UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018

OR

Commission File Number 001-34126

HCI Group, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

5300 West Cypress Street, Suite 100

Tampa, FL 33607

(Address, including zip code, of principal executive offices)

(813) 849-9500

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

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

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.     Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.     Yes  ☐    No  ☒

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  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of 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.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2018, computed by reference to the price at which the common stock was last sold on June 30, 2018, was $308,240,719.

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock, no par value, on February 26, 2019 was 8,585,568.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

The information required by Part III of this Form 10-K is incorporated by reference from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement which will be filed not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this Form 10-K.

HCI GROUP, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Signatures

Certifications

PART I

ITEM 1 – Business

General

Incorporated in 2006, HCI Group, Inc. is a Florida-based company that, through its subsidiaries is engaged in property and casualty insurance, reinsurance, real estate and information technology. References to “we,” “our,” “us,” “the Company,” or “HCI” in this Form 10-K generally refer to HCI Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries.    Our principal executive offices are located at 5300 West Cypress Street, Suite 100, Tampa, Florida 33607, and our telephone number is (813) 849-9500.

Based on our organizational structure, revenue sources, and evaluation of financial and operating performances by management, we manage the following operations:

Insurance Operations

Property and Casualty Insurance

We sell our property and casualty insurance products through two insurance subsidiaries: Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. (“HCPCI”) and TypTap Insurance Company (“TypTap”). HCPCI was incorporated and began operations in 2007. TypTap was incorporated and began operations in 2016. We provide various forms of residential insurance products such as homeowners insurance, flood insurance and wind-only insurance to homeowners, condominium owners and tenants for properties primarily located in Florida. HCPCI’s and TypTap’s operations are supported by HCI and the following wholly owned subsidiaries of HCI:

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HCPCI began operations by participating in a “take-out program” through which we assumed insurance policies issued by Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”), a Florida state-supported insurer. The take-out program is a legislatively mandated program designed to reduce the State’s risk exposure by encouraging private companies to assume policies from Citizens. Opportunities to acquire large numbers of policies from Citizens meeting our strict underwriting criteria have diminished in recent years. We may, however, selectively pursue additional assumption transactions with Citizens as opportunities arise.

HCPCI is also approved to write residential property and casualty insurance in the states of Arkansas, California, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. Written premium generated in these states during 2018 totaled approximately $44,000.

Our operating and growth strategy for our property and casualty insurance business continues to focus on optimizing the existing book of business, developing and deploying new technologies to streamline operations, diversifying geographically and developing new product offerings. As part of that strategy, TypTap is expanding its homeowners’ insurance business in Florida.

Since we currently write policies that primarily insure homes in Florida, we cover losses that may arise from, among other things, hurricanes and other catastrophic events. The occurrence of any such catastrophes could have a significant adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. To mitigate the risk associated with catastrophic events, we purchase reinsurance from other large insurance companies. Reinsurance is the largest cost to our property and casualty insurance business. Even without catastrophic events, we may incur losses and loss adjustment expenses that deviate substantially from our estimates and that may exceed our reserves, in which case our net income and capital would decrease. Our operating and growth strategies may also be impacted by regulation of our business by the State of Florida and other states in which we may operate. For example, insurance regulators must approve our policy forms and premium rates as well as monitor our compliance with financial and regulatory requirements. See Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” below.

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Competition

We operate in highly competitive markets where we face competition from national, regional and residual market insurance companies and, in the case of flood insurance, a program backed by the U.S. government. Based on September 30, 2018 annualized premiums written data produced by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“FLOIR”) which excludes State Farm Florida Insurance Company, we are the sixth largest provider of homeowners’ property and casualty insurance in the state. We may also face competition from new entrants in our markets, and such entrants may create pricing pressure that could lead to overall premium reductions across the Florida market.

Our competitive strategies focus on the following key areas:

Seasonality of Our Business

Our insurance business is seasonal. Hurricanes and tropical storms affecting Florida typically occur during the period from June 1 through November 30 each year. In addition, our reinsurance contracts are generally effective June 1 of each year, and any variation in the cost of our reinsurance, whether due to changes in reinsurance rates or changes in the total insured value of our policy base, will be reflected in our financial results beginning June 1 each year.

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Government Regulation

We are subject to the laws and regulations in any state in which we conduct our insurance business. The regulations cover all aspects of our business and are generally designed to protect the interests of insurance policyholders as opposed to the interests of shareholders. Such regulations relate to a wide variety of financial and non-financial matters including:

Our failure to comply with certain provisions of applicable insurance laws and regulations could have a material, adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

State Licensure and Approval

All states require licensure and regulatory approval prior to the marketing of insurance products. Typically, licensure review is comprehensive and includes a review of a company’s business plan, solvency, reinsurance, rates, and forms, the character of its officers and directors and other of its financial and non-financial aspects. The regulatory authorities may prevent entry into a new market by not granting a license. In addition, regulatory authorities may preclude or delay our entry into markets by disapproving or withholding approval of our product filings.

Statutory Reporting and Examination

All insurance companies must file quarterly and annual statements with certain regulatory agencies in any state in which they are licensed to transact business and are subject to regular and special examinations by those agencies. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners mandates that all insurance companies be examined once every five years. However, the FLOIR has the authority to conduct an examination whenever it is deemed appropriate.    With regard to Florida-domiciled insurance companies such as TypTap that have held a certificate of authority for less than three years, the FLOIR will conduct an examination at least once every year during the first three years of business. HCPCI’s latest financial examination by the FLOIR related to the year ended December 31, 2015. TypTap’s latest financial examination by the FLOIR related to the year ended December 31, 2016.

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Liability for Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses

Our liability for losses and loss adjustment expenses represents our estimate of the total cost of (i) claims that have been incurred, but not yet paid (“case reserves”), (ii) losses that have been “incurred but not yet reported” (“IBNR”), and (iii) loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) which are intended to cover the ultimate cost of adjusting, investigating and settling claims, including investigation and defense of lawsuits resulting from such claims. We base our estimates on various assumptions and actuarial data we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. The process of estimating the liability is inherently subjective and is influenced by many variables such as past loss experience, current claim trends and the prevailing social, economic and legal environments.

Significant time can elapse between the occurrence of an insured loss, the reporting of the loss to us and our payment of that loss. Our liability for losses and LAE, which we believe represents the best estimate at a given point in time based on facts, circumstances and historical trends then known, may necessarily be adjusted to reflect additional facts that become available during the loss settlement period.

For a discussion and summary of the activity in the liability for losses and LAE for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, see Note 16 — “Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Loss Development

Our liability for losses and LAE represents estimated costs ultimately required to settle all claims for a given period. The following table illustrates development of the estimated liability for losses and LAE as of December 31 for the years 2008 through 2018 (amounts in thousands):

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Schedule of Loss Development

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Reinsurance

We have a Bermuda domiciled wholly owned reinsurance subsidiary, Claddaugh Casualty Insurance Company Ltd. We selectively retain risk in Claddaugh, reducing the cost of third party reinsurance. Claddaugh fully collateralizes its exposure to our insurance subsidiaries by depositing funds into a trust account. Claddaugh may mitigate a portion of its risk through retrocession contracts. Currently, Claddaugh does not provide reinsurance to non-affiliates.

For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, revenues from insurance operations before intracompany elimination represented 95.0%, 96.2% and 95.5%, respectively, of total revenues of all operating segments. At December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, insurance operations’ total assets represented 85.9%, 87.1% and 87.9%, respectively, of the combined assets of all operating segments. See Note 17 — “Segment Information” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Other Operations

Real Estate

Our real estate operations consist of multiple properties we own and operate for investment purposes and also properties we own and use for our own operations.

Properties Used in Operations

Our real estate used in operations consists of our headquarters building which has a gross area of 122,000 square feet in Tampa, Florida, and our secondary insurance operations site with gross area of approximately 16,000 square feet in Ocala, Florida. At our headquarters, we lease available space to non-affiliates at various terms. The Ocala location, in addition to day-to-day operational use, serves as our alternative site in the event we experience any significant disruption at our headquarters building.

Investment Properties

Our investment properties consist of a combined 24 acres of waterfront properties that include one full-service restaurant and two marinas, three retail shopping centers, one office building, and one vacant shopping center recently acquired for redevelopment. We acquired the restaurant and marina operations in connection with our purchase of those properties and we continue to operate them to enhance the property values.

One retail shopping center with 61,400 square feet of net rentable space is located in Sorrento, Florida and is anchored by a large, well-known grocery retailer. We acquired this property in 2016. See Note 7 — “Business Acquisitions” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Another retail shopping center with 49,995 square feet of net rentable space is located in Melbourne, Florida and also anchored by a large, well-known grocery retailer. In 2016, we acquired full ownership of the property in which we had a 90% non-controlling interest from our 10% joint venture partner. This property had been developed through a limited liability company treated under U.S. GAAP as a joint venture. See Investment in Unconsolidated Joint Venture in Note 5 — “Investments” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our portfolio of real estate investments also includes one commercial property with 68,867 square feet of net rentable space in Tampa, Florida. This property, which includes an office building fully leased to a major financial institution, was acquired in October 2017. See Real Estate Investments in Note 5 — “Investments” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In January 2018, we acquired full ownership of one limited liability company which owns commercial real estate in Riverview, Florida. The commercial real estate includes a retail strip center with 8,400 square feet of net rentable space and a parcel of land adjacent to the retail center that is leased to a gas station and convenience store chain. See Consolidated Variable Interest Entity in Note 5 — “Investments” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

In June 2018 we purchased a vacant retail shopping center, with approximately 56,000 square feet of planned rentable space in Clearwater, Florida. The property is under redevelopment for a large, well known grocer, along with additional retailer space. See Real Estate Investments in Note 5 — “Investments” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Other Real Estate Investments

Melbourne FMA, LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary, has a 90% interest in a company which owns two outparcels aggregating approximately 2.1 acres for sale or ground lease. See Investment in Unconsolidated Joint Venture in Note 5 — “Investments” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Information Technology

Our information technology operations include a team of experienced software developers with extensive knowledge in designing and creating web-based applications and products for mobile devices. The operations, which are located in Tampa, Florida and Noida, India, are focused on developing cloud-based, innovative products and services that support in-house operations as well as our third-party relationships with our agency partners and claim vendors. Products created thus far have been solely for internal use.

TypTap^®

TypTap is an online website for quoting and binding residential flood policies for our subsidiary, TypTap. TypTap is designed to be accessible from a mobile phone or any other internet-capable device. With TypTap, customers can obtain a flood insurance quote in seconds and a policy in minutes.

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SAMS^TM

SAMS is an online platform for supporting back-office policy and claims management for both of our insurance subsidiaries, HCPCI and TypTap. SAMS processes the full life cycle of a policy from policy quoting and issuance to agency management, cash receipts/disbursements, claims reserving and claim payments.

Harmony

Harmony is a new platform for both of our insurance subsidiaries, HCPCI and TypTap. Harmony will eventually replace both the TypTap and SAMS platforms with a single online platform for all new business. This platform provides a simplified user experience for quoting and binding, as well as back office policy management, agency management, cash receipts and disbursements, and claim payments.

CasaClue^TM

CasaClue is our proprietary insurance geographical database containing residential property data.

Exzeo^®

Exzeo is a cloud-based application available at Exzeo.com which provides a highly customizable environment to support automation and process management to high volume environments. Exzeo.com specifically supports property claim assignments, logistics, and accountability reporting with our third party partners. Exzeo.com has rich system integration through an application program interface (API), which allows hands-free data transfer from other API-capable applications such as SAMS.

AtlasViewer^TM

AtlasViewer is our interactive cloud-based data mapping and visualization application. An industry agnostic product, AtlasViewer allows users to combine data from multiple sources and leverage location coordinates to make more informed business decisions. AtlasViewer allows system-to-system integration through an API or allows users to upload documents to view and securely share data on a customized map.

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Financial Highlights

The following table summarizes our financial performance during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016:

Environmental Matters

As a property owner, we are subject to regulations under various federal, state, and local laws concerning the environment, including laws addressing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water and the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the cleanup of contaminated sites.

Cybersecurity

We rely on digital technology to conduct our businesses and interact with customers, policyholders, agents, and vendors. With this reliance on technology comes the associated security risks from using today’s communication technology and networks.

To defend our computer systems from cyber-attacks, we utilize tools such as firewalls, anti-malware software, multifactor authentication, e-mail security services, virtual private networks, third party security experts, and timely applied software patches, among others. We engage third-party consultants to conduct penetration tests to identify potential security vulnerabilities. Although we believe our defenses against cyber-intrusions are sufficient, we continually monitor our computer networks for new types of threats.

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Employees

As of February 23, 2019, we employed a total of 387 full-time individuals. In addition, we leased 78 employees through an employee leasing agency.

Available Information

We file annual, quarterly, and current reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These filings are accessible free of charge on our website, www.hcigroup.com (click “SEC filings” at the “Investor Information” tab), as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, which can be accessed via the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, these filings are accessible at the SEC’s Public Reference Room, which is located at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549-0213. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330.

ITEM 1A – Risk Factors

Our business is subject to a number of risks, including those described below, which could have a material effect on our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity and could cause our operating results to vary significantly from period to period.

Our historical revenue growth was derived primarily through policy assumptions and acquisitions. We cannot guarantee that future policy assumptions and acquisitions will be available to the extent they have in the past.

Substantially all of our historical revenue has been generated from policies assumed from Citizens, our acquisition of policies from one Florida insurance company and subsequent renewals of these policies. Our ability to grow our premium base may depend upon the availability of future policy assumptions and acquisitions upon acceptable terms. Opportunities to acquire large numbers of policies from Citizens meeting our strict underwriting criteria have diminished in recent years. We cannot provide assurance that such opportunities will arise in the future.

Although we began selling insurance products in other states, our insurance business is primarily in Florida. Thus, any catastrophic event or other condition affecting losses in Florida could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

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Any catastrophic event, a destructive weather pattern, a general economic trend, regulatory developments or other conditions specifically affecting the state of Florida could have a disproportionately adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. While we actively manage our exposure to catastrophic events through our underwriting process and the purchase of reinsurance, the fact that our business is concentrated in the state of Florida subjects it to increased exposure to certain catastrophic events and destructive weather patterns such as hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornados. Changes in the prevailing regulatory, legal, economic, political, demographic and competitive environment, and other conditions in the state of Florida could also make it less attractive for us to do business in Florida and would have a more pronounced effect on our business than it would on other insurance companies that are geographically diversified. Since our business is concentrated in this manner, the occurrence of one or more catastrophic events or other conditions affecting losses in the state of Florida could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and/or results of operations.

Changing climate conditions could have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

There is an emerging scientific consensus on climate change, which may affect the frequency and severity of storms and other weather events, and negatively affect our business, results of operations, and/or financial condition.

Our results may fluctuate based on many factors including cyclical changes in the insurance industry.

The insurance industry historically has been cyclical, characterized by periods of intense price competition due to excessive underwriting capacity, as well as periods when shortages of capacity permitted an increase in pricing and, thus, more favorable underwriting profits. As premium levels increase, there may be new entrants to the market, which could subsequently lead to a decrease in premium levels. Any of these factors could lead to a significant reduction in premium rates in future periods, less favorable policy terms and fewer opportunities to underwrite insurance risks, which could have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. In addition to these considerations, changes in the frequency and severity of losses suffered by insureds and insurers may affect the cycles of the insurance business significantly.

We cannot predict whether market conditions will improve, remain constant or deteriorate. Negative market conditions may impair our ability to write insurance at rates that we consider appropriate relative to the risk assumed. If we cannot write insurance at appropriate rates, our business would be materially and adversely affected.

Our business could be harmed if we lose the services of our key personnel.

Our operations are highly dependent on the efforts of our senior executive officers, particularly our chief executive officer, Paresh Patel, as well as our chief financial officer, Mark Harmsworth, and the President of our Real Estate Division, Anthony Saravanos. The loss of their leadership, industry knowledge and experience could negatively impact our operations. However, we have management succession plans to lessen any such negative impact. Apart from Mr. Patel and Mr. Harmsworth, we have no employment agreements with any of our personnel nor do we offer any guarantee of any employee’s ongoing service. We maintain key-man life insurance on Mr. Patel although such policy may be insufficient to cover the damage resulting from the loss of Mr. Patel’s services.

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Our information technology systems may fail or be disrupted, which could adversely affect our business.

Our insurance business is highly dependent upon the successful and uninterrupted functioning of our computer and data processing systems. We rely on these systems to perform underwriting and other modeling functions necessary for writing business, as well as to handle our policy administration process (i.e., the printing and mailing of our policies, endorsements, renewal notices, etc.). The failure or disruption of these systems could interrupt our operations and result in a material, adverse effect on our business.

The growth of our insurance business is dependent upon the successful development and implementation of advanced computer and data processing systems as well as the development and deployment of new information technologies to streamline our operations, including policy underwriting, production and administration and claim handling. The failure of these systems to function as planned could slow our growth and adversely affect our future business volume and results of operations.

We conduct our business primarily from offices located in Tampa, Florida where tropical storms could damage our facilities or interrupt our power supply. The loss or significant impairment of functionality in these facilities for any reason could have a material, adverse effect on our business although we believe we have sufficient redundancies to replace our facilities if functionality is impaired. We contract with a third-party vendor to maintain complete daily backups of our systems, which are stored at the vendor’s facility in Atlanta, Georgia. We additionally use industry leading Internet cloud infrastructure providers to host some of our data processing systems. These cloud providers ensure redundancy across geographic regions with additional daily system backups. Access to these databases and hosted environments is strictly controlled and limited to authorized personnel. In the event of a disaster causing a complete loss of functionality at our Tampa location, we plan to temporarily use our secondary office in Ocala, Florida to continue our operations.

An unauthorized disclosure or loss of policyholder or employee information or other sensitive or confidential information, including by cyber-attack or other security breach, could cause a loss of data, give rise to remediation or other expenses, expose us to liability under federal and state laws, and subject us to litigation and investigations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.

As part of our normal operations, we collect, process and retain certain sensitive and confidential information. We are subject to various federal and state privacy laws and rules regarding the use and disclosure of certain sensitive or confidential information, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its state-law progeny. Despite the security measures we have implemented to help ensure data security and compliance with applicable laws and rules, which include firewalls, regular penetration testing and other measures, our facilities and systems, and those of our third-party service providers and vendors, may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, theft of data, misplaced or lost data, programming and human errors, physical break-ins, or other disruptions. In addition, we cannot ensure that we will be able to identify, prevent or contain the effects of possible cyber-attacks or other cybersecurity risks in the future that may bypass our security measures or disrupt our information technology systems or business.

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Noncompliance with any privacy or security laws and regulations, or any security breach, cyber-attack or cybersecurity breach, and any incident involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized disclosure or use of, or access to, sensitive or confidential member information, could require us to expend significant capital and other resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures and to remediate any damage caused by such breaches. In addition, this could result in interruptions to our operations and damage to our reputation, and misappropriation of confidential information could also result in regulatory enforcement actions, material fines and penalties, litigation or other liability or actions which could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. As the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could also result in additional costs.

We rely on service providers and vendors to provide certain technology, systems and services that we use in connection with various functions of our business, including PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant credit card processing, and we may entrust them with confidential information. The information systems of our third-party service providers and vendors are also vulnerable to an increasing threat of continually evolving cybersecurity risks. Unauthorized parties may attempt to gain access to these systems or our information through fraud or other means of deceiving our associates, third-party service providers or vendors. Hardware, software or applications we obtain from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. The methods used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems are also constantly changing and evolving and may be difficult to anticipate or detect for long periods of time. Ever-evolving threats mean our third-party service providers and vendors must continually evaluate and adapt their own respective systems and processes, and there is no assurance that they will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches or misuses of data. Any future significant compromise or breach of our data security via a third-party service provider or vendor could result in additional significant costs, lost revenues, fines, lawsuits, and damage to our reputation.

Increased competition, competitive pressures, industry developments, and market conditions could affect the growth of our business and adversely impact our financial results.

The property and casualty insurance industry in Florida is cyclical and highly competitive. We compete not only with other stock companies but also with mutual companies, the U.S. government, other underwriting organizations and alternative risk sharing mechanisms. Our principal lines of business are written by numerous other insurance companies. Competition for any one account may come from very large, well-established national companies, smaller regional companies, other specialty insurers in our field, and new entrants to the Florida market. Many of these competitors have greater financial resources, larger agency networks and greater name recognition than our company. We compete for business not only on the basis of price, but also on the basis of financial strength, types of coverage offered, availability of coverage desired by customers, commission structure, and quality of service. We may have difficulty continuing to compete successfully on any of these bases in the future. Competitive pressures coupled with market conditions may affect our rate of premium growth and financial results.

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Our ability to compete in the property and casualty insurance industry and our ability to expand our business may be negatively affected by the fact that we are not a long-established company. HCPCI and TypTap have each obtained a Demotech rating of “A Exceptional,” which is accepted by major mortgage companies operating in the state of Florida and many other states. Mortgage companies may require homeowners to obtain property insurance from an insurance company with an acceptable A.M. Best rating, which we do not currently have. Such a requirement could prevent us from expanding our business unless we obtain such rating, which may in turn limit our ability to compete with large, national insurance companies and certain regional insurance companies. A downgrade or loss of our Demotech rating could result in a substantial loss of business in the event insureds move their business to insurers with a sufficient financial strength rating.

There are inherent limitations and risks related to our projections and our estimates of claims and loss reserves. If our actual losses exceed our loss reserves, our financial results, our ability to expand our business, and our ability to compete in the property and casualty insurance industry may be negatively affected. In addition, industry developments could further increase competition in our industry. These developments could include —

These developments and others could make the property and casualty insurance marketplace more competitive by increasing the supply of insurance available.

If competition limits our ability to write new business at adequate rates, our future results of operations would be adversely affected.

If our actual losses from claims exceed our loss reserves, our financial results would be adversely affected.

Our objective is to establish loss reserves that are adequate and represent management’s best estimate of the ultimate cost to investigate and settle a specific claim. However, the process of establishing adequate reserves is complex and inherently uncertain, and the ultimate cost of a claim may vary materially from the amounts reserved. We regularly monitor and evaluate loss and loss adjustment expense reserve development to determine reserve adequacy.

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Due to these uncertainties, the ultimate losses may vary materially from current loss reserves which could have a material, adverse effect on our future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our failure to pay claims accurately could adversely affect our insurance business, financial results and capital requirements.

We rely on our claims personnel to accurately evaluate and pay the claims made under our policies. Many factors could affect our ability to accurately evaluate and pay claims, including the accuracy of our external independent adjusters as they make their assessments and submit their estimates of damages; the training, background, and experience of our claims representatives; the ability of our claims personnel to ensure consistent claims handling given the input by our external independent adjusters; the ability of our claims department to translate the information provided by our external independent adjusters into acceptable claims settlements; and the ability of our claims personnel to maintain and update our claims handling procedures and systems as they evolve over time based on claims and geographical trends in claims reporting. Any failure to pay claims accurately could lead to material litigation, undermine our reputation in the marketplace, impair our corporate image and negatively affect our financial results.

The effects of emerging claim and coverage issues on our business are uncertain.

As industry practices and legal, judicial, social and other environmental conditions change, unexpected and unintended issues related to claims and coverage may emerge. These issues may adversely affect our business by either extending coverage beyond our underwriting intent or by increasing the number or size of claims. In some instances, these changes may not become apparent until sometime after we have issued insurance contracts that are affected by the changes. As a result, the full extent of liability under our insurance contracts may not be known for many years after a contract is issued and renewed, and our financial position and results of operations may be adversely affected as a result of any such unforeseen changes.

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If we are unable to expand our business because our capital must be used to pay greater than anticipated claims, our financial results may suffer.

Our future growth will depend on our ability to expand the number of insurance policies we write, to expand the kinds of insurance products we offer, and to expand the geographic markets in which we do business, all balanced by the insurance risks we choose to write and cede. Our existing sources of funds include operations, investment holdings, and possible sales of our investment securities. Unexpected catastrophic events in our market areas, such as hurricanes, may result in greater claims losses than anticipated, which could require us to limit or halt our growth while we redeploy our capital to pay these unanticipated claims unless we can raise additional capital.

HCI Group, Inc. depends on the ability of its subsidiaries to generate and transfer funds to meet its debt obligations.

HCI Group, Inc. does not have significant revenue generating operations of its own. Our ability to make scheduled payments on our debt obligations depends on the financial condition and operating performance of our subsidiaries. If the funds we receive from our subsidiaries, some of which are subject to regulatory restrictions on the payment of distributions, are insufficient to meet our debt obligations, we may be required to raise funds through the issuance of additional debt or equity securities, reduce or suspend dividend payments, or sell assets.

We may require additional capital in the future which may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms.

Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including our ability to write new business successfully and to establish premium rates and reserves at levels sufficient to cover losses. To the extent that our present capital is insufficient to meet future operating requirements or to cover losses, we may need to raise additional funds through financings or curtail our growth. Based on our current operating plan, we believe current capital together with our anticipated retained income will support our operations. However, we cannot provide any assurance in that regard, since many factors will affect our capital needs and their amount and timing, including our growth and profitability, and the availability of reinsurance, as well as possible acquisition opportunities, market disruptions and other unforeseeable developments. If we require additional capital, it is possible that equity or debt financing may not be available at all or may be available only on terms unfavorable to us. Equity financings could result in dilution to our shareholders, and in any case such securities may have rights, preferences and privileges that are senior to those of existing shareholders. If we cannot obtain adequate capital on favorable terms or at all, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially affected.

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There may be limited markets for and restrictions on certain holdings in our investment portfolio.

Certain holdings in our investment portfolio include limited partnership interests and a real estate joint venture. We may increase our holdings in these types of investments as we pursue diversification. These investments may be illiquid in the near term as they are privately placed and are subject to certain restrictions or conditions that may limit our ability to immediately dispose of the investments. If it becomes necessary to sell any of these investments at a time when the fair market value is below our carrying value, we may incur significant losses which could have a material adverse effect on our net income and financial position.

Our financial results may be negatively affected by the fact that a portion of our income is generated by the investment of our available cash.

A portion of our income is, and likely will continue to be, generated by the investment of our available cash. The amount of income so generated is a function of our investment policy, available investment opportunities, and the amount of available cash invested. We may alter our investment policy to accept higher levels of risk with the expectation of higher returns. Fluctuating interest rates and other economic factors make it difficult to estimate accurately the amount of investment income that will be realized. In fact, we have realized and may in the future realize losses on sales of our investments as well as other-than-temporary losses on our investment holdings. Any unfavorable change to the fair value of our equity securities will also impact our financial results.

Reinsurance coverage may not be available to us in the future at commercially reasonable rates or at all and we risk non-collectability of reinsurance amounts due us from reinsurers with which we have contracted.

Reinsurance is a method of transferring part of an insurance company’s liability under an insurance policy to another insurance company, or reinsurer. We use reinsurance arrangements to limit and manage the amount of risk we retain, to stabilize our underwriting results and to increase our underwriting capacity. The cost of such reinsurance is subject to prevailing market conditions beyond our control, such as the amount of capital in the reinsurance market and the occurrence of natural and man-made catastrophes. We cannot be assured that reinsurance will remain continuously available to us in the amounts we consider sufficient and at prices acceptable to us. As a result, we may determine to increase the amount of risk we retain or look for other alternatives to reinsurance, which could in turn have a material, adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

With respect to the reinsurance contracts we currently have in effect, our ability to recover amounts due from reinsurers is subject to such reinsurers’ ability and willingness to pay and to meet their obligations to us. We attempt to select financially strong reinsurers with an A.M. Best rating of “A-” or better or we require the reinsurer to fully collateralize its exposure. While we monitor from time to time the financial condition of our reinsurers, we rely principally on A.M. Best, our reinsurance broker, and other rating agencies in determining their ability to meet their obligations to us. Any failure on the part of any one reinsurance company to meet its obligations to us could have a material, adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

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We have exposure to unpredictable catastrophes, which can materially and adversely affect our financial results.

We write insurance policies that cover homeowners, condominium owners, and tenants for losses that result from, among other things, catastrophes. We are therefore subject to losses, including claims under policies we have written, arising out of catastrophes that may have a significant effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. A significant catastrophe could also have an adverse effect on our reinsurers. Catastrophes can be caused by various events, including hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, windstorms, earthquakes, hailstorms, explosions, power outages, fires and man-made events. The incidence and severity of catastrophes are inherently unpredictable. The extent of losses from a catastrophe is a function of both the total amount of insured exposure in the area affected by the event and the severity of the event. Our policyholders are currently concentrated in Florida, which is especially subject to adverse weather conditions such as hurricanes and tropical storms. Therefore, although we attempt to manage our exposure to catastrophes through our underwriting process and the purchase of reinsurance protection, an especially severe catastrophe or series of catastrophes could exceed our reinsurance protection and may have a material, adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Industry trends, such as increased litigation against the insurance industry and individual insurers, the willingness of courts to expand covered causes of loss, rising jury awards, and the escalation of loss severity may contribute to increased costs and to the deterioration of the reserves of our insurance subsidiaries.

Loss severity in the property and casualty insurance industry may increase and may be driven by larger court judgments. In the event legal actions and proceedings are brought on behalf of classes of complainants, this may increase the size of judgments. The propensity of policyholders and third party claimants to litigate and the willingness of courts to expand causes of loss and the size of awards may render our loss reserves inadequate for current and future losses.

The failure of the risk mitigation strategies we utilize could have a material, adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

We utilize a number of strategies to mitigate risk exposure within our insurance business, which include:

However, there are inherent limitations in these tactics. We cannot provide assurance that an unanticipated event or series of events will not result in loss levels which could have a material, adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

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The failure of any of the loss limitation methods we employ could have a material, adverse effect on our financial condition or our results of operations.

Our insurance underwriting process is generally designed to limit our exposure to known and manageable risks. Various provisions of our policies, such as limitations or exclusions from coverage, which have been negotiated to limit our risks, may not be enforceable in the manner we intend.

In addition, the policies we issue contain conditions requiring the prompt reporting of claims to us and our right to decline coverage in the event of a violation of that condition. While our insurance product exclusions and limitations reduce the loss exposure to us and help eliminate known exposures to certain risks, it is possible that a court or regulatory authority could nullify or void an exclusion or legislation could be enacted modifying or barring the use of such endorsements and limitations in a way that would adversely affect our loss experience, which changes could have a material, adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Now and in the future, we may rely on independent agents to write our insurance policies, and if we are not able to contract with and retain independent agents, our revenues would be negatively affected.

Although voluntary policies comprise a small percentage of our business, we expect to increase the number of voluntary policies (policies not assumed or acquired from another company) we write as our business and product lines expand. An inability to sell our products through independent agents would negatively affect our revenues.

We must compete with other insurers for independent agents’ business. Our competitors may offer a greater variety of insurance products, lower premiums for insurance coverage, or higher commissions to their agents. If our products, pricing and commissions do not remain competitive, we may find it more difficult to attract business from independent agents to sell our products. A material reduction in the amount of our products that independent agents sell could negatively affect our revenues.

Our growth may depend on the success of our residential flood offering.

Currently we offer residential flood insurance solely in Florida. We plan to expand our flood insurance business to other states and eventually establish ourselves as a leading alternative to the National Flood Insurance Program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

We entered the residential flood market based upon our own analysis that in certain states and regions, with selective underwriting, we could profitably compete with the National Flood Insurance Program on the basis of lower rates. We are one of only a few private entrants into the flood insurance market. There is relatively little actuarial or historical data available relating to flood events. We have our own sophisticated underwriting algorithms for accepting flood insurance applications. Our algorithms, however, are untested.

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There can be no assurance that future laws and regulations relating to flood insurance will not materially and adversely impact our ability to profitably compete in the residential flood market. Further there can be no assurance that our original analysis regarding residential flood insurance and its risks and costs will be proven correct over time or that our algorithms will deliver the anticipated underwriting results.

Our flood insurance offering features an on-line platform for quoting and binding residential flood policies that is designed to be quick and easy to use and accessible by any Internet capable device, such as a mobile phone. We have only recently begun to explore and develop methods to market our flood insurance and on-line platform. Since the federal flood program has dominated the flood insurance market for over 40 years, the market for private flood insurance is relatively new. There can be no assurance that our marketing efforts will be successful in producing substantial numbers of flood insurance policies for us or that prospective insureds will be receptive to our flood insurance or our on-line platform.

Our success depends on our ability to accurately price the risks we underwrite.

The results of our operations and our financial condition depend on our ability to underwrite and set premium rates accurately for a wide variety of risks, including risks associated with flood insurance and other new product offerings. Rate adequacy is necessary to generate sufficient premiums to pay losses, loss adjustment expenses, and underwriting expenses and to earn a profit. To price our products accurately, we must collect and properly analyze a substantial amount of data; develop, test and apply appropriate rating formulas; closely monitor and timely recognize changes in trends; and project both severity and frequency of losses with reasonable accuracy. Our ability to undertake these efforts successfully, and thus, price our products accurately, is subject to several risks and uncertainties, some of which are outside our control, including —

In addition, we could underprice risks, which would negatively affect our profit margins. We could also overprice risks, which could reduce our retention, sales volume and competitiveness. The foregoing factors could materially and adversely affect our profitability.

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Use of current operating resources may be necessary to develop future new insurance products.

We may expand our product offerings by underwriting additional insurance products and programs. Expansion of our product offerings will result in increases in expenses due to additional costs incurred in actuarial rate justifications, software and personnel. Offering additional insurance products will also require regulatory approval, further increasing our costs and potentially affecting the speed with which we will be able to pursue new market opportunities. Claddaugh may offer reinsurance products to unaffiliated insurance companies. We cannot assure you that we will be successful bringing new insurance products to markets.

Use of current operating resources may be necessary to expand our insurance business geographically.

We are expanding our homeowners’ insurance business in other states. Geographic expansion of our insurance business will result in increases in expenses due to additional costs incurred in actuarial rate justifications, software, personnel and regulatory compliance. Although we plan to enter other states judiciously with attention to profitability, we cannot assure you that our entry into other states will be successful.

As an insurance holding company, we are currently subject to state regulation and in the future may become subject to federal regulation.

All states regulate insurance holding company systems. State statutes and administrative rules generally require each insurance company in the holding company group to register with the department of insurance in its state of domicile and to furnish information concerning the operations of the companies within the holding company system that may materially affect the operations, management or financial condition of the insurers within the group. As part of its registration, each insurance company must identify material agreements, relationships and transactions with affiliates, including without limitation, loans, investments, asset transfers, transactions outside of the ordinary course of business, certain management, service, and cost sharing agreements, reinsurance transactions, dividends, and consolidated tax allocation agreements.

Insurance holding company regulations generally provide that transactions between an insurance company and its affiliates must be fair and equitable, allocated between the parties in accordance with customary accounting practices, and fully disclosed in the records of the respective parties. Many types of transactions between an insurance company and its affiliates, such as transfers of assets among such affiliated companies, certain dividend payments from insurance subsidiaries and certain material transactions between companies within the system may be subject to prior approval by, or prior notice to, state regulatory authorities. If we are unable to obtain the requisite prior approval for a specific transaction, we would be precluded from taking the action, which could adversely affect our operations. In addition, state insurance regulations also frequently impose notice or approval requirements for the acquisition of specified levels of ownership in the insurance company or insurance holding company.

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HCPCI is approved as an admitted carrier in the states of Arkansas, California, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. TypTap is approved as an admitted carrier in Florida only. In addition, HCPCI is approved as a non-admitted carrier in Virginia. We may in the future seek authorization to transact business in other states as well. We will therefore become subject to the laws and regulatory requirements of those states. These regulations may vary from state to state, and states occasionally may have conflicting regulations. Currently, the federal government’s role in regulating or dictating the policies of insurance companies is limited. However, Congress, from time to time, considers proposals that would increase the role of the federal government in insurance regulation, either in addition to or in lieu of state regulation. The impact of any future federal insurance regulation on our insurance operations is unclear and may adversely impact our business or competitive position.

Our insurance subsidiaries are subject to extensive regulation, which may reduce our profitability or limit our growth. Moreover, if we fail to comply with these regulations, we may be subject to penalties, including fines and suspensions, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The insurance industry is highly regulated and supervised. Our insurance subsidiaries are subject to the supervision and regulation of the states in which they are domiciled and the states in which they transact insurance business. Such supervision and regulation is primarily designed to protect our policyholders rather than our shareholders. These regulations are generally administered by a department of insurance in each state and relate to, among other things —

The FLOIR and regulators in other jurisdictions where we may become licensed and offer insurance products conduct periodic examinations of the affairs of insurance companies and require the filing of annual and other reports relating to financial condition, holding company issues and other matters. These regulatory requirements may adversely affect or inhibit our ability to achieve some or all of our business objectives. These regulatory authorities also conduct periodic examinations into insurers’ business practices. These reviews may reveal deficiencies in our insurance operations or non-compliance with regulatory requirements.

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In certain states including Florida, insurance companies are subject to assessments levied by the states where they conduct their business. While we can recover these assessments from Florida policyholders through policy surcharges, our payment of the assessments and our recoveries may not offset each other in the same reporting period in our financial statements and may cause a material, adverse effect on our cash flows and results of operations in a particular reporting period.

In addition, regulatory authorities have relatively broad discretion to deny or revoke licenses for various reasons, including the violation of regulations. In some instances, we follow practices based on our interpretations of regulations or practices that we believe may be generally followed by the industry. These practices may turn out to be different from the interpretations of regulatory authorities. If we do not have the requisite licenses and approvals or do not comply with applicable regulatory requirements, insurance regulatory authorities could preclude or temporarily suspend us from carrying on some or all of our activities or otherwise penalize us. This could adversely affect our ability to operate our business.

Finally, changes in the level of regulation of the insurance industry or changes in laws or regulations themselves or interpretations by regulatory authorities could adversely affect our ability to operate our business, reduce our profitability and limit our growth.

Our revenue from real estate investments may be affected by the success and economic viability of our anchor retail tenants. Our reliance on a single or significant tenant at certain properties may impact our ability to lease vacated space and adversely affect returns on the specific property.

At certain retail centers, we may have tenants, commonly referred to as anchor tenants, occupying all or a large portion of the gross leasable space. In the event an anchor tenant becomes insolvent, suffers a downturn in business, ceases its operations at the retail center, or otherwise determines not to renew its lease, any reduction or cessation of rental payments to us could adversely affect the returns on our real estate investments. A lease termination or cessation of operations by an anchor tenant could also lead to the loss of other tenants at the specific retail location. We may then incur additional expenses to make improvements and prepare the vacated space to be leased to one or more new tenants.

Similarly, the leases of some anchor tenants may permit the anchor tenant to transfer its lease to another retailer. The transfer to a new anchor tenant could cause customer traffic in the retail center to decrease and thereby reduce the income generated by that retail center. A lease transfer to a new anchor tenant could also allow other tenants to make reduced rental payments or to terminate their leases.

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Our retail and other real estate properties may be subject to impairment charges which can adversely affect our financial results.

We periodically evaluate our long-lived assets and related intangible assets to determine if there has been any impairment in their carrying values. If we determine an impairment has occurred, we are required to record an impairment charge equal to the excess of the asset’s carrying value over its estimated fair value. As our real estate operations grow, there is an increased potential that the impairment of an asset could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. In addition, our fair value estimates are based on several assumptions that are subject to economic and market uncertainties including, but not limited to, demand for space, competition for tenants, changes in market rental rates and costs to operate each property. As these factors are difficult to predict and are subject to future events that may alter our assumptions, the future cash flows estimated in our impairment analysis may not be achieved.

Our real estate operations are subject to regulation under various federal, state, and local laws concerning the environment.

Our real estate operations own various properties including a restaurant, marina facilities, and commercial buildings. As a result, we are subject to regulation under various federal, state, and local laws concerning the environment, including laws addressing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water and the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the cleanup of contaminated sites. We could incur substantial costs, including remediation costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions and third-party damage or personal injury claims, if in the future we were to violate or become liable under environmental laws relating to our real estate operations.

Our real estate operations include owning restaurant operations, which expose us to additional risks, which could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Our restaurant operations expose us to unique business risks. For example, restaurant operations are dependent in large part on food, beverage, and supply costs that are not within our control. In addition, the restaurant industry is affected by changes in consumer preferences and discretionary spending patterns that could adversely affect revenues from restaurant operations. Moreover, the restaurant industry is affected by litigation and publicity concerning food quality, health, alcoholic beverages and other issues which can cause guests to avoid restaurants and that can result in liabilities. Any one of these risks, among others, could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

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Our operations in India expose us to additional risks, which could negatively impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our India operations expose us to additional risks including income tax risks, currency exchange rate fluctuations and risks related to other challenges caused by distance, language, and compliance with Indian labor laws and other complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our India operations. These numerous and sometimes conflicting laws and regulations include anti-corruption laws, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to governmental officials, among others. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, or criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees. Although policies and procedures are designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, or agents will not violate our policies.

Our ongoing investments in real estate and information technology businesses have inherent risks, and could burden our financial and human resources.

We have invested and expect to continue to invest in real estate and information technology. Despite our due diligence, these investments may still involve significant risks and uncertainties, including distraction of management and employees from current operations, insufficient revenues to offset liabilities assumed and incurred expenses, inadequate return of capital, and failure to realize the anticipated benefits. There can be no assurance that such investments will be successful and will not adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.    

Not applicable.

Real Estate Owned and Used in Operations

Tampa, Florida. The real estate consists of 3.5 acres of land, a three-story building with a gross area of 122,000 square feet, and a four-level parking garage. This facility is 60% occupied by us and serves as our headquarters. The remaining space is leased to non-affiliates.

Ocala, Florida. The real estate consists of 1.6 acres of land and an office building with gross area of approximately 16,000 square feet. The facility is 100% designated for our insurance operations and will be used as an alternative location in the event a catastrophic event impacts our operations in Tampa, Florida.

Investment Real Estate

Treasure Island, Florida. The real estate consists of approximately 10 acres of waterfront property and land improvements, a restaurant and a marina facility. The marina facility and the restaurant are currently owned and operated by us. In November 2018, this property was listed for sale.

Tierra Verde, Florida. The real estate consists of 7.1 acres of waterfront property, a dry rack storage building with gross area of 57,500 square feet, and two buildings with retail space having an aggregate gross area of approximately 23,000 square feet. This marina facility is owned and operated by us. Approximately 5% of the available retail space is occupied by us, 65% of the retail space is leased to non-affiliates, and the remaining space is available for lease.

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Riverview, Florida. The real estate consists of 2.57 acres of land, 1.27 acres of which is leased to a gas station and convenience store chain. Our retail structure with 8,400 square feet of net rentable space is situated on the remaining land. Approximately 88% of the rentable space is leased to non-affiliates and the remaining space is available for lease.

Sorrento, Florida. The real estate includes 5.42 acres of outparcel land intended for ground lease or resale and a retail shopping center with 61,400 square feet of net rentable area. Approximately 74% of the rentable space is currently leased to a large, well-known grocery retailer. Approximately 94% of the rentable space is leased to non-affiliates and the remaining space is available for lease.

Melbourne, Florida. The real estate includes 2.26 acres of outparcel land intended for ground lease, resale or future development and a retail shopping center with 49,995 square feet of rentable area. Approximately 42% of the rentable space is currently leased to a large well-known grocery retailer. Approximately 95% of the rentable space is leased to non-affiliates and the remaining space is available for lease.

Tampa, Florida. The real estate consists of 7.86 acres of land and an office building with gross area of 68,867 square feet. The building is 100% leased to a non-affiliated financial institution.

Clearwater, Florida. The real estate consists of 5.33 acres of land and a vacant building with approximately 56,000 square feet of rentable space under redevelopment. Approximately 50% of the building is preleased to a large, well known grocery retailer and the remaining space will be available for multiple retailers.

Leased Property

Noida, India. We lease 15,000 square feet of office space for our information technology operations. The lease commenced in 2013 and has an initial term of nine years.

Miami Lakes, Florida. We lease approximately 5,565 square feet of office space for our claims related administration. The lease commenced March 1, 2018 and has an initial term of approximately three years.

Rental expense under all facility leases was $407,000, $336,000 and $333,000 during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

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We are a party to claims and legal actions arising routinely in the ordinary course of our business. Although we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of the claims asserted against us, we do not believe that any currently pending legal proceeding to which we are a party will have a material, adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM  5 – Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Markets for Common Stock

Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HCI.” The following table represents the high and low sales prices for our common stock as reported by the New York Stock Exchange for the periods indicated:

Holders

As of February 26, 2019, the market price for our common stock was $46.26 and there were 234 holders of record of our common stock.    

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Dividends

The declaration and payment of dividends is at the discretion of our board of directors. Our ability to pay dividends depends on many factors, including the Company’s operating results, financial condition, capital requirements, the availability of cash from our subsidiaries and legal and regulatory constraints and requirements on the payment of dividends and such other factors as our board of directors deems relevant. The following table represents the frequency and amount of all cash dividends declared on our common stock for the two most recent fiscal years:

Under Florida law, a domestic insurer may not pay any dividend or distribute cash or other property to its stockholders unless certain requirements, which are discussed in Note 25 — “Regulatory Requirements and Restrictions” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, are met. Hence Florida law may limit the availability of cash from our insurance subsidiaries for the payment of dividends to our shareholders.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

The following table summarizes our equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2018. We currently have no equity compensation plans not approved by our stockholders.

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Performance Graph

The following graph compares the 5-year cumulative total dollar return to shareholders on our common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the Russell 2000 Index and the NASDAQ Insurance Index. An investment of $100 (with reinvestment of all dividends) is assumed to have been made in our common stock and in each index on December 31, 2013 and its relative performance is tracked through December 31, 2018. The returns shown are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance.

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Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The table below summarizes the number of shares of common stock repurchased during the three months ended December 31, 2018 under the repurchase plan approved by our Board of Directors in December 2017 and also the number of shares of common stock surrendered by employees to satisfy minimum federal income tax liabilities associated with the vesting of restricted shares in December 2018 (dollar amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts):

In December 2018, our Board of Directors approved a one-year plan to repurchase up to $20 million of our common shares during 2019. The approved amounts in each year exclude brokerage fees. See Note 20 — “Stockholders’ Equity” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.                

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ITEM 6 – Selected Financial Data

The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing in Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The consolidated statements of income data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017, and 2016 and the consolidated balance sheet data at December 31, 2018 and 2017 are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements appearing in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The consolidated statements of income data for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the consolidated balance sheet data at December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in any future period.

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ITEM 7 – Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K.

Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, this annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements as defined under federal securities laws. Such statements, including statements about our plans, objectives, expectations, assumptions or future events, involve risks and uncertainties. These statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Typically, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” and similar expressions. The important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the effect of governmental regulation; changes in insurance regulations; the frequency and extent of claims; uncertainties inherent in reserve estimates; catastrophic events; changes in the demand for, pricing of, availability of or collectability of reinsurance; restrictions on our ability to change premium rates; increased rate pressure on premiums; and other risks and uncertainties and other factors listed under Item 1A—“Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K and in our other Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

OVERVIEW

General

HCI Group, Inc. is a Florida-based company which through its subsidiaries is engaged in a variety of business activities, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance, real estate and information technology. Its principal business is property and casualty insurance.

We began insurance operations in 2007 by participating in a “take-out program” which is a legislatively mandated program designed to encourage private companies to assume policies from Citizens, a Florida state sponsored insurance carrier. Our growth since inception has resulted primarily from a series of policy assumptions from Citizens and policies assumed from one Florida insurance company. This growth track was beneficial to us in terms of reduced policy acquisition costs and, depending on the timing of the transaction, temporarily lower reinsurance costs.

Our general operating and growth strategies are to continually optimize our existing book of insurance business, manage our costs and expenses, diversify our business operations, develop and deploy new technologies to streamline operational processes, and maintain a strong balance sheet so we can quickly pursue accretive opportunities when they arise.

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Recent Developments

On January 14, 2019, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per common share. The dividends are to be paid March 15, 2019 to stockholders of record on February 15, 2019.

On January 15, 2019, we granted 40,000 shares of restricted stock and options to purchase 110,000 of our common shares at an exercise price of $53 per share to our chief executive officer, Paresh Patel. The options will expire on January 15, 2029. These share-based awards were granted pursuant to our 2012 Omnibus Incentive Plan and will vest in equal annual installments over four years, so long as Mr. Patel remains employed by us. The grant date fair values of the restricted stock and options were approximately $1,918,000 and $1,345,000, respectively.

On February 27, 2019, we acquired approximately nine acres of undeveloped land located near our current headquarters in Tampa, Florida for a purchase price of $8,500,000, which was primarily financed by our revolving credit facility. The land is a potential site for the construction of a new headquarters building. The transaction was accounted for as an asset acquisition. As such, all acquisition-related costs are capitalized.

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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2018 with the Year Ended December 31, 2017

Our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018 reflect net income of $17,725,000, or $2.34 earnings per diluted common share, compared with a net loss of $6,893,000, or $0.75 loss per common share, for the year ended December 31, 2017. Losses and loss adjustment expenses were approximately $56,301,000 lower in 2018, attributable to lower catastrophe losses and decreased adverse development. Catastrophe losses in 2018 primarily included net losses of approximately $16,520,000 from Hurricane Michael versus net losses of approximately $54,000,000 from Hurricane Irma in 2017. The year-over-year improvement in losses and loss adjustment expenses was offset by a net $11,196,000 decrease in net premiums earned, a net $3,315,000 decrease in income from investment activities and a $1,329,000 increase in interest expense. Income tax expense in 2018 was negatively impacted by the derecognition of deferred tax assets of approximately $1,825,000 related to unvested restricted stock with market conditions and the nondeductible expense of approximately $1,887,000 associated with the reclassified dividends on such restricted stock awards, offset by a lower federal corporate income tax rate effective January 1, 2018.

Revenue

Gross Premiums Earned for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $343,065,000 and $358,253,000, respectively. The decrease in 2018 was primarily attributable to a net decrease in policies in force offset by an increase in the average premium per policy.

Premiums Ceded for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $129,643,000 and $133,635,000, respectively, representing 37.8% and 37.3%, respectively, of gross premiums earned. The $3,992,000 decrease was primarily attributable to an unfavorable adjustment of $12,465,000 to premiums ceded in connection with retrospective provisions under certain reinsurance contracts due to losses incurred by Hurricane Irma during the third quarter of 2017, offset by the recognition of additional premiums ceded of approximately $1,222,000 resulting from the termination of one reinsurance contract during the second quarter of 2018 (See Note 17 — “Related Party Transactions” to our audited consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information) and an increase in premiums ceded attributable to a lower retention level for the reinsurance contract year 2019/20.

Our premiums ceded represent costs of reinsurance to cover losses from catastrophes that exceed the retention levels defined by our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance contracts or to assume a proportional share of losses defined in a quota share arrangement. The rates we pay for reinsurance are based primarily on policy exposures reflected in gross premiums earned. For the year ended December 31, 2018, premiums ceded included a net decrease of approximately $485,000 versus a net increase of approximately $5,740,000 for the year ended December 31, 2017 related to retrospective provisions. See “Economic Impact of Reinsurance Contracts with Retrospective Provisions” under “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

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Net Premiums Written for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 totaled approximately $206,813,000 and $213,711,000, respectively. Net premiums written represent the premiums charged on policies issued during a fiscal period less any applicable reinsurance costs. The decrease in 2018 resulted primarily from a decrease in gross premiums written during the period due to policy attrition, offset by the decrease in premiums ceded as described above. We had approximately 127,000 policies in force at December 31, 2018 versus approximately 139,000 policies in force at December 31, 2017.

Net Premiums Earned for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $213,422,000 and $224,618,000, respectively, and reflect the gross premiums earned less reinsurance costs as described above.

The following is a reconciliation of our Net Premiums Written to Net Premiums Earned for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 (amounts in thousands):

Net Investment Income for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 was approximately $16,581,000 and $11,439,000, respectively. The year-over-year increase was attributable to an increase in income from limited partnership investments of approximately $2,096,000, an increase of approximately $1,358,000 in income from real estate investments, and an increase in interest income from cash and short-term investments. See Note 5 — “Investments” under Net Investment Income to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Net Realized Investment Gains for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $6,183,000 and $4,346,000, respectively. The gains in 2018 resulted primarily from sales intended to rebalance our investment portfolio to mitigate the impact from the rising interest rate trend and to decrease our holdings in municipal bonds as they become less attractive in a low tax rate environment.

Net Unrealized Investment Losses for the year ended December 31, 2018 were approximately $10,202,000 versus approximately $92,000 of net unrealized investment gains for the year ended December 31, 2017. Net unrealized investment gains or losses represent the net change in the fair value of equity securities. The decrease in 2018 primarily resulted from the adoption of the new accounting standard with regard to equity securities as described in Note 2 — “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our audited consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, combined with a general downturn in the U.S. securities markets in December 2018.

Net Other-Than-Temporary Impairment Losses for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $80,000 and $1,467,000, respectively. During 2018, we recognized impairment loss on one fixed-maturity security versus impairment losses specific to four fixed-maturity securities and six equity securities during 2017.

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Expenses

Our Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses amounted to approximately $109,328,000 and $165,629,000 for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. During 2018, loss and loss adjustment expenses included net losses of approximately $16,520,000 for Hurricane Michael as well as adverse development related to Hurricane Matthew of approximately $2,100,000 and adverse development related to non-catastrophe claims of approximately $9,900,000 primarily related to assignment of benefits litigation. Loss and loss adjustment expenses in 2017 included net losses related to Hurricane Irma of approximately $54,000,000 as well as adverse development related to Hurricane Matthew of approximately $2,500,000 and adverse development related to non-catastrophe claims of approximately $16,200,000 primarily related to assignment of benefits litigation.    See “Reserves for Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses” under “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

Policy Acquisition and Other Underwriting Expenses for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $38,943,000 and $39,663,000, respectively. The decrease from 2017 was primarily attributable to decreased commissions and premium taxes resulting from the net decrease in policies in force.

General and Administrative Personnel Expenses for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were approximately $25,908,000 and $25,127,000, respectively. Our general and administrative personnel expenses include salaries, wages, payroll taxes, share-based compensation expenses, and employee benefit costs. Factors such as merit increases, changes in headcount, and periodic restricted stock grants, among others, cause fluctuations in this expense. In addition, our personnel expenses are decreased by the capitalization of payroll costs related to a project to develop software for internal use and the payroll costs associated with the processing and settlement of Hurricane Irma claims which are recoverable from reinsurers under reinsurance contracts. The year-over-year increase of $781,000 was primarily attributable to the recognition of approximately $1,505,000 of cumulative dividends paid on unvested restricted stock awards of which market conditions will not be met and an increase of approximately $606,000 in employee incentive bonus, offset by an increase in recoverable Hurricane Irma payroll costs of $1,231,000 and lower share-based compensation expense during 2018.

Interest Expense for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 was approximately $18,096,0000 and $16,767,000, respectively. The increase primarily resulted from the 4.25% convertible debt offering completed in March 2017.

Loss on repurchases of Senior Notes for the year ended December 31, 2017 was approximately $743,000, resulting from the early extinguishment of our 8% Senior Notes.

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Income Tax Expense for the year ended December 31, 2018 was approximately $9,177,000 for state, federal, and foreign income taxes compared with income tax benefit of approximately $8,731,000 for the year ended December 31, 2017, resulting in an effective tax rate of 34.1% for 2018 and 55.9% for 2017. The decrease was primarily attributable to the positive impact from a lower federal corporate income tax rate effective January 1, 2018, offset by the negative effect of the derecognition of deferred tax assets of approximately $1,825,000 and the nondeductible expense of approximately $1,887,000, both of which related to restricted stock awards with market conditions that will not be met. (see Restricted Stock Awards in Note 21 — “Stock-Based Compensation” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K).

Ratios:

The loss ratio applicable to the year ended December 31, 2018 (losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred related to net premiums earned) was 51.2% compared with 73.8% for the year ended December 31, 2017. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in losses and loss adjustment expenses as described previously.

The expense ratio applicable to the year ended December 31, 2018 (defined as underwriting expenses, general and administrative personnel expenses, interest and other operating expenses related to net premiums earned) was 44.6% compared with 42.0% for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase in our expense ratio was primarily attributable to the decrease in net premiums earned.

The combined ratio is the measure of overall underwriting profitability before other income. Our combined ratio for the year ended December 31, 2018 was 95.8% compared with 115.8% for the year ended December 31, 2017. The decrease was primarily to the decrease in losses and loss adjustment expenses as described earlier.

Due to the impact our reinsurance costs have on net premiums earned from period to period, our management believes the combined ratio measured to gross premiums earned is more relevant in assessing overall performance. The combined ratio to gross premiums earned for the year ended December 31, 2018 was 59.6% compared with 72.6% for the year ended December 31, 2017. The decrease in 2018 was primarily attributable to the decrease in losses and loss adjustment expenses.

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Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2017 with the Year Ended December 31, 2016

Our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2017 reflect net loss of $6,893,000, or $0.75 loss per common share, compared with net income of $29,021,000, or $2.92 earnings per diluted common share, for the year ended December 31, 2016. The year-over-year decline was primarily attributable to a $40,962,000 increase in losses and loss adjustment expenses primarily from Hurricane Irma, a decrease in gross premiums earned of $20,425,000 and an increase in interest expense of $5,688,000 resulting from the issuance of long-term debt in March 2017. These factors contributed to $15,624,000 pre-tax operating losses in 2017 and, as a result, we recognized $8,731,000 of income tax benefit, the amount of which included net positive tax effects of approximately $1,400,000 due to the 2017 Tax Act.

Revenue

Gross Premiums Earned for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $358,253,000 and $378,678,000, respectively. The decrease in 2017 was primarily attributable to policy attrition as well as a rate decrease effective on new and renewal policies beginning in January 2016.

Premiums Ceded for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $133,635,000 and $135,051,000, respectively, representing 37.3% and 35.7%, respectively, of gross premiums earned. The percentage increase from 2016 was primarily attributable to adjustments related to retrospective provisions under certain reinsurance contracts due to losses incurred by Hurricane Irma. The increase was offset in part by lower reinsurance costs during the first five months of 2017 as compared with the corresponding period in 2016.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, premiums ceded included a net increase of approximately $5,740,000 related to retrospective provisions. For the year ended December 31, 2016, premiums ceded reflect a net reduction of approximately $12,677,000. See “Economic Impact of Reinsurance Contracts with Retrospective Provisions” under “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

Net Premiums Written for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 totaled approximately $213,711,000 and $232,140,000, respectively. Net premiums written represent the premiums charged on policies issued during a fiscal period less any applicable reinsurance costs. We had approximately 139,000 policies in force at December 31, 2017 as compared with approximately 150,000 policies in force at December 31, 2016.

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Net Premiums Earned for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $224,618,000 and $243,627,000, respectively, and reflect the gross premiums earned less reinsurance costs as described above.

The following is a reconciliation of our Net Premiums Written to Net Premiums Earned for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 (amounts in thousands):

Net Investment Income for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 was approximately $11,439,000 and $9,087,000, respectively. The increase in 2017 was primarily due to year-over-year increases in income from limited partnership investments and fixed-maturity securities. See Note 5 — “Investments” under Net Investment Income to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Net Realized Investment Gains for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $4,346,000 and $2,601,000, respectively. The gains in 2017 resulted primarily from sales intended to take advantage of an upturn in the security market.

Net Other-Than-Temporary Impairment Losses for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $1,467,000 and $2,482,000, respectively. During 2017, we recognized impairment losses specific to four fixed-maturity securities and six equity securities. Three of these fixed-maturity securities were written down before being sold. Six equity securities were impaired because each of them had been in an unrealized loss position for a length of time with no near term prospect for recovery.

Expenses

Our Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses amounted to approximately $165,629,000 and $124,667,000 for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Our 2017 losses and loss adjustment expenses included approximately $54,000,000 of net losses related to Hurricane Irma and additional losses of approximately $2,500,000 related to Hurricane Matthew. In addition, our losses and loss adjustment expenses included approximately $16,200,000 of additional losses, which reflected the continuation of reserve strengthening in response to trends involving assignment of insurance benefits and related litigation. Our losses and loss adjustment expenses were also impacted by weather-related events. See “Reserves for Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses” under “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

Policy Acquisition and Other Underwriting Expenses for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $39,663,000 and $42,642,000, respectively. The decrease from 2016 was primarily attributable to decreased commissions and premium taxes resulting from policy attrition and the effect of the rate decrease.

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General and Administrative Personnel Expenses for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were approximately $25,127,000 and $26,200,000, respectively. The $1,073,000 decrease in 2017 was primarily attributable to the capitalization of payroll costs related to a software development project for internal use.

Loss on repurchases of Senior Notes for the year ended December 31, 2017 was approximately $743,000, resulting from the early extinguishment of our 8% Senior Notes.

Income Tax Benefit for the year ended December 31, 2017 was approximately $8,731,000 versus approximately $17,835,000 of income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2016, resulting in an effective tax rate of 55.9% for 2017 and 38.1% for 2016. The year-over-year change was primarily attributable to our 2017 operating losses and the recognition of $1,400,000 in beneficial tax effects on our net deferred tax liabilities due to the lower future corporate income tax rates enacted by the 2017 Tax Act.

Ratios:

The loss ratio applicable to the year ended December 31, 2017 was 73.8% compared with 51.2% for the year ended December 31, 2016. The increase was primarily attributable to losses related to Hurricane Irma combined with the decrease in net premiums earned which was driven in large part by the increase in ceded premiums due to the aforementioned adjustments.

The expense ratio applicable to the year ended December 31, 2017 was 42.0% compared with 38.1% for the year ended December 31, 2016. The increase in our 2017 expense ratio was primarily attributable to the decrease in 2017 net premiums earned, an increase in interest expense, and the loss on repurchases of our senior notes, as described above.

Our combined ratio for the year ended December 31, 2017 was 115.8% compared with 89.3% for the year ended December 31, 2016. Our combined ratio was negatively impacted by increased expenses for losses and loss adjustment expenses, increased interest expense, the loss on repurchases of our senior notes and a reduction in 2017 net premiums earned.

Due to the impact our reinsurance costs have on net premiums earned from period to period, our management believes the combined ratio measured to gross premiums earned is more relevant in assessing overall performance. The combined ratio to gross premiums earned for the year ended December 31, 2017 was 72.6% compared with 57.5% for the year ended December 31, 2016. The increase in 2017 was primarily attributable to the factors described above.

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Seasonality of Our Business

Our insurance business is seasonal as hurricanes and tropical storms affecting Florida typically occur during the period from June 1 through November 30 each year. Also, with our reinsurance treaty year typically effective on June 1 each year, any variation in the cost of our reinsurance, whether due to changes in 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 each year.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Throughout our history, our liquidity requirements have been met through issuances of our common and preferred stock, debt offerings and funds from operations. We expect our future liquidity requirements will be met by funds from operations, primarily the cash received by insurance subsidiaries from premiums written and investment income. We may consider raising additional capital through debt and/or equity offerings to support our growth and future investment opportunities.

Our insurance subsidiaries require liquidity and adequate capital to meet ongoing obligations to policyholders and claimants and to fund operating expenses. In addition, we attempt to maintain adequate levels of liquidity and surplus to manage any differences between the duration of our liabilities and invested assets. In the insurance industry, cash collected for premiums from policies written is invested, interest and dividends are earned thereon, and losses and loss adjustment expenses are paid out over a period of years. This period of time varies by the circumstances surrounding each claim. Substantially all of our losses and loss adjustment expenses, excluding litigated claims, are fully settled and paid within approximately 100 days of the claim receipt date. Additional cash outflow occurs through payments of underwriting costs such as commissions, taxes, payroll, and general overhead expenses.

We believe that we maintain sufficient liquidity to pay claims and expenses, as well as to satisfy commitments in the event of unforeseen events such as reinsurer insolvencies, inadequate premium rates, or reserve deficiencies. We maintain a comprehensive reinsurance program at levels management considers adequate to diversify risk and safeguard our financial position.

In the future, we anticipate our primary use of funds will be to pay claims, reinsurance premiums, interest, and dividends and to fund operating expenses and real estate acquisitions.

Furthermore, we will repay the holders of our 3.875% Convertible Senior Notes an aggregate amount of $89,990,000 on the maturity date, March 15, 2019, if the notes are not yet converted prior to March 14, 2019.

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Senior Notes, Promissory Notes, and Capital Lease Obligation

The following table summarizes the principal and interest payment obligations for our long-term debt at December 31, 2018:

See Note 14 — “Long-Term Debt” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Share Repurchase Plan

In December 2018, our Board of Directors approved a one-year plan for 2019 under which we may purchase up to $20,000,000 of our common shares in open market purchases, block transactions and privately negotiated transactions in accordance with applicable federal securities laws. The approved amount excludes brokerage fees. See Note 20 — “Stockholders’ Equity” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Limited Partnership Investments

Our limited partnership investments consist of four private equity funds managed by their general partners. These funds have unexpired capital commitments which are callable at the discretion of the fund’s general partner for funding new investments or expenses of the fund. At December 31, 2018, there was an aggregate unfunded capital balance of $16,304,000. See Limited Partnership Investments under Note 5 — “Investment” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Real Estate Acquisition

We currently have a 90% equity interest in FMKT Mel JV, LLC, a Florida limited liability company for which we are not the primary beneficiary. FMKT Mel JV’s real estate portfolio consists of outparcels for ground lease or sale, the values of which have increased since the opening of an adjacent retail shopping center which we acquired in December 2016. We have the option to take full ownership of these outparcels by acquiring the remaining 10% interest. Alternatively, we may sell these outparcels and allocate the profits from the sale before liquidating FMKT Mel JV.

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Sources and Uses of Cash

Our cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 are summarized below.

Cash Flows for the Year ended December 31, 2018

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2018 was approximately $28,595,000, which consisted primarily of cash received from net premiums written and reinsurance recoveries of approximately $128,300,000 less cash disbursed for operating expenses, losses and loss adjustment expenses and interest payments. Net cash used in investing activities of $17,678,000 was primarily due to the purchases of fixed-maturity and equity securities of $165,424,000, the purchases of short-term and other investments of $201,538,000, the purchases of real estate investments of $7,472,000, and the limited partnership investments of $7,182,000, offset by the proceeds from sales of fixed-maturity and equity securities of $148,248,000, the proceeds from redemptions and maturities of fixed-maturity securities of $82,177,000, and the proceeds from sales and maturities of short-term and other investments of $135,256,000. Net cash used in financing activities totaled $27,288,000, which was primarily due to $21,166,000 used in our share repurchases, $10,351,000 of net cash dividend payments and the repayment of long-term debt of $1,127,000, offset by the proceeds from the issuance of 4.55% promissory note of $6,000,000.

Cash Flows for the Year ended December 31, 2017

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2017 was approximately $16,635,000, which consisted primarily of cash received from net premiums written and reinsurance recoveries less cash disbursed for operating expenses, losses and loss adjustment expenses and interest payments. Net cash used in investing activities of $80,164,000 was primarily due to the purchases of fixed-maturity and equity securities of $165,196,000, the limited partnership investments of $4,226,000, and the real estate investments of $11,878,000, offset by the proceeds from sales of fixed-maturity and equity securities of $77,041,000, the distributions of $11,758,000 from limited partnership investments and the redemptions and repayments of fixed-maturity securities of $14,897,000. Net cash provided by financing activities totaled $39,030,000, which was primarily due to the proceeds from issuance of 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes of $143,750,000, offset by $40,250,000 used in the repurchases of our 8% senior notes, $4,975,000 of related underwriting and issuance costs, $45,872,000 used in our share repurchases and $12,833,000 of net cash dividend payments.

Cash Flows for the Year ended December 31, 2016

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2016 was approximately $88,275,000, which consisted primarily of cash received from net premiums written less cash disbursed for operating expenses, losses and loss adjustment expenses and interest payments. Net cash used in investing activities of $49,028,000 was primarily due to the purchases of fixed-maturity and equity securities of $107,964,000, $12,056,000 of net cash used in acquiring one business, and the limited partnership investments of $4,670,000, offset by the proceeds from sales of fixed-maturity and equity securities of $63,581,000 and the $10,200,000 proceeds from the acquisition, development and construction arrangement. Net cash used in financing activities totaled $26,157,000, which was primarily due to $11,347,000 used in the repurchases of our convertible senior notes, $20,026,000 used in our share repurchase plan and $11,691,000 of net cash dividend payments, offset by $18,200,000 in aggregate proceeds from the issuance of two promissory notes.

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Investments

The main objective of our investment policy is to maximize our after-tax investment income with a reasonable level of risk given the current financial market. Our excess cash is invested primarily in money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and fixed-maturity and equity securities.

At December 31, 2018, we had $223,866,000 of fixed-maturity and equity investments, which are carried at fair value. Changes in the general interest rate environment affect the returns available on new fixed-maturity investments. While a rising interest rate environment enhances the returns available on new investments, it reduces the market value of existing fixed-maturity investments and thus the availability of gains on disposition. A decline in interest rates reduces the returns available on new fixed-maturity investments but increases the market value of existing fixed-maturity investments, creating the opportunity for realized investment gains on disposition.

In addition, we had short-term investments of $66,479,000 at December 31, 2018. These investments consisted of certificates of deposit and zero-coupon commercial paper. Our shift toward more short-term investments during 2018 was primarily to reduce the impact of a rising interest rate environment.

In the future, we may alter our investment policy as to investments in federal, state and municipal obligations, preferred and common equity securities and real estate mortgages, as permitted by applicable law, including insurance regulations.

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

As of December 31, 2018, we had unexpired capital commitments for four limited partnership in which we hold interests. Such commitments are not recognized in the financial statements but are required to be disclosed in the notes to the financial statements. See Note 23 — “Commitments and Contingencies” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and Contractual Obligations and Commitments below for additional information.

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CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND COMMITMENTS

The following table summarizes our material contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2018 (amounts in thousands):

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

We have prepared our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments to develop amounts reflected and disclosed in our financial statements. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change in the near term are related to our losses and loss adjustment expenses, which include amounts estimated for claims incurred but not yet reported. We base our estimates on various assumptions and actuarial data we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates.

We believe our accounting policies specific to losses and loss adjustment expenses, reinsurance recoverable, reinsurance with retrospective provisions, deferred income taxes, and stock-based compensation expense involve our most significant judgments and estimates material to our consolidated financial statements.

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Reserves for Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses. We establish reserves for the estimated total unpaid costs of losses including loss adjustment expenses (LAE). Loss and LAE reserves reflect management’s best estimate of the total cost of (i) claims that have been incurred, but not yet paid in full, and (ii) claims that have been incurred but not yet reported to us (“IBNR”). Reserves established by us represent an estimate of the outcome of future events and, as such, cannot be considered an exact calculation of our liability. Rather, loss reserves represent, we believe, management’s best estimate of our company’s liability based on the application of actuarial techniques and other projection methodologies and taking into consideration other facts and circumstances known at the balance sheet date. The process of establishing loss reserves is complex and inherently imprecise, as it involves using judgment that is affected by many variables such as past loss experience, current claim trends and the prevailing social changes in our claims adjusting process, economic and legal environments. The impact of both internal and external variables on ultimate losses and LAE costs is difficult to estimate. Our exposure is impacted by both the risk characteristics of the physical locations where we write policies, such as hurricane and tropical storm-related risks, as well as risks associated with varying social, judicial and legislative characteristics in the locations in which we have exposure. In determining loss reserves, we give careful consideration to all available data and actuarial analyses.

Reserves represent estimates of the ultimate unpaid cost of all losses incurred, including losses for claims that have not yet been reported to our insurance companies. The amount of loss reserves for reported claims consist of case reserves established by our claims department (based on a case-by-case evaluation of the kind of risk involved, knowledge of the circumstances surrounding each claim and the insurance policy provisions relating to the type of loss) and bulk reserves for additional growth on carried case reserves on known claims established by senior management (based on historical patterns of development on aggregate claims grouped by loss date). The amounts of reserves for unreported claims and LAE (incurred but not reported claims, or IBNR) are determined using our historical information for each line of business adjusted to reflect current conditions. Inflation is ordinarily implicitly provided for in the reserving function through analysis of costs, trends and reviews of historical reserving results over multiple years.

Reserves are closely monitored and are recalculated periodically using the most recent information on reported claims and a variety of actuarial techniques. Specifically, claims management personnel complete weekly and ongoing reviews of existing case reserves, new claims, changes to existing case reserves, and paid losses with respect to the current and prior years. As we continue to expand historical data regarding paid and incurred losses, we use this data to develop expected ultimate loss and loss adjustment expense ratios. We then apply these expected loss and loss adjustment expense ratios to earned premium to derive a reserve level for each line of business. In connection with the determination of these reserves, we will also consider other specific factors such as recent weather-related losses, trends in historical reported and paid losses, and litigation and judicial trends regarding liability. Therefore, we use the loss ratio method, among other methods, to project an ultimate loss expectation, and then the related loss history must be regularly evaluated and loss expectations updated, with the possibility of variability from the initial estimate of ultimate losses.

When a claim is reported to us, our claims personnel establish a “case reserve” for the estimated amount of the ultimate amount payable to settle the claim. This estimate reflects an informed judgment based upon general insurance reserving practices and on the experience and knowledge of the claims adjuster. The individual estimating the reserve considers the nature and value of the specific claim, the severity of injury or damage, location, and the policy provisions relating to the type of loss. Case reserves are adjusted by us as more information becomes available. It is our policy to settle each claim as expeditiously as possible.

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We maintain IBNR reserves to provide for claims that have been incurred but have not been reported and subsequent development on reported claims. The IBNR reserve is determined by estimating our insurance company’s ultimate net liability for both reported and unreported claims and then subtracting the case reserves and payments made to date for reported claims.

Loss Reserve Estimation Methods. We apply the following general methods in projecting reserves for losses and LAE:

Selected reserves are based on a review of the indications from these methods as well as other considerations such as emergence since the most recent evaluation and number of open claims for a given accident period.

Description of Ultimate Loss Estimation Methods. The reported loss development method relies on the assumption that, at any given state of maturity, ultimate losses can be reasonably predicted by multiplying cumulative reported losses (paid losses plus case reserves) by a cumulative development factor derived from development patterns observed in the historical reported data. The validity of the results of this method depends on the stability of claim reporting and settlement rates, as well as the consistency of case reserve levels. Case reserves do not have to be adequately stated for this method to be effective; they only need to have a fairly consistent level of adequacy for the historical experience that is considered. In order to derive loss development patterns that are predictive for our business, we compile and review loss development triangles of our experience on an accident quarter basis, and select loss development factors based on indications from this analysis of our data. We also consider industry data found in SNL Financial – Property/Casualty Insurance as a reasonability measure for these selected development patterns.

The paid loss development method is mechanically identical to the reported loss development method described above, but applied to loss payments only. The paid method does not rely on case reserves or claim reporting patterns in making projections.

The validity of the results from using a loss development approach can be affected by many conditions, such as internal claim department processing changes, a shift between single and multiple claim payments, legal changes, or variations in our mix of business from year to year. Also, since the percentage of losses paid for immature accident quarters is often low, development factors for these maturities can be volatile. A small variation in the number of claims paid can have a leveraging effect that can lead to significant distortions in estimated ultimate losses for these highly leveraged accident quarters. Therefore, ultimate values for immature accident quarters are often based on alternative estimation techniques than more mature accident quarters.

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The loss ratio method used by us relies on the assumption that remaining unreported losses are a function of the total expected losses rather than a function of currently reported losses. The expected loss ratio is multiplied by earned premium to produce ultimate losses. Reported incurred losses are then subtracted from this estimate to produce expected unreported losses.

The loss ratio method is most useful as an alternative to other models for immature loss years. For these immature years, the amounts reported or paid may be small and unstable, and therefore, not fully predictive of future development. Therefore, future development is assumed to follow an expected pattern that is supported by more stable historical data or by emerging trends. This method is also useful when variations in reporting or payment patterns distort the historical development of losses.

The paid and reported Bornhuetter-Ferguson methods are a weighting of the loss ratio method and the corresponding development method. Outstanding reserves or IBNR reserves are derived by applying the loss ratio estimate to the estimated unpaid or unreported percent of losses based on the development patterns from the development methods.

Finally, we employ the frequency/severity method for exposures that do not tend to follow historical payment and reported patterns, such as catastrophes. For such exposures, we estimate future development of reported claims and average severities on IBNR claims. We combine this estimate with our open claims in order to derive an estimate of expected unreported losses. Paid losses are added to this estimate in order to derive an estimate of ultimate losses. This method is based on the assumption that future unreported claims and the average severity of open claims and unreported claims can be reasonably estimated from the experience available.

While the property and casualty industry has incurred substantial aggregate losses from claims related to asbestos-related illnesses, environmental remediation, product and mold, and other uncertain or environmental exposures, we have not experienced significant losses from these types of claims. We have experienced material losses associated with sinkholes in past years, but the materiality of this hazard has decreased significantly since the passing of Florida Senate Bill 408. We continue to segregate this data in our derivation of estimated required reserves. While the losses we have experienced from exposures to catastrophes have not historically been material, we have experienced significant losses related to recent catastrophes. These losses have followed materially different development patterns than the balance of our experience. To address this situation, we separate this exposure from the remainder of the business and derive reserves specific to each catastrophe event. Total reserves are determined by adding the reserves related to each line of business.

Currently, our estimated ultimate liability is calculated monthly using the principles and procedures described above, which are applied to the lines of business written. However, because the establishment of loss reserves is an inherently uncertain process, we cannot be certain that ultimate losses will not exceed the established loss reserves and have a material, adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Changes in estimates, or differences between estimates and amounts ultimately paid, are reflected in the operating results of the period during which such adjustments are made.

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Our reported results, financial position and liquidity would be affected by likely changes in key assumptions that determine our net loss reserves. Management does not believe that any reasonably likely changes in the frequency of claims would affect our loss reserves. However, management believes that a reasonably likely increase or decrease in the severity of claims could impact our net loss reserves. The table below summarizes the effect on net loss reserves and equity in the event of reasonably likely changes in the severity of claims considered in establishing loss and loss adjustment expense reserves. The range of reasonably likely changes in the severity of our claims was established based on a review of changes in loss year development and applied to loss reserves as a whole. The selected range of changes does not indicate what could be the potential best or worst case or likely scenarios:

Reinsurance Recoverable. Our reinsurance recoverable balance represents an estimate of the amount of paid and unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses that is recoverable from reinsurers. This estimate is determined in a manner consistent with the terms of the applicable reinsurance contracts and based on the ultimate losses and loss adjustment expenses we expect to incur. Given the uncertainty of the ultimate amounts of losses and loss adjustment expenses, the estimate may vary significantly from the eventual outcome.

Economic Impact of Reinsurance Contracts with Retrospective Provisions. Certain of our reinsurance contracts include retrospective provisions that adjust premiums, increase the amount of future coverage, or result in profit commissions in the event losses are minimal or zero. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, we will recognize an asset in the period in which the absence of loss experience gives rise to an increase in future coverage or obligates the reinsurer to pay cash or other consideration under the contract. In the event that a loss arises, we will derecognize such asset in the period in which a loss arises. Such adjustments to the asset, which accrue throughout the contract term, will negatively impact our operating results when a catastrophic loss event occurs during the contract term.

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For the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized a net increase in accrued benefits of $743,000 and a net increase in ceded premiums of $258,000. In contrast, for the year ended December 31, 2017, we derecognized $3,413,000 of net accrued benefits. We also recognized ceded premiums of $2,327,000, including the reversal of the majority of previously deferred reinsurance costs. The adjustments made in 2017 were attributable to the impact of Hurricane Irma. For the year ended December 31, 2016, we accrued benefits of $13,610,000 and recognized net ceded premiums of $933,000, representing amortization of $1,219,000 of previously deferred reinsurance costs for increased coverage offset by $2,152,000 of ceded premiums deferred for the period. In combination, for the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized a net reduction in ceded premiums of $485,000 as opposed to a net increase in ceded premiums of $5,740,000 for the year ended December 31, 2017. For the year ended December 31, 2016, we recognized a net reduction in ceded premiums of $12,677,000.

As of December 31, 2018, we had $3,136,000 of accrued benefits, the amount that would be charged to earnings in the event we experience a catastrophic loss that exceeds the coverage limits. As of December 31, 2017, we had $2,393,000 of accrued benefits related to these agreements.

We believe the credit risk associated with the collectability of these accrued benefits is minimal based on available information about the individual reinsurer’s financial position.

Income Taxes. We account for income taxes in accordance with U.S. GAAP, resulting in two components of income tax expense: current and deferred. Current income tax expense reflects taxes to be paid or refunded for the current period by applying the provisions of the enacted tax law to the taxable income or excess of deductions over revenues. We determine deferred income taxes using the liability (or balance sheet) method. Under this method, the net deferred tax asset or liability is based on the tax effects of the differences between the book and tax bases of assets and liabilities, and enacted changes in tax rates and laws are recognized in the period in which they occur. Valuation allowances are provided against assets that are not likely to be realized, if any. We have elected to classify the related interest and penalties, if any, as income tax expense as permitted by current accounting standards.

Stock-Based Compensation. We account for stock-based compensation awards under our shareholder approved incentive plans in accordance with the fair value recognition provisions of U.S. GAAP, which require the measurement, and recognition of compensation for all stock-based awards made to employees and non-employee directors including stock options and restricted stock issuances based on estimated fair values. We recognize stock-based compensation in the consolidated statements of income on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. We use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, which requires the following variables for input to calculate the fair value of each stock award on the option grant date: 1) expected volatility of our stock price, 2) the risk-free interest rate, 3) expected term of each award, 4) expected dividends, and 5) an expected forfeiture rate. For restricted stock awards with market-based conditions, we estimate their fair values by using a Monte Carlo simulation model, which requires the following variables for input: 1) expected dividends per share, 2) expected volatility, 3) risk-free interest rate, 4) estimated cost of capital, and 5) expected term of each award.

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Our investment portfolios at December 31, 2018 included fixed-maturity and equity securities, the purposes of which are not for speculation. Our main objective is to maximize after-tax investment income and maintain sufficient liquidity to meet our obligations while minimizing market risk, which is the potential economic loss from adverse fluctuations in securities prices. We consider many factors including credit ratings, investment concentrations, regulatory requirements, anticipated fluctuation of interest rates, durations and market conditions in developing investment strategies. Our investment securities are managed primarily by outside investment advisors and are overseen by the investment committee appointed by our board of directors. From time to time, our investment committee may decide to invest in low risk assets such as U.S. government bonds.

Our investment portfolios are exposed to interest rate risk, credit risk and equity price risk. Fiscal and economic uncertainties caused by any government action or inaction may exacerbate these risks and potentially have adverse impacts on the value of our investment portfolios.

We classify our fixed-maturity securities as available-for-sale and report any unrealized gains or losses, net of deferred income taxes, as a component of other comprehensive income within our stockholders’ equity. As such, any material temporary changes in their fair value can adversely impact the carrying value of our stockholders’ equity. In addition, we recognize any unrealized gains and losses related to our equity securities in our statement of income. As a result, our results of operations can be materially affected by the volatility in the equity market.

Interest Rate Risk

Our fixed-maturity securities are sensitive to potential losses resulting from unfavorable changes in interest rates. We manage the risk by analyzing anticipated movement in interest rates and considering our future capital needs.

The following table illustrates the impact of hypothetical changes in interest rates to the fair value of our fixed-maturity securities at December 31, 2018 (amounts in thousands):

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Credit Risk

Credit risk can expose us to potential losses arising principally from adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuers of our fixed-maturity securities. We mitigate the risk by investing in fixed-maturity securities that are generally investment grade, by diversifying our investment portfolio to avoid concentrations in any single issuer or business sector, and by continually monitoring each individual security for declines in credit quality. While we emphasize credit quality in our investment selection process, significant downturns in the markets or general economy may impact the credit quality of our portfolio.

The following table presents the composition of our fixed-maturity securities, by rating, at December 31, 2018 (amounts in thousands):

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Equity Price Risk

Our equity investment portfolio at December 31, 2018 included common stocks, perpetual preferred stocks, mutual funds and exchange traded funds. We may incur potential losses due to adverse changes in equity security prices. We manage the risk primarily through industry and issuer diversification and asset mix.

The following table illustrates the composition of our equity securities at December 31, 2018 (amounts in thousands):