Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. Provides Clarification on Premiums and Associated Reinsurance Costs and the Company's Cash Position
Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Company) (AMEX: UVE), a vertically integrated insurance holding company, issued the following statement to provide additional background regarding the fourth quarter decline in gross premiums written and premium rates reported in its year-end release and annual report, and to reconfirm disclosures regarding the Company's cash position. In earlier disclosures the Company reported that notwithstanding an increase in the policies in force, gross premiums written decreased 16.9 percent to $117.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2007 from $141.3 million in the same period of 2006 primarily because of a decline in premium rates.
In January 2007, the Florida legislature passed a law designed to reduce residential catastrophe reinsurance costs and requiring insurance companies to offer corresponding rate reductions to policyholders. The new law expanded the amount of reinsurance available from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF), which is a state-run entity providing hurricane reinsurance to residential insurers at premiums less than the private reinsurance market. The legislature intended for the new law to reduce residential insurers' reinsurance costs by allowing them to directly replace some of their private market reinsurance with less costly FHCF reinsurance. In addition, prices in the private reinsurance market have fallen as reinsurers have redeployed capital displaced by the expanded FHCF.
UPCIC, the Company's wholly-owned regulated insurance subsidiary, purchased the maximum additional coverage available to the Company under the expanded FHCF, allowing UPCIC to maximize its cost savings from the new law. UPCIC's mid-2007 rate reductions therefore reflected actual reductions in UPCIC's operating costs. In addition, UPCIC's private reinsurance costs in 2007 and its expected costs in 2008 are lower than were included in its rates prior to the 2007 legislation. Because UPCIC's reduction in rate levels has been commensurate with reduced expenses, the Company has been able to continue increasing its in force policies at acceptable profit margin levels.
The legislature also has implemented strategies to improve the ability of residential structures to withstand hurricanes. New construction must meet stronger building codes, and existing homes are eligible for an inspection program that allows homeowners to determine how their homes may be upgraded to mitigate storm damage. An increasing number of insureds are likely to qualify for insurance premium discounts as new homes are built and existing homes are retrofitted. These premium discounts result from homes' reduced vulnerability to hurricane losses due to the mitigation efforts, which UPCIC takes into account in its underwriting and profitability models.
Finally, with concerns about sub-prime related holdings dominating the market place over the past several months, the Company reconfirmed that it is not exposed to sub-prime related holdings.
About Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc.
The Company is a vertically integrated insurance holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the Company is currently engaged in insurance underwriting, distribution and claims. UPCIC, which generates revenue from the collection and investment of premiums, is one of the top 5 writers of homeowners' insurance policies in the state of Florida and has aligned itself with well-respected service providers in the industry.
Readers should refer generally to reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and specifically to the Company's Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2007 for a discussion of the risk factors that could affect its operations. Such factors include, without limitation, exposure to catastrophic losses; reliance on the Company's reinsurance program; underwriting performance on catastrophe and non-catastrophe risks; the ability to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers; and competition and its effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships and revenues. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are available on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Company disclaims any obligation to update and revise statements contained in this press release based on new information or otherwise.
Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," and "project," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statement was made. Such statements may include, but not be limited to, projections of revenues, income or loss, expenses, plans, and assumptions relating to the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Future results could differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements.
Investor Contact:
Philip Kranz
Dresner Corporate Services
312-780-7240
pkranz@dresnerco.com
Source: Marketwire (March 24, 2008 - 10:03 AM EDT)
News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com
It certainly appears as if the selling is over for the time being. Today's volume is just a small fraction of what it was the last 3 days. It's as if someone shut off the spigot...
Stan, you went from "this is the best investment of 2008" to "dead money here...sell" in less than 4 hours!
That has to be some sort of record! Hahahahah!
=^..^=
FRPT's $17mil in contracts wasn't bad but BAE Systems seems to be the big contract winner today:
BAE Systems Land & Armaments, LP. Ground Systems Division, York, Pa., is being awarded $234,043,500 for firm-fixed-priced delivery order #0007 under previously awarded contract (M67854-07-D-5025) for the purchase of 3 Special Operations Command variants, 51 Ambulance variants, and 393 Category II variants of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. MRAP vehicles are required to increase the survivability and mobility of troops operating in hazardous fire areas against known threats such as small arms fire, improvised explosive devices, and other explosive threats. Work will be performed in York, Pa., and work is expected to be completed by November 2008. This contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
I'm out of FRPT for the time being but I'm watching it for a possible re-entry point. First though, they need to address all these class action lawsuits. That's what's dragging this down at the moment, imo.
=^..^=
eagle, as short as your post was, it still managed to convey vulgar sexual innuendo and border on a personal attack.
Excellent work! You win Post of the Week!
=^..^=
I suppose I could try rubbing against their legs and purring.
That usually works when the food bowl needs refilling.
Of course, in a worst case scenario I'll just shred the curtains...
=^..^=
Well, you're not banned from this board.
(And don't say iHub is corrupt! Are you nuts? If they see that they'll shut down my board and I'll have to bribe the iHub Admins to get it back again. Sheesh...)
=^..^=
Does what still work? The litter box? Sure it still works, I mean, what can go wrong with a litter box? LOL
I suspect some institutional holders are cutting back or getting out completely. It's one thing for them to own a $24 dollar stock where the company keeps getting new DOD contracts but quite another thing to have a $2 penny stock that's dropping each day and facing a lawsuit.
In any case, FRPT hit my stop loss today so I'm out (capital preservation is the name of the game). Of course, that usually indicates that the stock will gap up dramatically tomorrow so you may be thanking me. LOL
Good luck to all!
=^..^=
Well, I don't see why not. After all, CEOs of scam companies ripoff investors by selling them worthless stock and scam promoters pump worthless stock so it can be dumped on unsuspecting investors---pretty much the same thing. And even though all scam promoters aren't CEOs, all CEO's of scam companies probably are scam promoters. LOL
=^..^=
Hi Amy, and welcome to the Litter Box.
Yes, as your friend may have told you, I swore off triple zero stocks last year due to their tendency to swallow my entire investment in one or two quick bites. Lately though I've put a few back on my watch list just for "entertainment" purposes. Today I was keeping an eye on SHMM and I'll see what it does tomorrow, too.
As for King Felineous of Argon who shouted "A Triple Zero , A Triple Zero ...... My Kingdom for a Triple Zero!" I must confess ignorance. Would he by any chance be related to Felineous the Pauper who was known for mumbling "No bid....no bid.....I can't believe I bought a stock with no bid..."?
=^..^=
Well, Stan's entry on the "Dead or Alive?" website was updated today and the verdict is: He's still alive! Woohoo!
Seriously, I really think he couldn't care less about POWN at this point. I mean, let's face it, the guy is 85 years old, he makes millions of dollars from Marvel each year while basking in the glow from adoring fans of SpiderMan, Fantastic 4, Incredible Hulk, etc. I bet his business partners are just biding their time and waiting for him to kick the bucket. Once he's gone they'll market his post-Marvel stuff as the last remaining original ideas and concepts of the famous Stan Lee! Well, that's my theory at least.
Then again, he may live to 115 and outlive them all. LOL
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/lnames-nf/Lee+Stan
Hey, you can't make this stuff up. LOL
It looks, however, as if the photo has been removed from the iBox (at least it won't come up for me anymore) and that's kind of a shame if it really was a photo of the WUCC restroom (and I have no reason to doubt zippo's truthfulness on this matter) because at the very least it DOES demonstrate that this is a real operation with real facilities (toilet-oriented and otherwise). I recall that years ago a poster reported on a visit to the "office" of a pink sheet company that turned out to be a small unit in a strip mall. The guy said the blinds were closed and the place was locked and since there was lots of dust on the doorknob it appeared that no one had been there for a long time. LOL At the very least, CPRK seems to have warm bodies and that's a good sign, IMO.
Now as for the copper deposits, I haven't a clue.
=^..^=
Zippo's photo of the WUCC toilet is now posted in the IBox and it appears to be a clean, well-maintained restroom facility. Assuming this level of quality holds true for the rest of the operation then I fail to see how we can avoid a major gap up at the open. Go CPRK!
=^..^=
Yes, it is kinda cool....
...but it's not kinda weird, it's REALLY weird!
=^..^=
It's from the catnip fumes we pump in secretly.
Yesterday there was much talk of Austin, yet today there is nothing.
How very weird.
And yet, in its weirdness, how very Austin.
Which is all very profound....
....or very boring.
Zzzzzzzzzz........=^--^=
IMO, all CPRK wanted was to leave the IBCD stuff behind, plain and simple.
To that end they "spun-off", "got rid of", "gave away", etc. the STL show. Forget the IBC part. Wilf and the rest mix and match terms from one minute to the next. Technically you're probably right but these are pink sheet stocks and I doubt a competent lawyer ever looks over the documents or proofreads the PRs. LMAO
IBC was spun-off into a private company, not a public one.
I think what happened here was Copper King wanted to go public by buying a shell and bought IBCD which technically still had an active business, the StockTalkLive Internet radio show. But STL was just a distraction to the new owners (who were only interested in running a copper mine or a P&D scam, take your pick) so they got rid of it. As far as what CPRK shareholders "got" for STL/IBC, I suspect they got nothing. CPRK management probably didn't want anything other than to get rid of connections to the old ticker. BHTJMO
Sure is quiet here.
Is Stan napping?
=^..^=
They were 10mil POST split since they were at 200mil when the split was announced. Come to think of it, wasn't the split 1 for 25? If so, that would make it 8mil post split. The extra 290+ must have been issued by CPRK to pay for promotion services (Wilf's Alexander Lindale LLC) and, I can only assume, the purchase of WUCC.
chris, why do you say "the o/s "supposedly" hasn't increased"? I thought it was a given that there's been some pretty heavy dilution since the company became CPRK.
Exactly, there has been some serious dilution AFTER the company became CPRK and Wilf got involved.
I thought the O/S was 8 or 10mil shares when IBCD was sold and became CPRK. In the iBox it now says the O/S is 306mil shares according to the T/A.
Well, like I said earlier, you'll have to call Wilf Blum for official clarification on anything in those PRs.
For what it's worth, I've noticed that many people (heck, just read the DPBM board for a few days) feel that Wilf tends to say stuff off the top of his head as the mood hits him. I have no doubt that "merged", "subsidiary", "owned by", "controlled by", etc. pretty much have the same meaning in his mind. BHTJMO
I'd have to guess that the PR was just poorly worded and what it was trying to do was point out the total assets of the new company by combining the assets listed on the two old websites (that represented the two formerly separate entities).
But if you want an official answer you'll have to call Wilf Blum.
Good luck with that!
According to this PR the two are now one company:
Copper King Mining Corporation and Western Utah Copper Company Merge
Copper King Mining Corporation (Pink Sheets: CPRK) is pleased to announce that the company has acquired 100% ownership of Western Utah Copper Company.
The merger brings together 2 very good assets which combined total over 92,000 acres of mining claims, a line of mining equipment including but not limited to core drills, back hoes, crawlers, mining trucks, blasting equipment, fuel trucks, and dozers. The company has to date removed over 1,600,000 tons of overburden on their Hidden Treasure. Removal of the overburden has produced in excess of 200,000 tons of ore, some of which is extremely high-grade ore to be processed in the company's new state of the art milling facility, that when completed will be capable of processing 2,500 short tons of ore per day. The companies’ assets include numerous copper deposits that contain gold and silver. The gold and silver is a substantial credit to the copper ore and when compared to other copper deposits worldwide, some of which have no gold and silver at all, is very substantial.
The estimated life of the combined assets of the companies is over 300 years.
The new company will retain the name Copper King Mining Corporation and management of Western Utah Copper will become the management team of the new company.
Copper King Mining Corporation will set a new board of directors to be announced, which will consist of members of the boards from both companies.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, risk factors inherent in doing business. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "forecasts," "potential," or "continue," or similar terms or the negative of these terms. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The company has no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Alexander Lindale L.L.C.
Wilf Blum, 801-201-4691
Source: Business Wire (January 31, 2008 - 6:32 AM EST)
News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com
I oughta delete all these Austin posts for being off topic!
Except for the fact that, well, talking about Austin seems to BE the current topic. So y'all lucked out this time. But I'm keeping my eye on you!
=^..^=
Great idea for a board!
How about listing the scammer CEOs in the iBox for easy reference?
=^..^=
Oh, it's Leslie? LOL It figures that you'd be on a first name basis with him.
=^..^=
I thought the unofficial spokesperson for Austin was that guy in the leopard skin loin cloth? Doesn't he keep running for mayor?
=^..^=
Yes, it is selectively enforced, which is why I posted what I did. If iHub is going to have a rule like that then they need to be consistent.
Having said that, it's a dangerous rule, imo. Although people do need to be protected from endless attacks there has to be some means of challenging or questioning another poster's motives, whether they're positive or negative.
By the way, this post is now in violation of the TOU by being off topic. Hmmmm....I better fix that:
Wilf blum's connections to CPRK could come in handy if CPRK's open pit copper mine ever gets flooded. He could use the DPBM salvage divers to mine the copper underwater!
=^..^=
Just for the record, merely asking Allison if she was an employee of CPRK, IBCD, etc. was a TOU violation according to iHub:
If a User has not publicly disclosed here that they have a business relationship with the company, then questions about this or speculation about this are considered either a violation of privacy or off topic. The board is to talk about CPRK, not the people who post on the site.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=26872817
Don't feel insulted. You have to consider that Allison lives in Austin where everyone is weird----and proud of it! Her definition of "normal" is not the normal definition of "normal" that normal people normally use.
I can't remember the last time I was described as "normal", but thanks anyway!
And you have a great weekend too!
=^..^=
Just for the record, I got out of FRPT this morning before it dipped back down below $5. I'm keeping a close eye on it and will re-enter when the time is right. I've traded FRPT several times this year and haven't lost money yet.
It's an ATM!
FRPT gapping up this morning on contract news! Woohoo!
CONTRACTS
FOR RELEASE AT
5 p.m. ET No. 0141-08
February 21, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------
CONTRACTS
NAVY
Force Protection Industries, Inc., Ladson, S.C., is being awarded a not to exceed $115,167,467 contract modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (M67854-06-C-5162) to acquire 174 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and associated test sets, spares and support services. This action consummates a requirement under a Foreign Military Sales order with the United Kingdom, Ministry of Defense. Work will be performed in Ladson, S.C., and work is expected to be completed Jul. 2009. Funds for this action are provided by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense and do not expire. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
Sikorsky Support Services, Inc., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $13,000,000 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-01-C-0109) for additional organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for aircraft operated by the Adversary Squadrons based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, Fla.; NAS, Fallon, Nev.; and Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Ariz. Work will be performed in Key West, Fla., (40 percent); Fallon, Nev., (30 percent); and Yuma, Ariz., (30 percent), and is expected to be completed in Jun. 2008. Contract funds in the amount of $13,000,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded an $11,102,763 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-06-C-0086) for the CY 08 Systems Engineering and Program Management under the H-1 Upgrades program. Work will be performed in Hurst, Texas, (85 percent) and Amarillo, Texas, (15 percent) and is expected to be completed in Dec. 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Force Protection Industries, Inc., Ladson, S.C., is being awarded a not to exceed $8,353,715 modification under previously awarded contract (M67854-07-C-5039) to acquire 10 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and associated support services and parts for the Italian Ministry of Defense under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in Ladson, S.C., and work is expected to be completed Jun. 2009. Funds for this action are provided by the Italian Ministry of Defense and do not expire. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=3712
Yes, we were talking about three protozoans; one amoeba and a pair of meciums.
Maybe the US military decided to disband in anticipation of an Obama presidency?