approval for requested rate changes, and the timing thereof; legislative and regulatory developments; the outcome of litigation pending against us, including the terms of any settlements; risks related to the nature of our business; dependence on investment income and the composition of our investment portfolio; the adequacy of our liability for losses and loss adjustment expense; insurance agents; claims experience; ratings by industry services; catastrophe losses; reliance on key personnel; weather conditions (including the severity and frequency of storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and hail); changes in loss trends; acts of war and terrorist activities; court decisions and trends in litigation, and health care; and other matters described from time to time by us in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. In addition, investors should be aware that generally accepted accounting principles prescribe when a company may reserve for particular risks, including litigation exposures. Accordingly, results for a given reporting period could be significantly affected if and when a reserve is established for a major contingency. Reported results may therefore, appear to be volatile in certain accounting periods. The Company undertakes no obligations to update, change or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, additional or subsequent developments or otherwise.
 
 
### #### ###







CONTACT:
 
OR
 
INVESTOR RELATIONS:
United Insurance Holdings Corp.
 
 
 
The Equity Group
John Rohloff
 
 
 
Adam Prior
SEC Reporting Manager
 
 
 
Vice President
(727) 895-7737 / jrohloff@upcic.com
 
 
 
(212) 836-9606 / aprior@equityny.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Terry Downs
 
 
 
 
Account Executive
 
 
 
 
(212) 836-9615 / tdowns@equityny.com



Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income
In thousands, except share and per share amounts

 
 
Three Months Ended
December 31,
 
Year Ended
December 31,
 
 
2011
 
2010
 
2011
 
2010
REVENUE:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gross premiums written
 
$
43,469

 
$
31,378

 
$
203,806

 
$
158,637

Decrease (increase) in gross unearned premiums
 
5,616

 
8,142

 
(22,969
)
 
(3,330
)
Gross premiums earned
 
49,085

 
39,520

 
180,837

 
155,307

Ceded premiums earned
 
(24,272
)
 
(21,523
)
 
(90,757
)
 
(88,452
)
Net premiums earned
 
24,813

 
17,997

 
90,080

 
66,855

Net investment income
 
782

 
826

 
2,823

 
3,879

Net realized investment gains
 
46

 
4,112

 
158

 
4,346

Other-than-temporary impairment of investments
 
(31
)
 
(97
)
 
(31
)
 
(97
)
Other revenue
 
852

 
837

 
3,388

 
5,008

Total revenue
 
26,462

 
23,675

 
96,418

 
79,991

EXPENSES:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Losses and loss adjustment expenses
 
9,462

 
10,067

 
38,861

 
42,533

Policy acquisition costs
 
7,761

 
5,328

 
29,054

 
24,899

Operating expenses
 
1,144

 
1,624

 
5,090

 
3,968

General and administrative expenses
 
2,889

 
1,837

 
9,674

 
7,506

Interest expense
 
95

 
130

 
548

 
1,767

Total expenses
 
21,351

 
18,986

 
83,227

 
80,673

Income (loss) before other expenses
 
5,111

 
4,689

 
13,191

 
(682
)
Other (income) expenses
 
(81
)
 

 
175

 
726

Income (loss) before income taxes
 
5,192

 
4,689

 
13,016

 
(1,408
)
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes
 
1,967

 
1,794

 
4,928

 
(483
)
Net income (loss)
 
$
3,225

 
$
2,895

 
$
8,088

 
$
(925
)
OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS):
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Change in net unrealized gain on investments
 
821

 
(2,065
)
 
4,291

 
2,093

Reclassification adjustment for net realized investment gains
 
(46
)
 
(4,112
)
 
(158
)
 
(4,346
)
Reclassification adjustment for recognized other-than-temporary impairments
 
31

 
97

 
31

 
97

Income tax expense related to items of other comprehensive income
 
(312
)
 
2,345

 
(1,607
)
 
832

Total comprehensive income (loss)
 
$
3,719

 
$
(840
)
 
$
10,645

 
$
(2,249
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Weighted average shares outstanding
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Basic and Diluted
 
10,361,849

 
10,573,932

 
10,442,034

 
10,573,932

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Earnings (loss) per share
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Basic and Diluted
 
$
0.31

 
$
0.27

 
$
0.77

 
$
(0.09
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends declared per share
 
$
0.05

 
$
0.05

 
$
0.05

 
$
0.05










Consolidated Balance Sheets

 
 
December 31,
 
 
2011
 
2010
ASSETS
 
 
 
 
Investments available for sale, at fair value:
 
 
 
 
Fixed maturities (amortized cost of $116,863 and $50,984, respectively)
 
$
120,378

 
$
50,683

Equity securities (adjusted cost of $3,284 and $3,666, respectively)
 
3,581

 
3,615

Other long-term investments
 
300

 
300

Total investments
 
124,259

 
54,598

Cash and cash equivalents
 
41,639

 
71,644

Accrued investment income
 
986

 
414

Premiums receivable, net
 
11,205

 
7,825

Reinsurance recoverable on paid and unpaid losses
 
4,458

 
27,304

Prepaid reinsurance premiums
 
40,968

 
38,307

Deferred policy acquisition costs
 
12,324

 
9,342

Other assets
 
4,376

 
4,187

Total Assets
 
$
240,215

 
$
213,621

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
 
 
 
 
Liabilities:
 
 
 
 
Unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses
 
$
33,600

 
$
47,414

Unearned premiums
 
100,130

 
77,161

Reinsurance payable
 
16,571

 
14,982

Other liabilities
 
17,866

 
10,536

Notes payable
 
17,059

 
18,235

Total Liabilities
 
185,226

 
168,328

Commitments and contingencies
 


 


Stockholders' Equity:
 
 
 
 
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued or outstanding for 2011 and 2010
 

 

Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized; 10,573,932 issued; 10,361,849 and 10,573,932 outstanding, respectively
 
1

 
1

Additional paid-in capital
 
75

 
75

Treasury shares, at cost; 212,083 and zero shares, respectively
 
(431
)
 

Accumulated other comprehensive income
 
2,341

 
(216
)
Retained earnings
 
53,003

 
45,433

Total Stockholders' Equity
 
54,989

 
45,293

Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
 
$
240,215

 
$
213,621