HAMILTON, Bermuda--(Business Wire)--
Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH) (the "Company") today announced that the
Board of Directors has agreed to increase the regular quarterly dividend payable
on the Company`s issued common shares by 20%. The Board has declared a quarterly
dividend of $0.09 per common share, payable on January 15, 2010, to all
shareholders of record as of December 31, 2009.
Whereas the Board of Directors of the Company currently intends to maintain the
regular dividend at the increased level in future periods, and will consider
further adjustments in dividend policy periodically, any future determination to
pay dividends or distributions to shareholders will remain at the discretion of
the Board and will be dependent upon many factors, including the Company`s
results of operations, cash flows, financial position, capital requirements,
general business opportunities, legal, tax, regulatory and contractual
restrictions.
Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This earnings release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the United States (the "U.S.") federal securities laws, pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that
are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and
expectations. These statements are based upon current plans, estimates and
projections. Forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions
concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties and
various risk factors, many of which are outside the Company's control, that
could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. See "Risk
Factors" contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2008, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In
particular, statements using words such as "may," "should," "estimate,"
"expect," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "predict," "potential," or words of
similar import generally involve forward-looking statements.
Important events and uncertainties that could cause our actual results, future
dividends or future common share repurchases to differ include, but are not
necessarily limited to: market conditions affecting our common share price; the
possibility of severe or unanticipated losses from natural or man-made
catastrophes, in particular catastrophes that are weather-related; the
effectiveness of our loss limitation methods; our dependence on principal
employees; our ability to execute the business plans of Syndicate 5151 and MUSIC
effectively; increases in our general and administrative expenses due to new
business ventures, which expenses may not be recoverable through additional
profits; the cyclical nature of the reinsurance business; the levels of new and
renewal business achieved; opportunities to increase writings in our core
property and specialty reinsurance and insurance lines of business and in
specific areas of the casualty reinsurance market and our ability to capitalize
on those opportunities; the sensitivity of our business to financial strength
ratings established by independent rating agencies; the inherent uncertainty of
our risk management process, which is subject to, among other things, industry
loss estimates and estimates generated by modeling techniques; the accuracy of
estimates reported by cedants and brokers on pro-rata contracts and certain
excess of loss contracts where a deposit or minimum premium is not specified in
the contract; the inherent uncertainties of establishing reserves for loss and
loss adjustment expenses, particularly on longer-tail classes of business such
as casualty; unanticipated adjustments to premium estimates; changes in the
availability, cost or quality of reinsurance or retrocessional coverage; changes
in general economic and financial market conditions; changes in and impact of
governmental legislation or regulation, including changes in tax laws in the
jurisdictions where we conduct business; our ability to assimilate effectively
the additional regulatory issues created by our entry into new markets; the
amount and timing of reinsurance recoverables and reimbursements we actually
receive from our reinsurers; the overall level of competition, and the related
demand and supply dynamics in our markets relating to growing capital levels in
the reinsurance industry; declining demand due to increased retentions by
cedants and other factors; the impact of terrorist activities on the economy;
rating agency policies and practices; unexpected developments concerning the
small number of insurance and reinsurance brokers upon whom we rely for a large
portion of revenues; our dependence as a holding company upon dividends or
distributions from our insurance and reinsurance operating subsidiaries; and the
impact of foreign currency fluctuation.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made.
Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd., Hamilton
Investors:
William Pollett, Treasurer & SVP, 441-299-7576
or
Media:
Jeannine Klein Menzies, Corporate Affairs Manager, 441-299-7570
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