Universal Insurance Holdings reports Q3 profit despite Hurricane Irma claims

Nov. 10--FORT LAUDERDALE -- Universal Property and Casualty reported a $10 million net profit for the third quarter of 2017 despite heavy losses from Hurricane Irma.

The Fort Lauderdale-based company -- the largest property and casualty insurer in Florida -- was only one of five publicly-traded Florida-based property insurers to report a net profit for the quarter.

Diluted earnings per share was $0.28 for the carrier. During the third quarter of 2016, net income was $26.9 million and diluted earnings per share was $0.75, according to an earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The result exceeded analysts' expectations. Arash Soleimani, an insurance analyst with the New York-based financial services firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, projected the company would report a net profit of $8.3 million.

Universal stock closed up 7.91 percent -- to $25.25 -- on the New York Stock Exchange following the report, which was released after trading closed on Wednesday. Its 52-week range is $15.08 and $29.20.

Revenues increased 10.3 percent compared to the third quarter of 2016, while gross revenues from policy premiums increased 13.6 percent -- 10.5 percent in Florida and 38.8 percent in 16 other states where Universal now sells coverage.

While Irma cost the company $452 million in gross losses, reinsurance limited Irma's net impact to $37 million, the company reported.

In an earnings call Thursday, Universal CEO Sean Downes said Irma generated about 57,000 claims and more than 80 percent have been closed. Average cost of the 45,000 closed claims was $3,740. This includes 21,000 in which no payment resulted primarily because the claims did not exceed deductibles, the company said.

"We built Universal in a conservative manner to withstand events like Hurricane Irma," Downes said. "And as our third quarter results show, this strategy has proven to be sound."

The company had 612,713 policies in Florida as of Sept. 30 -- up from 573,413 the previous year. Universal is one of only a few companies actively seeking to expand its market share in South Florida. As other companies have stopped selling in the region because of high costs and lawsuits related to "assignment of benefits," Universal increased its policy count from 206,955 as of June 30, 2016 to 237,172 a year later.

Soleimani said Universal was able to post a profit for the quarter "because it's margins are so good." The company "has the state's largest claims operation and it can manage [assignment of benefits losses] better than most. It can absorb storm losses and still be profitable," he said.

The four other Florida-based publicly traded property and casualty companies all reported net losses for the third quarter.

They include Clearwater-based Heritage Insurance Holdings, which reported a $1.4 million operating income but a net loss of $8.7 million. Part of the reason for the net loss was a $6.9 million expense associated with a derivative that will later show up as an asset, Soleimani said.

In reality, the company likely broke even for the quarter, Soleimani said, and a big reason it didn't lose money was that the company reduced its reinsurance deductible -- the money it must pay up front before its reinsurance coverage absorbs remaining claims losses -- from $40 million to $20 million .

United Insurance, based in St. Petersburg, this week reported a net loss of $28 million for the quarter, compared to a $3.4 million net profit the previous year.

Federated National, based in Sunrise, reported a net loss of $7.2 million compared to $1.4 million in net profit in the same quarter of 2016.

HCI Group, which operates as Homeowner's Choice Insurance Co., reported a net loss of $40.5 million for the quarter compared to a net profit of $11.3 million the previous year.

Those losses likely won't be seen in the fourth quarter because companies' reinsurance coverage will absorb remaining Irma claims, HCI Group CEO Paresh Patel said in an interview.

[email protected], 954-356-4071, twitter: twitter.com/ronhurtibise

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