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Montpelier Re Welcomes Reaffirmation of Positive Rating Outlook by Standard & Poor's
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HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb 28, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE - MRH) today welcomed the announcement by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services that it had reaffirmed its "positive" outlook on Montpelier Reinsurance Ltd. and Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. S&P also reaffirmed its 'A-' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Montpelier and its 'BBB' counterparty credit rating on MRH. On Friday February 25th, 2005 the company announced: 1. The declaration of a special dividend of $5.50 per common share and per warrant, or approximately $390 million in total. The dividend is payable on March 31st, 2005 to shareholders of record on March 15th, 2005. Subject to the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, the ex-dividend date for the special dividend will be March 11th, 2005. 2. An increase in the regular quarterly dividend for 2005, as and when declared, of 5.9%, to $0.36 per common share and per warrant. In today's bulletin Standard and Poor's said, "The positive outlook reflects Standard & Poor's increased confidence level that Montpelier has made strides in establishing a successful track record as a successful property catastrophe reinsurance company since its inception of writings in 2002. This success is demonstrated in Montpelier's operating performance in 2004, its first significantly impacted catastrophe loss year, and most recently in the January 2005 renewals." Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd., through its operating subsidiary Montpelier Reinsurance Ltd., is a premier provider of global property and casualty reinsurance and insurance products. Montpelier Reinsurance Ltd. is rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company, "A3" (Good) by Moody's Investor Service and "A-" (Strong) by Standard & Poor's, and was founded in December 2001. During the 12 months ended December 31st, 2004, Montpelier underwrote $837 million in gross premiums written. Shareholders' equity at December 31st, 2004 was $1.8 billion. Additional information can be found in Montpelier's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains, and Montpelier may from time to time make, written or oral "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the Company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. 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 the actual results, future dividends or future repurchases to differ include, but are not necessarily limited to: market conditions affecting Montpelier's common share price; our short operating and trading history; our dependence on principal employees; 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; the estimates reported by syndicates under existing QQS contracts; the inherent uncertainties of establishing reserves for loss and loss adjustment expenses, particularly on longer-tail classes of business such as casualty; the possibility of severe or unanticipated losses from natural or man-made catastrophes; the impact of terrorist activities on the economy; competition resulting from: growing capital levels in the reinsurance industry, in some cases, declining demand due to, among other things, increased retentions by cedants, and other factors; and rating agency policies and practices. The Company's forward-looking statements concerning market fundamentals could be affected by changes in demand, pricing and policy term trends and competition. These and other events that could cause actual results to differ are discussed in detail in "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1 of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Montpelier undertakes 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. SOURCE: Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd., Hamilton |