We and our insurance subsidiaries share administrative headquarters with Donegal Mutual in a building in Marietta, Pennsylvania that Donegal Mutual owns. Donegal Mutual charges us and our insurance subsidiaries for an appropriate portion of the building expenses under an inter-company allocation agreement. The Marietta headquarters has approximately 270,000 square feet of office space. Southern owns a facility of approximately 10,000 square feet in Glen Allen, Virginia. Le Mars owns a facility of approximately 25,500 square feet in Le Mars, Iowa and Sheboygan owns a facility of approximately 8,800 square feet in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin.
Donegal Mutual Insurance Company (“Donegal Mutual”) organized us as an insurance holding company on August 26, 1986. See “Business-History and Organizational Structure” for more information. Our insurance subsidiaries, Atlantic States Insurance Company (“Atlantic States”), Southern Insurance Company of Virginia (“Southern”), Le Mars Insurance Company (“Le Mars”), The Peninsula Insurance Company and Peninsula Indemnity Company (collectively, “Peninsula”), Sheboygan Falls Insurance Company (“Sheboygan Falls”) and Michigan Insurance Company (“MICO”) write personal and commercial lines of property and casualty coverages exclusively through a network of independent insurance agents in certain Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New England and Southern states. The personal lines products of our insurance subsidiaries consist primarily of homeowners and private passenger automobile policies. The commercial lines products of our insurance subsidiaries consist primarily of commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril and workers’ compensation policies.
At December 31, 2018, Donegal Mutual held approximately 43% of our outstanding Class A common stock and approximately 84% of our outstanding Class B common stock. This ownership provides Donegal Mutual with approximately 72% of the combined voting power of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock and our outstanding shares of Class B common stock.
Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States entered into a proportional reinsurance agreement, or pooling agreement, effective October 1, 1986. Under this pooling agreement, Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States pool and then share proportionately substantially all of their respective premiums, losses and expenses. Atlantic States’ participation in the pool has been 80% since March 1, 2008. The operations of our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual are interrelated due to the pooling agreement and other factors. While maintaining the separate corporate existence of each company, our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual conduct business together as the Donegal Insurance Group. As such, Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries share the same business philosophy, the same management, the same employees and the same facilities and offer the same types of insurance products. See “Business-History and Organizational Structure” for more information regarding the pooling agreement and other transactions with our affiliates.
Reserve estimates can change over time because of unexpected changes in assumptions related to our insurance subsidiaries’ external environment and, to a lesser extent, assumptions related to our insurance subsidiaries’ internal operations. For example, our insurance subsidiaries have experienced an increase in claims severity and a lengthening of the claim settlement periods on bodily injury claims during the past several years. These trend changes give rise to greater uncertainty as to the pattern of future loss settlements on bodily injury claims. Related uncertainties regarding future trends include the cost of medical technologies and procedures and changes in the utilization of medical procedures. Assumptions related to our insurance subsidiaries’ external environment include the absence of significant changes in tort law and the legal environment that increase liability exposure, consistency in judicial interpretations of insurance coverage and policy provisions and the rate of loss cost inflation. Internal assumptions include consistency in the recording of premium and loss statistics, consistency in the recording of claims, payment and case reserving methodology, accurate measurement of the impact of rate changes and changes in policy provisions, consistency in the quality and characteristics of business written within a given line of business and consistency in reinsurance coverage and collectability of reinsured losses, among other items. To the extent our insurance subsidiaries determine that underlying factors impacting their assumptions have changed, our insurance subsidiaries make adjustments in their reserves that they consider appropriate for such changes. Accordingly, our insurance subsidiaries’ ultimate liability for unpaid losses and loss expenses will likely differ from the amount recorded at December 31, 2018. For every 1% change in our insurance subsidiaries’ loss and loss expense reserves, net of reinsurance recoverable, the effect on our pre-tax results of operations would be approximately $4.8 million.
to conclude that their prior actuarial assumptions did not fully anticipate recent changes in severity and reporting trends. Our insurance subsidiaries have encountered increasing difficulties in projecting the ultimate severity of automobile losses over recent accident years, which our insurance subsidiaries attribute to worsening litigation trends and an increased delay in the reporting to our insurance subsidiaries of information with respect to the severity of claims. As a result, our insurance subsidiaries’ actuaries increased their projections of the ultimate cost of our insurance subsidiaries’ prior-year personal automobile and commercial automobile losses.
Our insurance subsidiaries recognized an increase in their liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years of $35.6 million, $6.6 million and $3.0 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Our insurance subsidiaries made no significant changes in their reserving philosophy or claims management personnel, and they have made no significant offsetting changes in estimates that increased or decreased their loss and loss expense reserves in these years. The 2018 development represented 9.3% of the December 31, 2017 net carried reserves and resulted primarily from higher-than-expected severity in the commercial multiple peril, personal automobile and commercial automobile lines of business, offset by lower-than-expected severity in the workers’ compensation line of business, in accident years prior to 2018. The majority of the 2018 development related to increases in the liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States, Southern and Peninsula. The 2017 development represented 1.9% of the December 31, 2016 net carried reserves and resulted primarily from higher-than-expected severity in the commercial multiple peril, personal automobile and commercial automobile lines of business, offset by lower-than-expected severity in the workers’ compensation line of business, in accident years prior to 2017. The majority of the 2017 development related to increases in the liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States and Peninsula. The 2016 development represented 0.9% of the December 31, 2015 net carried reserves and resulted primarily from higher-than-expected severity in the commercial multiple peril and commercial automobile liability lines of business, offset by lower-than-expected severity in the workers’ compensation line of business in accident years prior to 2016. The majority of the 2016 development related to increases in the liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States and Southern.
Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries operate together as the Donegal Insurance Group and share a combined business plan designed to achieve market penetration and underwriting profitability objectives. The products our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual offer are generally complementary, thereby allowing Donegal Insurance Group to offer a broader range of products to a given market and to expand Donegal Insurance Group’s ability to service an entire personal lines or commercial lines account. Distinctions within the products of Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries generally relate to specific risk profiles targeted within similar classes of business, such as preferred tier products compared to standard tier products, but we do not allocate all of the standard risk gradients to one company. Therefore, the underwriting profitability of the business the individual companies write directly will vary. However, because the pool homogenizes the risk characteristics of the predominant percentage of the business Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States write directly and each company shares the underwriting results according to each company’s participation percentage, each company realizes its percentage share of the underwriting results of the pool.
The substantial increases in reserves in 2018 compared to 2017 reflected changes in actuarial assumptions that resulted in higher projections of the ultimate cost of our insurance subsidiaries’ losses for claims that occurred in 2018 and prior years.
The following table presents 2018 and 2017 claim count and payment amount information for workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation losses primarily consist of indemnity and medical costs for injured workers.
Despite challenging insurance market conditions, increasing casualty loss severity trends and unusually adverse weather conditions that affected our results in recent years, we believe that the corrective measures and strategic initiatives we implemented in 2018 have positioned us well for 2019 and beyond.
The following table provides a reconciliation of our net premiums earned to our net premiums written for 2018, 2017 and 2016:
The combined ratio is a standard measurement of underwriting profitability for an insurance company. The combined ratio does not reflect investment income, net investment gains or losses, federal income taxes or other non-operating income or expense. A combined ratio of less than 100% generally indicates underwriting profitability.
Our insurance subsidiaries’ 2018 net premiums written increased 2.0% to $744.0 million, compared to $729.1 million for 2017. We attribute the increase primarily to the impact of premium rate increases and an increase in the writing of new accounts in commercial lines of business. Commercial lines net premiums written increased $20.8 million, or 6.3%, for 2018 compared to 2017. The increase was primarily attributable to premium rate increases and increased writings of new accounts in the commercial automobile and commercial multi-peril lines of business. Personal lines net premiums written decreased $5.9 million, or 1.5%, for 2018 compared to 2017. We attribute the decrease in personal lines primarily to net attrition that resulted from increased pricing on renewal policies and underwriting measures our insurance subsidiaries have implemented to slow new policy growth.
Our insurance subsidiaries’ combined ratio was 110.1% and 103.0% in 2018 and 2017, respectively. The combined ratio represents the sum of the loss ratio, the expense ratio and the dividend ratio, which is the ratio of workers’ compensation policy dividends incurred to premiums earned. We attribute the increase in our combined ratio primarily to the increase in our loss ratio.
Our net loss in 2018 was $32.8 million, or $1.18 per share of Class A common stock and $1.09 per share of Class B common stock, compared to net income of $7.1 million, or $0.26 per share of Class A common stock on a diluted basis and $0.22 per share of Class B common stock, in 2017. We had 22.8 million and 22.6 million Class A shares outstanding at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. We had 5.6 million Class B shares outstanding for both periods. There are no outstanding securities that dilute our shares of Class B common stock.
Our net investment gains in 2017 and 2016 were $5.7 million and $2.5 million, respectively. The net investment gains for 2017 resulted primarily from strategic sales of equity securities within our investment portfolio and unrealized gains within a limited partnership that invests in equity securities. The net investment gains in 2016 resulted from normal turnover within our investment portfolio. We did not recognize any impairment losses during 2017 or 2016.
We have historically generated sufficient net positive cash flow from our operations to fund our commitments and build our investment portfolio, thereby increasing future investment returns. The pooling agreement with Donegal Mutual historically has been cash flow positive because of the profitability of the underwriting pool. Because we settle the pool monthly, our cash flows are substantially similar to the cash flows that would result from the underwriting of direct business. We maintain a high degree of liquidity in our investment portfolio in the form of marketable fixed maturities, equity securities and short-term investments. We structure our fixed-maturity investment portfolio following a “laddering” approach so that projected cash flows from investment income and principal maturities are evenly distributed from a timing perspective. This laddering approach provides an additional measure of liquidity to meet our obligations and the obligations of our insurance subsidiaries should an unexpected variation occur in the future. Net cash flows provided by operating activities in 2018, 2017 and 2016 were $63.8 million, $81.0 million and $60.0 million, respectively.
The following table shows expected payments for our significant contractual obligations at December 31, 2018:
The cash dividends we declared to our stockholders totaled $15.8 million, $15.0 million and $14.2 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. There are no regulatory restrictions on our payment of dividends to our stockholders, although there are restrictions under applicable state laws on the payment of dividends from our insurance subsidiaries to us. Our insurance subsidiaries are required by law to maintain certain minimum surplus on a statutory basis and are subject to regulations under which their payment of dividends from statutory surplus is restricted and may require prior approval of their domiciliary insurance regulatory authorities. Our insurance subsidiaries are also subject to risk-based capital (“RBC”) requirements. The amount of statutory capital and surplus necessary for our insurance subsidiaries to satisfy regulatory requirements, including the RBC requirements, was not significant in relation to our insurance subsidiaries’ statutory capital and surplus at December 31, 2018. Amounts available for distribution to us as ordinary dividends from our insurance subsidiaries without prior approval of insurance regulatory authorities in 2019 are $19.4 million from Atlantic States, $4.5 million from Southern, $2.0 million from Le Mars, $1.7 million from Peninsula, $1.7 million from Sheboygan and $5.6 million from MICO, or a total of approximately $34.9 million.
The carrying value of our fixed maturity investments represented 90.2% and 90.0% of our total invested assets at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
In January 2016, the FASB issued guidance that generally requires entities to measure equity investments at fair value and recognize changes in fair value in their results of operations. This guidance also simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values by requiring entities to perform a qualitative assessment to identify impairment. The FASB issued other disclosure and presentation improvements related to financial instruments within the guidance. The guidance was effective for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. As a result of the adoption of this guidance on January 1, 2018, we transferred $4.9 million of net unrealized gains from accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) to retained earnings. We recognized $1.2 million of gains and $4.4 million of losses on equity securities held at December 31, 2018 in net investment losses for the year ended December 31, 2018.
The same executive management and underwriting personnel administer products, classes of business underwritten, pricing practices and underwriting standards of Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries. In addition, as the Donegal Insurance Group, Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries share a combined business plan to achieve market penetration and underwriting profitability objectives. The products our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual market are generally complementary, thereby allowing the Donegal Insurance Group to offer a broader range of products to a given market and to expand the Donegal Insurance Group’s ability to service an entire personal lines or commercial lines account. Distinctions within the products of Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries generally relate to specific risk profiles targeted within similar classes of business, such as preferred tier versus standard tier products, but we do not allocate all of the standard risk gradients to one company. Therefore, the underwriting profitability of the business the individual companies write directly will vary. However, as the risk characteristics of all business Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States write directly are homogenized within the underwriting pool, Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States share the underwriting results in proportion to their respective participation in the pool. Pooled business represents the predominant percentage of the net underwriting activity of both Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States. We refer to Note 3-Transactions with Affiliates for more information regarding the pooling agreement.
Held to Maturity-Debt securities that we have the positive intent and ability to hold to maturity; reported at amortized cost.
We make estimates concerning the valuation of our investments and the recognition of other-than-temporary declines in the value of our investments. For equity securities, we measure investments at fair value and, beginning January 1, 2018, we recognize changes in fair value in our results of operations. With respect to a debt security that is in an unrealized loss position, we first assess if we intend to sell the debt security. If we determine we intend to sell the debt security, we recognize the impairment loss in our results of operations. If we do not intend to sell the debt security, we determine whether it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the debt security prior to recovery. If we determine it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the debt security prior to recovery, we recognize an impairment loss in our results of operations. If we determine it is more likely than not that we will not be required to sell the debt security prior to recovery, we then evaluate whether a credit loss has occurred. We determine whether a credit loss has occurred by comparing the amortized cost of the debt security to the present value of the cash flows we expect to collect. If we expect a cash flow shortfall, we consider that a credit loss has occurred. If we determine that a credit loss has occurred, we consider the impairment to be other than temporary. We then recognize the amount of the impairment loss related to the credit loss in our results of operations, and we recognize the remaining portion of the impairment loss in our other comprehensive income, net of applicable taxes. In addition, we may write down securities in an unrealized loss position based on a number of other factors, including when the fair value of an investment is significantly below its cost, when the financial condition of the issuer of a security has deteriorated, the occurrence of industry, company or geographic events that have negatively impacted the value of a security and rating agency downgrades.
Investments-We present our investments in available-for-sale fixed maturity and equity securities at estimated fair value. The estimated fair value of a security may differ from the amount that we could realize if we sold the security in a forced transaction. In addition, the valuation of fixed maturity investments is more subjective when markets are less liquid, increasing the potential that the estimated fair value does not reflect the price at which an actual transaction would occur. We utilize nationally recognized independent pricing services to estimate fair values for our fixed maturity and equity investments. We generally obtain two prices per security. The pricing services utilize market quotations for fixed maturity and equity securities that have quoted prices in active markets. For fixed maturity securities that generally do not trade on a daily basis, the pricing services prepare estimates of fair value measurements based predominantly on observable market inputs. The pricing services do not use broker quotes in determining the fair values of our investments. Our investment personnel review the estimates of fair value the pricing services provide to determine if the estimates we obtain are representative of fair values based upon the general knowledge of our investment personnel of the market, their research findings related to unusual fluctuations in value and their comparison of such values to execution prices for similar securities. Our investment personnel monitor the market and are familiar with current trading ranges for similar securities and the pricing of specific investments. Our investment personnel review all pricing estimates that we receive from the pricing services against their expectations with respect to pricing based on fair market curves, security ratings, coupon rates, security type and recent trading activity. Our investment personnel review documentation with respect to the pricing services’ pricing methodology that they obtain periodically to determine if the primary pricing sources, market inputs and pricing frequency for various security types are reasonable. We refer to Note 5-Fair Value Measurements for more information regarding our methods and assumptions in estimating fair values.
Cash and Short-Term Investments-The carrying amounts we report in the balance sheet for these instruments approximate their fair values.
Premiums and Reinsurance Receivables and Payables-The carrying amounts we report in the balance sheet for these instruments related to premiums and paid losses and loss expenses approximate their fair values.
Subordinated Debentures-The carrying amounts we report in the balance sheet for these instruments approximate their fair values.
Our insurance subsidiaries recognize insurance premiums as income over the terms of the policies they issue. Our insurance subsidiaries calculate unearned premiums on a daily pro-rata basis.
Reserve estimates can change over time because of unexpected changes in assumptions related to our insurance subsidiaries’ external environment and, to a lesser extent, assumptions related to our insurance subsidiaries’ internal operations. For example, our insurance subsidiaries have experienced an increase in claims severity and a lengthening of the claim settlement periods on bodily injury claims during the past several years. These trend changes give rise to greater uncertainty as to the pattern of future loss settlements on bodily injury claims. Related uncertainties regarding future trends include the cost of medical technologies and procedures and changes in the utilization of medical procedures. Assumptions related to our insurance subsidiaries’ external environment include the absence of significant changes in tort law and the legal environment that increase liability exposure, consistency in judicial interpretations of insurance coverage and policy provisions and the rate of loss cost inflation. Internal assumptions include consistency in the recording of premium and loss statistics, consistency in the recording of claims, payment and case reserving methodology, accurate measurement of the impact of rate changes and changes in policy provisions, consistency in the quality and characteristics of business written within a given line of business and consistency in reinsurance coverage and collectability of reinsured losses, among other items. To the extent our insurance subsidiaries determine that underlying factors impacting their assumptions have changed, our insurance subsidiaries make adjustments in their reserves that they consider appropriate for such changes. Accordingly, our insurance subsidiaries’ ultimate liability for unpaid losses and loss expenses will likely differ from the amount recorded.
Our insurance subsidiaries rely upon reinsurance agreements to limit their maximum net loss from large single risks or risks in concentrated areas and to increase their capacity to write insurance. Reinsurance does not relieve our insurance subsidiaries from liability to their respective policyholders. To the extent that a reinsurer cannot pay losses for which it is liable under the terms of a reinsurance agreement with one or more of our insurance subsidiaries, our insurance subsidiaries retain continued liability for such losses. However, in an effort to reduce the risk of non-payment, our insurance subsidiaries require all of their reinsurers to have an A.M. Best rating of A- or better or, with respect to foreign reinsurers, to have a financial condition that, in the opinion of our management, is equivalent to a company with an A.M. Best rating of A- or better. We refer to Note 10-Reinsurance for more information regarding the reinsurance agreements of our insurance subsidiaries.
In 2018, 2017 and 2016, we realized $25,938, $873,515 and $788,700, respectively, in tax benefits upon the exercise of stock options.
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued guidance that requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. While this guidance replaced most existing GAAP revenue recognition guidance, the scope of the guidance excludes insurance contracts. The new standard was effective on January 1, 2018. The standard permits the use of either the retrospective or the cumulative effect transition method. Because the accounting for insurance contracts is outside of the scope of this standard, the adoption of this guidance did not have a significant impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
In August 2018, the FASB issued guidance that modifies disclosure requirements related to fair value measurements. The guidance removes the requirements to disclose the amounts of, and reasons for, transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. The guidance is effective for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019 and permits early adoption. We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a significant impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Atlantic States, our largest insurance subsidiary, and Donegal Mutual have a pooling agreement under which both companies contribute substantially all of their direct written business to the pool and receive an allocated percentage of the pooled underwriting results, excluding certain reinsurance Donegal Mutual assumes from our insurance subsidiaries. Atlantic States has an 80% share of the results of the pool, and Donegal Mutual has a 20% share of the results of the pool. The intent of the pooling agreement is to produce more uniform and stable underwriting results from year to year for each pool participant than they would experience individually and to spread the risk of loss between the participants based on each participant’s relative amount of surplus and relative access to capital. Each participant in the pool has at its disposal the capacity of the entire pool, rather than being limited to policy exposures of a size commensurate with its own capital and surplus.
Through December 31, 2018, Atlantic States, Southern and Le Mars each had a catastrophe reinsurance agreement with Donegal Mutual that provided coverage under any one catastrophic occurrence above a set retention ($2,500,000, $2,000,000 and $1,000,000 for Atlantic States, Southern and Le Mars, respectively, for 2018), with a combined retention of $5,000,000 for a catastrophe involving a combination of these subsidiaries, up to the amount Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries retained under catastrophe reinsurance agreements with unaffiliated reinsurers. The set retention was $2,000,000, $1,500,000 and $750,000 for Atlantic States, Southern and Le Mars, respectively, for 2017 and 2016. Through December 31, 2018, Donegal Mutual and Southern had an excess of loss reinsurance agreement in which Donegal Mutual assumed up to $500,000 of Southern’s losses in excess of $500,000.
The following amounts represent the effect of affiliated reinsurance transactions on net premiums our insurance subsidiaries earned during 2018, 2017 and 2016:
The following amounts represent the effect of affiliated reinsurance transactions on net losses and loss expenses our insurance subsidiaries incurred during 2018, 2017 and 2016:
We have segregated within accumulated other comprehensive loss the net unrealized losses of $15.1 million arising prior to the November 30, 2013 reclassification date for fixed maturities reclassified from available for sale to held to maturity. We will amortize this balance over the remaining life of the related securities as an adjustment of yield in a manner consistent with the accretion of discount on the same fixed maturities. During 2018, we recorded amortization of $1.2 million in other comprehensive loss. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, net unrealized losses of $8.6 million and $9.8 million, respectively, remained within accumulated other comprehensive loss.
The cost and estimated fair values of our equity securities at December 31, 2018 were as follows:
The cost and estimated fair values of our equity securities at December 31, 2017 were as follows:
We include our share of DFSC’s net income in our results of operations. We have compiled the following summary financial information for DFSC at December 31, 2018 and 2017 from the financial statements of DFSC.
We received a distribution from DFSC of $1.0 million during 2017. Based on the nature of the activities that generated the distribution, we made an accounting policy election to classify the distribution as a return on our investment in DFSC.
We present below gross gains and losses from investments, including those we classified as held to maturity, and the change in the difference between fair value and cost of investments:
We recognized $1.2 million of gains and $4.4 million of losses on equity securities held at December 31, 2018 in net investment losses for 2018.
We make estimates concerning the valuation of our investments and the recognition of other-than-temporary declines in the value of our investments. For equity securities, we measure investments at fair value and, beginning January 1, 2018, we recognize changes in fair value in our results of operations. With respect to a debt security that is in an unrealized loss position, we first assess if we intend to sell the debt security. If we determine we intend to sell the debt security, we recognize the impairment loss in our results of operations. If we do not intend to sell the debt security, we determine whether it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the debt security prior to recovery. If we determine it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the debt security prior to recovery, we recognize an impairment loss in our results of operations. If we determine it is more likely than not that we will not be required to sell the debt security prior to recovery, we then evaluate whether a credit loss has occurred. We determine whether a credit loss has occurred by comparing the amortized cost of the debt security to the present value of the cash flows we expect to collect. If we expect a cash flow shortfall, we consider that a credit loss has occurred. If we determine that a credit loss has occurred, we consider the impairment to be other than temporary. We then recognize the amount of the impairment loss related to the credit loss in our results of operations, and we recognize the remaining portion of the impairment loss in our other comprehensive income, net of applicable taxes. In addition, we may write down securities in an unrealized loss position based on a number of other factors, including when the fair value of an investment is significantly below its cost, when the financial condition of the issuer of a security has deteriorated, the occurrence of industry, company or geographic events that have negatively impacted the value of a security and rating agency downgrades. We held 509 debt securities that were in an unrealized loss position at December 31, 2018. Based upon our analysis of general market conditions and underlying factors impacting these debt securities, we considered these declines in value to be temporary.
Level 2-directly or indirectly observable inputs other than Level 1 quoted prices; and
We evaluate our assets and liabilities on a regular basis to determine the appropriate level at which to classify them for each reporting period. Based on our review of the methodology and summary of inputs the pricing services use, we have concluded that our Level 1 and Level 2 investments were classified properly at December 31, 2018 and 2017.
Depreciation expense for 2018, 2017 and 2016 amounted to $479,550, $478,800 and $742,861, respectively.
Our insurance subsidiaries recognized an increase in their liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years of $35.6 million, $6.6 million and $3.0 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Our insurance subsidiaries made no significant changes in their reserving philosophy or claims management personnel, and they have made no significant offsetting changes in estimates that increased or decreased their loss and loss expense reserves in those years. The 2018 development represented 9.3% of the December 31, 2017 net carried reserves and resulted primarily from higher-than-expected severity in the commercial multiple peril, personal automobile and commercial automobile lines of business, offset by lower-than-expected severity in the workers’ compensation line of business, in accident years prior to 2018. The majority of the 2018 development related to increases in the liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States, Southern and Peninsula. During 2018, our insurance subsidiaries received new information on previously-reported commercial automobile and personal automobile claims that led our insurance subsidiaries to conclude that their prior actuarial assumptions did not fully anticipate recent changes in severity and reporting trends. Our insurance subsidiaries have encountered increasing difficulties in projecting the ultimate severity of automobile losses over recent accident years, which our insurance subsidiaries attribute to worsening litigation trends and an increased delay in the reporting to our insurance subsidiaries of information with respect to the severity of claims. As a result, our insurance subsidiaries’ actuaries increased their projections of the ultimate cost of our insurance subsidiaries’ prior-year personal automobile and commercial automobile losses, and our insurance subsidiaries added $17.7 million to their reserves for personal automobile and $20.8 million to their reserves for commercial automobile for accident years prior to 2018. The 2017 development represented 1.9% of the December 31, 2016 net carried reserves and resulted primarily from higher-than-expected severity in the commercial multiple peril, personal automobile and commercial automobile lines of business, offset by lower-than-expected severity in the workers’ compensation line of business, in accident years prior to 2017. The majority of the 2017 development related to increases in the liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States and Peninsula. The 2016 development represented 0.9% of the December 31, 2015 net carried reserves and resulted primarily from higher-than-expected severity in the commercial multiple peril and commercial automobile liability lines of business, offset by lower-than-expected severity in the workers’ compensation line of business, in accident years prior to 2016. The majority of the 2016 development related to increases in the liability for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States and Southern.
Our insurance subsidiaries determine incurred but not reported (“IBNR”) reserves by subtracting the cumulative loss and loss expense amounts our insurance subsidiaries have paid and the case reserves our insurance subsidiaries have established at the balance sheet date from their actuaries’ estimate of the ultimate cost of losses and loss expenses. Accordingly, our insurance subsidiaries’ IBNR reserves include their actuaries’ projections of the cost of unreported claims as well as their actuaries’ projected development of case reserves on known claims and reopened claims. Our insurance subsidiaries’ methodology for estimating IBNR reserves has been in place for many years, and their actuaries made no significant changes to that methodology during 2018.
The actuaries use a variety of actuarial methods to estimate the ultimate cost of losses and loss expenses. These methods include paid loss development, incurred loss development and the Bornhuetter-Ferguson method. The actuaries base their selection of a point estimate on a judgmental weighting of estimates each of these methods produce.
The following table presents supplementary information about average historical claims duration as of December 31, 2018:
In July 2018, we renewed our existing credit agreement with Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company (“M&T”) relating to a $60.0 million unsecured, revolving line of credit. At December 31, 2018, we had $25.0 million in outstanding borrowings and had the ability to borrow an additional $35.0 million at interest rates equal to M&T’s current prime rate or the then-current LIBOR rate plus 2.25%. At December 31, 2018, the interest rate on our outstanding borrowings was 4.77%. The credit agreement required our compliance with certain covenants. These covenants included minimum levels of our net worth, leverage ratio, statutory surplus and the A.M. Best ratings of our insurance subsidiaries. We did not comply with the minimum net worth and minimum interest coverage ratio covenants at December 31, 2018. We terminated this credit agreement and entered into a new credit agreement with M&T in March 2019. The new credit agreement relates to a $30.0 million unsecured,
revolving line of credit. We transferred our $25.0 million outstanding borrowings to this new line of credit and have the ability to borrow an additional $5.0 million at interest rates equal to M&T’s current prime rate or the then-current LIBOR rate plus 2.25%. The interest rate on our outstanding borrowings is adjustable quarterly. We pay a fee of 0.15% per annum on the loan commitment amount regardless of usage. The new credit agreement requires our compliance with certain covenants. These covenants include minimum levels of our net worth, leverage ratio, statutory surplus and the A.M. Best ratings of our insurance subsidiaries. In addition, Atlantic States has guaranteed our payment obligations under the new credit agreement. We complied with all of the requirements of the new credit agreement as of the filing date of this Form 10-K Report.
MICO is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) of Indianapolis. During the second quarter of 2018, MICO terminated its line of credit with the FHLB of Indianapolis.
Our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual purchase certain third-party reinsurance on a combined basis. Through December 31, 2018, Le Mars, MICO, Peninsula and Sheboygan also had separate third-party reinsurance programs that provided certain coverage that was commensurate with their relative size and exposures. Our insurance subsidiaries used several different reinsurers, all of which, consistent with the requirements of our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual, had an A.M. Best rating of A- (Excellent) or better, or, with respect to foreign reinsurers, had a financial condition that, in the opinion of our management, was equivalent to a company with at least an A- rating from A.M. Best. The external reinsurance our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual purchased in 2018, 2017 and 2016 included “excess of loss reinsurance,” under which their losses were automatically reinsured, through a series of contracts, over a set retention (generally $1.0 million), and “catastrophic reinsurance,” under which they recovered, through a series of contracts, 100% of an accumulation of many losses resulting from a single event, including natural disasters, over a set retention (generally $5.0 million) and after exceeding an annual aggregate deductible ($5.0 million in 2018, $1.0 million in 2017 and $975,000 in 2016 ). For property insurance, our insurance subsidiaries had excess of loss treaties that provide for coverage up to $5.0 million per loss. For liability insurance, our insurance subsidiaries had excess of loss treaties that provide for coverage up to $50.0 million per occurrence. For workers’ compensation insurance, our insurance subsidiaries had excess of loss treaties that provide for coverage up to $10.0 million on any one life. Our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual had property catastrophe coverage through a series of layered treaties up to aggregate losses of $175.0 million for any single event. As many as 28 reinsurers provided coverage for 2018 on any one treaty with no reinsurer taking more than 20% of any one treaty. The amount of coverage provided under each of these types of reinsurance depended upon the amount, nature, size and location of the risks being reinsured. Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries also purchased facultative reinsurance to cover exposures from losses that exceeded the limits provided by the treaty reinsurance Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries purchased. In order to write automobile insurance in the State of Michigan, MICO is required to be a member of the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (“MCCA”). The MCCA provides reinsurance to MICO for personal automobile and commercial automobile personal injury claims in the State of Michigan over a set retention.
The following amounts represent ceded reinsurance transactions with unaffiliated reinsurers during 2018, 2017 and 2016:
The following amounts represent the effect of reinsurance on premiums earned for 2018, 2017 and 2016:
The net operating loss carryback of $4.2 million for 2018 relates to our carryback of our 2018 net operating loss to tax years 2016 and 2017 when the statutory federal tax rate was 35%. This carryback is permitted under a special rule within the TCJA that retained for property and casualty insurance companies the availability to carry back net operating losses to two prior tax years and to carry forward net operating losses to 20 future tax years.
We recorded a net operating loss carryforward for the portion of our taxable loss for 2018 exceeded our taxable income in 2016 and 2017. That net operating loss carryforward will generally begin to expire in 2038 if we do not utilize the carryforward prior to that date. We also recorded a loss reserve transition adjustment in 2018 related to changes the TCJA required with respect to the calculation of loss reserve discounting. Pursuant to the provisions of the TCJA, we will include the loss reserve transition adjustment in our taxable income over eight years beginning in 2018.
Since 1996, we have maintained an Equity Incentive Plan for Directors. During 2015, we adopted a plan that made 500,000 shares of Class A common stock available for issuance to our directors and the directors of our subsidiaries and affiliates.We may make awards in the form of stock options. The plan also provides for the issuance of 500 shares of restricted stock on the first business day of January in each year to each of our directors and each director of Donegal Mutual who does not serve as one of our directors. We issued 8,500 shares of restricted stock on January 2, 2018 under our director plan. We issued 9,000 shares of restricted stock on January 3, 2017 under our director plan. We issued 8,500 shares of restricted stock on January 4, 2016 under our director plan.
pricing model are the risk-free interest rate, expected term, dividend yield and expected volatility. The risk-free interest rate is the implied yield currently available on U.S. Treasury zero coupon issues with a remaining term equal to the expected term used as the assumption in the model. We base the expected term of an option award on our historical experience for similar awards. We determine the dividend yield by dividing the per share dividend by the grant date stock price. We base the expected volatility on the volatility of our stock price over a historical period comparable to the expected term.
The weighted-average grant date fair value of options we granted during 2016 was $1.94. We calculated this fair value based upon a risk-free interest rate of 2.23%, an expected life of three years, an expected volatility of 20% and an expected dividend yield of 3%.
We charged compensation expense for our stock compensation plans against income before income taxes of $1.7 million, $2.0 million and $2.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively, with a corresponding income tax benefit of $354,412, $692,164 and $864,210. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, our total unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested share-based compensation granted under our stock compensation plans was $2.5 million and $2.9 million, respectively. We expect to recognize this cost over a weighted average period of 1.9 years.
During 2018, we received cash from option exercises under all stock compensation plans of $1.1 million. We realized actual tax benefits for the tax deductions from option exercises of share-based compensation of $25,938 for 2018. During 2017, we received cash from option exercises under all stock compensation plans of $13.4 million. We realized actual tax benefits for the tax deductions from option exercises of share-based compensation of $873,515 for 2017. During 2016, we received cash from option exercises under all stock compensation plans of $11.2 million. We realized actual tax benefits for the tax deductions from option exercises of share-based compensation of $788,700 for 2016. No further shares are available for future option grants for plans in effect prior to 2015.
15-Reconciliation of Statutory Filings to Amounts Reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements
We evaluate the performance of the personal lines and commercial lines primarily based upon our insurance subsidiaries’ underwriting results as determined under SAP for our total business.
We do not allocate assets to the personal and commercial lines and review the two segments in total for purposes of decision-making. We operate only in the United States, and no single customer or agent provides 10 percent or more of our revenues.
We and Donegal Mutual sold DFSC to Northwest on March 8, 2019, resulting in proceeds valued at approximately $85.8 million in a combination of cash and Northwest common stock. Immediately prior to the closing of the merger, DFSC paid a dividend of approximately $29.2 million to us and Donegal Mutual. As the owner of 48.2% of DFSC’s common stock, we received a dividend payment from DFSC of approximately $14.1 million and consideration from Northwest valued at approximately $41.4 million. We will record a gain from the sale of DFSC in our results of operations for the first quarter of 2019. This transaction represented the culmination of a banking strategy that began with the formation of DFSC in 2000.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Donegal Group, Inc. and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the related consolidated statements of (loss) income and comprehensive (loss) income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, and the related notes and financial statement schedule (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). In our opinion, based on our audits and the report of the other auditors, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.