21st Century Holding Company's Board Raises Dividend 150%
PLANTATION, Fla.--Sept. 4, 2002--The Board of Directors of 21st Century Holding Company , a vertically integrated financial services holding company, met and raised the Company's dividend 150% from $.02 per share to $.05 per share payable on December 2, 2002 to shareholders of record as of November 4, 2002.Chairman and CEO, Edward J. Lawson, said, "The Board took this action to demonstrate the increasing profitability of 21st Century Holding Company and reward their shareholders. Dividends are becoming more and more a part of the investing landscape and as 21st Century Holding Company continues to increase its profitability, further dividend action will be taken."
The Board also elected Carl Dorf, one of its present outside Board members, to the Investment Committee to help formulate future investment decisions. Mr. Dorf previously served as the Fund Manager of ING Pilgrim Bank and Thrift Fund, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of RNC Capital Management Company, a Senior Security Analyst at BA Investment Management, a Fund Manager at Loews Corporation and as a Security Analyst at Kluger, Ellis & Mann, Nuveen Corporation and Moody's Investor Service. Mr. Dorf is currently the Principle of Dorf Asset Management, LLC, an Arizona limited liability company and is responsible for all investment decisions made by the company.
The Board also selected Merrill Lynch and UBS Paine Webber as consultants to help manage 21st Century Holding Company's bond portfolio going forward. Guidance for the third quarter is also being affirmed at $.40 per share, for the fourth quarter $.41 per share, for the 2002 calendar year $1.15 per share and for calendar year 2003 $1.80 per share on a GAAP basis. Guidance will be updated again at the end of September.
21st Century Holding Company manages its insurance underwriting, distribution and claims process through its subsidiaries.
| -- | The Company's wholly owned subsidiaries, Federated National Insurance Company and American Vehicle Insurance Company, underwrite standard and non-standard personal automobile insurance in the state of Florida. Federated National also has authority to underwrite flood insurance, mobile home insurance, and homeowners property and casualty insurance in the state of Florida. |
| -- | The Company's wholly owned managing general agent, Assurance Managing General Agents, Inc., has underwriting authority for Federated National, American Vehicle, and third-party insurance companies. |
| -- | The Company's wholly owned claims adjusting company, Superior Adjusting, Inc., processes claims made by the insureds of Federated National, American Vehicle, and third party insurance companies which contract with Superior. |
| -- | Federated Premium Finance, Inc., another wholly owned subsidiary, offers premium financing to insureds of Federated National and American Vehicle, as well as to third party insureds. |
| -- | Express Tax Service, Inc., an 80% owned subsidiary, licenses its brand name and its software to retail tax preparers and over the Internet. |
| -- | The Company offers other ancillary services including electronic income tax filing, tax preparation and tag & title transfer services through Federated Agency Group, Inc., also a wholly owned subsidiary. |
| -- | Fed USA, Inc., a wholly owned franchiser company, offers single and master franchise opportunities to individuals to own and operate their own business with the support of two brands, Fed USA Insurance and Financial Services and Express Tax. |
21st Century Holding Company (the "Company") cautions readers that certain important factors may affect the Company's actual results and could cause such results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements which may be deemed to have been made in this release or which are otherwise made by or on behalf of the Company. Future guidance does not anticipate any terrorist, severe weather or catastrophic events. For this purpose, any statements contained in this report that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Factors which may affect the Company's results include, but are not limited to, risks related to the nature of the Company's business; the limit on the Company's ability to expand due to a consent order entered into with the Florida Department of Insurance; reinsurance; dependence on investment income; the adequacy of its liability for losses and LAE regulation; insurance agents; claims experience; limited experience in the insurance industry; competition; ratings by industry services; catastrophe losses; reliance on key personnel and other risks discussed elsewhere in this Report and in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission the ("Commission").