Insurance firm seizes opening in New England, Carolinas

CLEARWATER -- Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. is preparing to expand into four more states, submitting applications to regulatory agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The Clearwater-based casualty and property insurance company writes about $500 million of commercial, personal and residential premiums each year through its subsidiary, Heritage Property & Casualty Co. It is led by former attorney and investment fund manager Bruce Lucas, as well as longtime insurance executive Richard Widdicombe.

Heritage trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HRTG, and reported a profit of $31.1 million, or $1.01 per share, for the quarter ended March 31. That was based on revenues of $105.1 million, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That compares to a $7.9 million, or 42 cents per share, profit the year before on revenues of $43.9 million.

That growth, the company says, was based on the renewal of a “significant number” of policies Heritage assumed from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and Sunshine State Insurance Co. Heritage assumed 33,000 policies, worth about $58.9 million, from Sunshine State in June 2014, with a little more than 28,000 of them still active. The policies account for about 13% of Heritage's total revenues, the company says.

Heritage didn't provide a timetable on when it might start writing policies in the four new states, but would have to receive approval from the respective state agencies in those areas before it can begin.