PART I

Insurance Operations

We currently have two operating property and casualty insurance subsidiaries: Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. (“HCPCI”) and TTIC. We provide various homeowners’ property and casualty insurance products for properties located in the State of Florida, which is our primary market, as well as in other states in the northeast and southeast regions of the U.S. A third insurance subsidiary, perRisk Insurance Company, has not yet commenced its surplus lines insurance business. We utilize Exzeo's internally developed software technologies to identify profitable underwriting opportunities, drive efficiency in claim processing and settlements, and streamline operations across our insurance operations and other insurance-related businesses. Additionally, we have a wholly-owned Bermuda domiciled captive reinsurance subsidiary which allows us to selectively retain risk and reduce the cost of third party reinsurance. Currently, we do not provide reinsurance to non-affiliates. Other auxiliary insurance-related operations include claim adjusting and processing services.

Property and Casualty Insurance

The property and casualty insurance industry is large, fragmented, highly regulated, and complex. Property and casualty insurance protects policyholders against a range of losses on items of value, including homes and commercial property, as well as from unforeseen events including natural disaster, litigation, and bodily injury. Property and casualty insurance is pervasive and purchased by nearly all businesses and individuals. While some types of property and casualty insurance are optional, others such as homeowners’ insurance, are often obligatory (e.g. required by mortgage financing). The property and casualty insurance industry is highly competitive and carriers compete primarily on (i) product differentiation, (ii) pricing, (iii) customer service and experience, (iv) marketing and advertising, and (v) affiliate programs and channel strategies. We face competition from national, regional and residual market insurance companies. 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.

Our general operating and growth strategies are to continually optimize our existing book of insurance business, organically expand our 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. Our growth strategies also include policy assumption from third-party insurance companies with the intention of renewing and/or replacing them with our policies.

Our insurance business has grown both organically and through strategic policy assumptions, which have been a key driver of our expansion. We have participated in legislatively mandated take-out programs, designed to reduce the state’s risk exposure by transitioning policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”), a Florida state supported insurer, to private insurers. We selectively pursue additional assumption opportunities with Citizens when they align with our risk appetite and growth strategy. We also assume policies from other insurance companies in Florida and/or any other state in which we operate.

Our competitive strategies focus on the following key areas:

Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses

The nature of our business is to cover losses that may arise from, among other things, hurricanes and other catastrophic events such as tornadoes, floods and winter storms. 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. 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 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.

Our liability for losses and loss adjustment expenses represents our estimate of the total cost of (i) claims that have been reported, 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 any litigation arising 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, 2025, 2024 and 2023, see Note 13 “Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses” to our consolidated financial statements under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Seasonality of Our Insurance Business

Our insurance business is seasonal. Hurricanes and tropical storms affecting Florida, our primary market, and other southeastern states typically occur during the period from June 1st through November 30th of each year. Winter storms in the northeast usually occur during the period between December 1st and March 31st of each year. In addition, our reinsurance contracts are generally effective June 1st of each year, and any variation in the cost of our reinsurance, whether due to changes in reinsurance rates, coverage levels or changes in the total insured value of our policy base, will be reflected in our financial results beginning June 1st of each year.

Government Regulation over Insurance Business

We are subject to the laws and regulations in any state in which we conduct our insurance business, including those applicable to managing general agent (“MGA”) activities, as well as data privacy, cybersecurity and claims administration. 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 a minimum of once every five years. However, the Florida Department of Financial Services, Office of Insurance Regulation (“FLOIR”) has the authority to conduct an examination whenever it is deemed appropriate.

Exzeo

Exzeo provides turnkey insurance technology and operations solutions to property and casualty insurance carriers and their agents through a proprietary platform of purpose‑built software and data analytics applications (“Exzeo Platform”). The Exzeo Platform consists of a suite of configurable applications designed to support the core operational and administrative functions required by property and casualty insurance carriers, including quoting and underwriting, policy administration, claims management, data reporting, and financial reporting. The Exzeo Platform enables us to deliver technology based solutions that streamline and automate the interaction between carriers, agents, and policyholders. These applications are designed to improve workflow efficiency, support underwriting discipline, enhance operational visibility, and enable customers to scale their businesses without significant upfront technology investment. Exzeo currently holds insurance agency or MGA licenses in the states necessary to support their customer base as well as in certain additional states where we maintain licenses in anticipation of future customer needs. In addition, Exzeo provides expert reinsurance placement services to help insurance companies manage risk by acting as an intermediary between the insurance carrier and reinsurers.

The Exzeo Platform includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Intellectual Property

The insurance technology and software industry is characterized by the existence of a large number of patents and frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Our success and ability to compete depends in part upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology, to establish and adequately protect our intellectual property rights, and to protect against third-party claims and litigation related to intellectual property.

To accomplish these objectives, we rely on a combination of trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws in the U.S., as well as contractual protections.

We also rely on several registered and unregistered trademarks, as well as pending applications for such registrations, in order to protect our brand in the U.S.

We also seek to protect our intellectual property rights by entering into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, as well as confidentiality agreements with third parties.

Reciprocal Exchange Operations

Our reciprocal exchange operations relate to the insurance operations of consolidated reciprocal insurance exchanges that are owned by their policyholders.

A reciprocal insurance exchange is a policyholder-owned entity where members, known as subscribers, gain ownership by purchasing an insurance policy. These subscribers collectively assume one another’s risks by exchanging insurance contracts, effectively acting as both insurers and insureds. The exchanges’ operations are managed by us as part of our AIF services.

Real Estate

The Real Estate segment relates to our commercial real estate group that is primarily engaged in the business of developing and operating commercial properties for investment purposes or for our own use.

Properties Used in Operations

Our real estate used in operations consists of an office building located in Tampa, Florida with gross area of 64,850 square feet, an office building in Tampa, Florida with a gross area of 68,908 square feet, and an office building with gross area of approximately 12,896 square feet in Ocala, Florida.

Investment Properties

Our portfolio of investment properties includes two marinas with accompanying rental space, three retail shopping centers, two corporate office parks, and undeveloped land which we are holding for future development opportunities. Except for the undeveloped land, we generate income from our investment properties by leasing vacancies to unaffiliated tenants. While we intend to hold our investment properties, we would consider reasonable offers that align with our valuation expectations.

The table below sets forth information concerning our investment properties:

Corporate and Other

Corporate and Other is comprised of our holding company, HCI Group, Inc., plus other operations that do not meet the quantitative and qualitative thresholds for a reportable segment.

We currently provide AIF services to reciprocal insurance exchange operations. Our AIF services relate to services in which we oversee the general administration, marketing, underwriting, accounting, policy administration, claims adjusting, and information technology for the reciprocal insurance exchanges.

Human Capital Management

As of December 31, 2025, we employed 594 full-time employees and 12 employees through a professional employer organization, the majority of whom are based in Florida. None of our employees are subject to any collective bargaining agreement. We believe our relations with our employees have generally been positive.

Work Environment

Our success depends on our ability to attract, develop, and retain talented employees across the organization. In order to attract and retain top talent, we focus on having a diverse, inclusive, and safe work environment. We offer competitive compensation and a benefits program intended to support employee health and financial security, including health coverage options, a 401(k) plan that includes a company match, and employer-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance. We offer flexible work arrangements where appropriate, including remote or hybrid work options, which enable us to attract and retain talent across multiple geographies while maintaining service quality and operational effectiveness. Most employees are shareholders of the Company and have an equity ownership stake that is intended to align employee retention and value creation. Additionally, our Bravo program allows employees to earn paid time off as well as cash bonuses for engaging in charitable causes, continued education and professional development activities.

We are committed to the highest standards of ethics and compliance and making sure every team member understands and embraces our core values of ethics, integrity, and respect for others. Our code of ethics provides a framework of what is expected of our employees and fosters a culture of high integrity and compliance. Our code of ethics is supplemented by a variety of additional policies applicable to all team members which are designed to further foster ethical and sound business practices.

We maintain policies and procedures intended to promote a respectful workplace, including a harassment prevention policy that outlines reporting mechanisms, investigation processes, and prohibitions against retaliation. Harassment prevention training is required for all employees.

Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to building and sustaining a culture of inclusive diversity. Our culture aims to recognize and embrace all forms of diversity in order to drive innovation and growth. Talent diversity starts with the recruitment and hiring process and continues through the learning, development, advancement, and retention of employees with wide-ranging backgrounds and experiences. We believe that a workforce with varied backgrounds and experiences contributes to organizational effectiveness. Our workforce reflects a range of backgrounds, experiences, and professional expertise. We prohibit discrimination based on legally protected characteristics and seek to maintain an environment that supports respectful communication and collaboration.

Health, Wellness, and Engagement

We consider employee health, safety, and engagement to be important to our operations. We periodically review our policies and programs related to employee wellness, safety, and professional development. These programs include benefits and wellness offerings intended to support employee engagement and retention.

We support professional development through training opportunities, including virtual skill-building workshops and growth opportunities for employees in remote or hybrid roles. We utilize a structured in-person collaboration model, under which employees are expected to work onsite on designated collaboration days to support teamwork, communication, and operational effectiveness.

Environmental, Social and Governance Considerations

Environmental and social considerations are integrated into our long-term strategy and our enterprise risk management processes. Our Sustainability Committee, established by the Board of Directors (the “Board”) and operating under a written charter, provides oversight of material environmental, social, and other sustainability matters. Management regularly reports to the Committee on initiatives, key metrics, and developments affecting the Company. During the year, we continue evaluating potential impacts of environmental regulations, climate-related risks, workforce dynamics, and community engagement efforts on our operations and financial performance. These activities are intended to support operational efficiency, risk mitigation, and long-term value creation. Additional details regarding the Sustainability Committee and its charter are available on our website at www.hcigroup.com under “Investors” and “Governance.” Forward‑looking statements about our sustainability efforts are subject to the cautionary factors described under “Risk Factors.”

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.

Available Information

Availability of SEC Reports

Our website is located at https://www.hcigroup.com. Our investor relations website is located at https://investors.hcigroup.com. We make available free of charge on our investor relations website under “Financials” our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, reports filed pursuant to Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, and any amendments to those reports that are filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such materials to the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding our filings at https://www.sec.gov.

Use of Website to Provide Information

From time to time, we have used, and expect in the future to use, our website as a means of disclosing material information to the public in a broad, non-exclusionary manner, including for purposes of the SEC’s Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD). Financial and other material information regarding the Company is routinely posted on our website and accessible at https://investors.hcigroup.com. In order to receive notifications regarding new postings to our website, investors are encouraged to enroll on our website to receive automatic email alerts. None of the information on our website is incorporated into this Annual Report.

Refer to Exzeo's website at www.exzeo.com and its filings with the SEC for additional information and reporting for Exzeo.

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.

We rely on highly skilled and experienced personnel and if we are unable to attract, retain or motivate key personnel or hire qualified personnel, our business may be seriously harmed. In addition, the loss of our Chief Executive Officer or other key senior management personnel could harm our business and future prospects.

Our performance largely depends on the talents and efforts of highly-skilled and experienced individuals. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled and experienced personnel and, if we are unable to hire and train a sufficient number of qualified employees for any reason, we may not be able to maintain or implement our current initiatives or grow, or our business may contract and we may lose market share. Moreover, certain of our competitors or other insurance or technology businesses may seek to hire our employees. We cannot assure you that we will provide adequate incentives to attract, retain and motivate employees in the future. If we do not succeed in attracting, retaining and motivating highly qualified personnel, our business may be seriously harmed.

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 Operating Officer, Karin Coleman, 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. 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.

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 processing. The failure of these systems to function as planned could slow our growth and adversely affect our future business volume and results of operations. Additionally, our computer and data processing systems could become obsolete or could cease to provide a competitive advantage in policy underwriting, production and administration and claim processing which could negatively affect our future 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. We currently provide a hybrid work from home strategy for a majority of our workforce. This availability is provided through our highly available redundant cloud infrastructure. The loss or significant impairment of functionality in these facilities for any reason could have a material, adverse effect on our business. We believe this hybrid work strategy and redundant cloud infrastructure provides 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 locations, we plan to use our alternative office in Ocala, Florida temporarily to continue our operations.

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 is cyclical and highly competitive. We compete not only with other stock companies but also with mutual companies, 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 market. Many of these competitors have greater financial resources, larger agency networks and greater name recognition than our company. Additionally, our competitors may merge or acquire one another and further increase their combined financial resources and agency networks. 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.

HCPCI and TTIC 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 none of our insurance subsidiaries 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. A credit rating downgrade could also result in a significant reduction in the number of policies that our agency networks can sell.

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.

Our interests may conflict with the interests of Exzeo and the interests of Exzeo’s other stockholders. Certain conflicts of interest between Exzeo and us could be resolved in a manner unfavorable to us.

Various conflicts of interest between us and Exzeo could arise. Our interests as Exzeo’s controlling stockholder may differ from Exzeo’s interests or those of its other stockholders. Additionally, ownership interests of our CEO and chairman of our board of directors, Paresh Patel, in our common stock and in the stock of Exzeo, or his service as a director and officer of both companies, could create or appear to create potential conflicts of interest when he is faced with decisions relating to us or business. These decisions could include:

Furthermore, disputes may arise between Exzeo and us (or our affiliates) relating to our past, ongoing or future relationships and commercial arrangements and these potential conflicts of interest may make it more difficult for us to favorably resolve such disputes, including those related to:

We may not be able to resolve any potential conflicts, and even if we do, the resolution may be less favorable to us than if we were dealing with an unaffiliated party.

We may not achieve some or all of the anticipated benefits of Exzeo being a standalone public company, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operation.

We may not be able to achieve some or all of the anticipated benefits of Exzeo being a standalone public company in the time we expect, if at all, for a variety of reasons, including management distractions and potential operational disruptions during the transition; increased exposure to market volatility, and any such failure to achieve the anticipated benefits could adversely affect our future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The consummation of the Exzeo initial public offering in November 2025 also resulted in a dilution of our economic interest in Exzeo, and as a result we will only benefit from a portion of any profits and growth of that business, and from any dividends and other distributions from that business, if any. We currently do not expect Exzeo to declare or pay any cash dividends, other than tax distributions and certain cash distributions related to the impact of taxes pursuant to our tax allocation agreement among us and our subsidiaries, including Exzeo. If Exzeo discontinues the payment of, or is unable to pay, such distributions to us, this will reduce our available liquidity. Furthermore, the terms of any indebtedness incurred by Exzeo may limit the ability of Exzeo to pay dividends or make other distributions to us, or to amend the agreements between Exzeo and us and our other subsidiaries.

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 each 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.

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 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 processing given the input by our independent adjusters; the ability of our claims department to translate the information provided by our independent adjusters into acceptable claims settlements; and the ability of our claims personnel to maintain and update our claims processing 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.

Failure to maintain our risk-based capital at the required levels could adversely affect our ability to maintain regulatory authority to conduct our business.

Our insurance subsidiaries are required to have sufficient capital and surplus in order to comply with insurance regulatory requirements, support our business operations and minimize our risk of insolvency. Failure to maintain adequate risk-based capital at the required levels could result in increasingly onerous reporting and examination requirements and could adversely affect our ability to maintain regulatory authority to conduct our business.

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 a bank credit facility. 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.

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.

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 strategies. 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.

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.

If our customers were to claim that the policies they purchased failed to provide adequate or appropriate coverage, we could face claims that could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Although we aim to provide adequate and appropriate coverage under each of our policies, customers could purchase policies that prove to be inadequate or inappropriate. If such customers were to bring a claim or claims alleging that we failed in our responsibilities to provide them with the type or amount of coverage that they sought to purchase, we could be found liable for amounts significantly in excess of the policy limit, resulting in an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. While we maintain errors and omissions insurance coverage to protect us against such liability, such coverage may be insufficient or inadequate.

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.

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 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 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 of 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.

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

Our foreign operations, in countries such as India and Bermuda, 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 foreign labor laws and other complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our foreign 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 acquired renewal rights intangible assets can be subject to impairment charges which can adversely affect our financial results.

We evaluate our renewal rights intangible assets when impairment indicators are present to determine if there has been any impairment in their carrying value. 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. The assumptions underlying our fair value estimates are subject to uncertainties including, but not limited to, policy attrition rates, changes in premium rates, marketplace competition, policyholder behavior, and regulatory changes. 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 materially differ from our actual results.

The insolvency and receivership of United Property & Casualty Insurance Company could adversely affect our financial results.

In 2023, United Property & Casualty Insurance Company (“United”), an insurer for which we provided reinsurance, was placed into receivership by the State of Florida due to its financial insolvency. As a result, our agreements with United were terminated. Although there have been withdrawals from funds held in trust in settlement for claims and claims processing services, we cannot predict the actions a receiver might take with regards to restrictions on, or use of, funds held in trust. Any such actions could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

Any lack of business or financial success by a reciprocal insurance exchange we manage could diminish our expected management fee revenue and damage our business reputation.

The reciprocal insurance exchanges, which we manage, may enter into the business of providing certain insurance coverage, a product and market which is new to us and for which we have limited experience. In managing this business, we could encounter unexpected challenges, including, for example, challenges in accurately assessing risk, determining appropriate pricing, and establishing adequate reserves. Although our risk of loss in connection with the reciprocal insurance exchanges is currently limited to the surplus notes, any lack of business or financial success could not only diminish the management fee revenue we expect to generate from that enterprise, but also damage our insurance management reputation and consequently diminish opportunities to generate management fee revenue from future similar enterprises as well as diminish the value of the overall HCI enterprise.

Financial risks

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.

Our credit agreement contains restrictions that can limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The agreement governing our revolving credit facility contains various covenants that limit our ability to engage in certain transactions. These covenants limit our and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:

An increase in interest rates may negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Borrowings under our revolving credit facility have a variable rate of interest. An increase in interest rate would have a negative impact on our results of operations attributable to increased interest expense.

Investment risks

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 commercial real estate. We may increase our holdings in these types of investments as we pursue further 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. 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 credit losses on our investment holdings. Any unfavorable change to the fair value of our equity securities will also impact our financial results.

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.

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 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.

Legal and regulatory risks

Industry trends, such as 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.

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.

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.

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 consolidated 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.

A regulatory environment that requires approval of rate increases and that can dictate underwriting practices and mandate participation in loss sharing arrangements may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

From time to time, political events and positions affect the insurance market, including efforts to suppress rates to a level that may not allow us to reach targeted levels of profitability. For example, if our loss ratio compares favorably to that of the industry, state regulatory authorities may impose rate rollbacks, require us to pay premium refunds to policyholders, or challenge or otherwise delay our efforts to raise rates even if the homeowners industry generally is not experiencing regulatory challenges to rate increases.

In addition, certain states have enacted laws that require an insurer conducting business in that state to participate in assigned risk plans, reinsurance facilities and joint underwriting associations. Certain states also require insurers to offer coverage to all consumers, often restricting an insurer’s ability to charge the price it might otherwise charge. In these markets, we may be compelled to underwrite significant amounts of business at lower-than-desired rates, possibly leading to an unacceptable return on equity. Our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected by any of these factors.

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 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 waste 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.

Security and fraud risks

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. 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.

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. We have acquired a cybersecurity insurance policy to help mitigate any financial impact that may incur with a breach along with the assistance for legal and/or media requirements during that time.

General risks

An overall decline in economic activity could have a material adverse effect on the financial condition and results of operations of our business.

The demand for homeowners insurance generally rises as the overall level of household income increases and generally falls as household income decreases, affecting premiums, commissions and fees generated by our business. Some new policies may be sourced by referral sources tied to home closing transactions, and major slowdowns in the various housing markets we serve could impact our ability to generate new business. The economic activity that impacts homeowners insurance is most closely correlated with employment levels, corporate revenue and asset values.

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

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

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, winter storms 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 and the northeast and southeast regions, which are subject to adverse weather conditions such as hurricanes, tropical storms and winter 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.