WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

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FORM 10-Q

 

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(Mark One)

 For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2026

 

 

 

For the transition period from             to             .

 

Commission file number 0-15341

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Donegal Group Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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1195 River Road, P.O. Box 302, Marietta, PA 17547

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

 

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Not applicable

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

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Indicate by check mark whether registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

 

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No   ☒

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

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DONEGAL GROUP INC.

INDEX TO FORM 10-Q REPORT

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Consolidated Balance Sheets

 

 

 

Consolidated Statements of Income

(Unaudited)

 

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

(Unaudited)

 

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended March 31, 2026

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended March 31, 2025

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(Unaudited)

 

DONEGAL GROUP INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(Unaudited)

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

1 -	Organization

 

Donegal Mutual Insurance Company (“Donegal Mutual”) organized us as an insurance holding company on August 26, 1986. Our insurance subsidiaries are Atlantic States Insurance Company (“Atlantic States”), Michigan Insurance Company (“MICO”), the Peninsula Insurance Group (“Peninsula”), which consists of The Peninsula Insurance Company and its wholly owned subsidiary Peninsula Indemnity Company, and Southern Insurance Company of Virginia (“Southern”). Our insurance subsidiaries and their affiliates write property and casualty insurance exclusively through a network of independent insurance agents in certain Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Southern and Southwestern states.

At March 31, 2026, we had three segments: our investment function, our commercial lines of insurance and our personal lines of insurance. The commercial lines products of our insurance subsidiaries consist primarily of commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril and workers’ compensation policies. The personal lines products of our insurance subsidiaries consist primarily of homeowners and private passenger automobile policies.

At March 31, 2026, Donegal Mutual held approximately 44% of our outstanding Class A common stock and approximately 85% of our outstanding Class B common stock. This ownership provides Donegal Mutual with approximately 70% of the total voting power of our common stock. Our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual have interrelated operations due to a pooling agreement and other intercompany agreements and transactions. While each company maintains its separate corporate existence, 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.

Atlantic States, our largest subsidiary, participates in a proportional reinsurance agreement (the “pooling agreement”) with Donegal Mutual. Under the pooling agreement, Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States contribute substantially all of their respective premiums, losses and loss expenses to the underwriting pool, and the underwriting pool, acting through Donegal Mutual, then allocates 80% of the pooled business to Atlantic States. Thus, Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States share the underwriting results of the pooled business in proportion to their respective participation in the underwriting pool.

In addition, Donegal Mutual has 100% quota-share reinsurance agreements with Mountain States Commercial Insurance Company, Mountain States Indemnity Company and Southern Mutual Insurance Company. Donegal Mutual places its assumed business from these companies into the underwriting pool.

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 allow the individual companies to manage certain risk segments through variations in coverage, terms and pricing. Therefore, the underwriting profitability of the business the individual companies write directly will vary. However, the underwriting pool homogenizes the risk characteristics of all business that Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States write directly.  The business Atlantic States derives from the underwriting pool represents a significant percentage of our total consolidated revenues.

In September 2025, Donegal Mutual and Southern entered into a renewal rights agreement with an affiliate of a farm-focused Pennsylvania-based mutual insurance group to provide a continuation option for their farm policyholders when they begin to non-renew all farm policies as they expire beginning in the second quarter of 2026. Donegal Mutual and Southern determined that the costs required to modernize their legacy farm product and systems were higher than the projected return on investment for this non-core line of business that represents approximately $6 million in premiums. None of our other insurance subsidiaries offered farm policies. We currently include farm policies within other commercial lines in our line of business reporting.

Our financial information for the interim periods included in this Form 10-Q Report is unaudited; however, our financial information we include in this Form 10-Q Report reflects all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments that, in the opinion of our management, are necessary for a fair presentation of our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for those interim periods. Our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2026 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations we expect for the year ending December 31, 2026.

We recommend you read the interim financial statements we include in this Form 10-Q Report in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes to our financial statements contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 6, 2026.

We have two classes of common stock, which we refer to as our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock. Our certificate of incorporation provides that whenever our board of directors declares a dividend on our Class B common stock, our board of directors shall simultaneously declare a dividend on our Class A common stock that is payable to the holders of our Class A common stock at the same time and as of the same record date at a rate that is at least 10% greater than the rate at which our board of directors declared a dividend on our Class B common stock. Accordingly, we use the two-class method to compute our net income per share. The two-class method is an earnings allocation formula that determines net income per share separately for each class of common stock based on dividends we have declared and an allocation of our remaining undistributed net income using a participation percentage that reflects the dividend rights of each class. The table below presents for the periods indicated a reconciliation of the numerators and denominators we used to compute basic and diluted net income per share for our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock:

 

We did not exclude any outstanding options to purchase shares of Class A common stock in our computation of diluted net income per share because the exercise price of the options did not exceed the average market price of our Class A common stock during the applicable periods.

Atlantic States and Donegal Mutual have participated in a pooling agreement since 1986 under which they pool substantially all of their respective premiums, losses and loss expenses, and Atlantic States and Donegal Mutual then share the underwriting results of the pool in accordance with the terms of the pooling agreement. 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.

Our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual participate in a consolidated third-party reinsurance program. The coverage and parameters of the program are common to all of our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual. The program utilizes several different reinsurers, all of which have an A.M. Best rating of A- (Excellent) or better or, with respect to foreign reinsurers, have a financial condition that, in the opinion of our management, is equivalent to a company with at least an A- rating from A.M. Best. The following information describes the external reinsurance Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries have in place for 2026:

 

 

In addition to the pooling agreement and third-party reinsurance, our insurance subsidiaries have a catastrophe reinsurance agreement with Donegal Mutual, under which each of our insurance subsidiaries recovers 100% of an accumulation of multiple losses resulting from a single event, including natural disasters, over a set retention of $3.0 million up to aggregate losses of $22.0 million per occurrence. The agreement also provides additional coverage for an accumulation of losses from a single event including a combination of our insurance subsidiaries over a combined retention of $6.0 million. The purpose of the agreement is to lessen the effects of an accumulation of losses arising from one event to levels that are appropriate given each subsidiary’s size, underwriting profile and surplus.

Southern, MICO and The Peninsula Insurance Company also have a liability reinsurance agreement with Donegal Mutual, under which each insurance subsidiary recovers up to $3.0 million per occurrence over a set retention of $3.0 million.

Our insurance subsidiaries and Donegal Mutual also purchase facultative reinsurance to cover certain exposures, including property exposures that exceeded the limits provided by their respective treaty reinsurance.

In order to write automobile insurance in the state of Michigan, Atlantic States, MICO and The Peninsula Insurance Company are required to be members of the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (“MCCA”).  The MCCA provides reinsurance to Atlantic States, MICO and The Peninsula Insurance Company for personal automobile and commercial automobile personal injury claims in the state of Michigan over a set retention.

We report reinsurance receivable net of an allowance for expected credit losses. We base the allowance upon our ongoing review of amounts outstanding, historical loss data, changes in reinsurer credit standing and other relevant factors. We use a probability-of-default methodology, which reflects current and forecasted economic conditions, to estimate the allowance for expected credit losses.

The amortized cost and estimated fair values of our fixed maturities at March 31, 2026 were as follows:

 

At March 31, 2026, our holdings of obligations of states and political subdivisions included general obligation bonds with an aggregate fair value of $294.5 million and an amortized cost of $325.0 million. Our holdings at March 31, 2026 also included special revenue bonds with an aggregate fair value of $161.8 million and an amortized cost of $175.5 million. With respect to both categories of those bonds, we held no securities of any issuer that comprised more than 10% of our holdings of either bond category at March 31, 2026. Education bonds and water and sewer utility bonds represented 41% and 35%, respectively, of our total investments in special revenue bonds based on the carrying values of these investments at March 31, 2026. Many of the issuers of the special revenue bonds we held at March 31, 2026 have the authority to impose ad valorem taxes. In that respect, many of the special revenue bonds we held are similar to general obligation bonds.

The amortized cost and estimated fair values of our fixed maturities at December 31, 2025 were as follows:

 

At December 31, 2025, our holdings of obligations of states and political subdivisions included general obligation bonds with an aggregate fair value of $291.7 million and an amortized cost of $317.5 million. Our holdings also included special revenue bonds with an aggregate fair value of $158.0 million and an amortized cost of $169.6 million. With respect to both categories of bonds, we held no securities of any issuer that comprised more than 10% of that category at December 31, 2025. Education bonds and water and sewer utility bonds represented 42% and 32%, respectively, of our total investments in special revenue bonds based on their carrying values at December 31, 2025. Many of the issuers of the special revenue bonds we held at December 31, 2025 have the authority to impose ad valorem taxes. In that respect, many of the special revenue bonds we held are similar to general obligation bonds.

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 are amortizing 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. We recorded amortization of $44,511 and $45,199 in other comprehensive (loss) income during the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively. At March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, net unrealized losses of $809,195 and $853,706, respectively, remained within accumulated other comprehensive loss.

We show below the amortized cost and estimated fair value of our fixed maturities at March 31, 2026 by contractual maturity. Expected maturities may differ from contractual maturities because issuers of the securities may have the right to call or prepay obligations with or without call or prepayment penalties.

 

The cost and estimated fair values of our equity securities at March 31, 2026 were as follows:

 

The cost and estimated fair values of our equity securities at December 31, 2025 were as follows:

 

We present below gross gains and losses from investments and the change in the difference between fair value and cost of investments:

We held fixed maturities with unrealized losses representing declines that we considered temporary at March 31, 2026 as follows:

 

We held fixed maturities with unrealized losses representing declines that we considered temporary at December 31, 2025 as follows:

 

We make estimates concerning the valuation of our investments and, as applicable, the recognition of declines in the value of our investments.  For equity securities, we measure investments at fair value, and we recognize changes in fair value in our results of operations. With respect to an available-for-sale 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 the 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 with respect to that security. 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 establish an allowance for credit loss. We then recognize the amount of the allowance in our results of operations, and we recognize the remaining portion of the impairment loss in our other comprehensive income, net of applicable taxes. We regularly review the allowance for credit losses and recognize changes in the allowance in our results of operations. 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, issuer or geographic events that have negatively impacted the value of a security and rating agency downgrades. For held-to-maturity debt securities, we make estimates concerning expected credit losses at an aggregated level rather than monitoring individual debt securities for credit losses. We establish an allowance for expected credit losses based on an ongoing review of securities held, historical loss data, changes in issuer credit standing and other relevant factors. We utilize a probability-of-default methodology, which reflects current and forecasted economic conditions, to estimate the allowance for expected credit losses and recognize changes to the allowance in our results of operations. We held 715 debt securities that were in an unrealized loss position at March 31, 2026. Based upon our analysis of general market conditions and underlying factors impacting these debt securities, we considered these declines in value to be temporary.

We amortize premiums and discounts on debt securities over the life of the security as an adjustment to yield using the effective interest method. We compute realized investment gains and losses using the specific identification method.

We amortize premiums and discounts on mortgage-backed debt securities using anticipated prepayments.

We have three reportable segments, which consist of our investment function, our commercial lines of insurance and our personal lines of insurance. Using independent agents, our insurance subsidiaries market commercial lines of insurance to small and medium-sized businesses and personal lines of insurance to individuals.

Our chief operating decision maker, who is our Chief Executive Officer, evaluates the performance of the commercial lines and personal lines primarily based upon our insurance subsidiaries’ underwriting results as determined under statutory accounting principles (“SAP”). This segmentation is consistent with the segmentation we utilize to manage our business. We make resource allocation decisions based upon historical underwriting results as well as perceived opportunities for future profitable growth within each segment.

We operate only in the United States, and no single customer or agent provides 10 percent or more of our revenues.

Financial data by segment is as follows:

 

Lines of Credit

In August 2020, we entered into a credit agreement with Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company (“M&T”) that related to a $20.0 million unsecured demand line of credit. The line of credit has no expiration date, no annual fees and no covenants. At March 31, 2026, we had no outstanding borrowings from M&T and had the ability to borrow up to $20.0 million at an interest rate equal to the then-current Term SOFR rate plus 2.11%.

Atlantic States is a member of the FHLB of Pittsburgh. Through its membership, Atlantic States has the ability to issue debt to the FHLB of Pittsburgh in exchange for cash advances. Atlantic States has a fixed-rate cash advance of $35.0 million that was outstanding at March 31, 2026. The cash advance carries a fixed interest rate of 3.806% and is due in September 2026.  The table below presents the amount of FHLB of Pittsburgh stock Atlantic States purchased, collateral pledged and assets related to Atlantic States’ membership in the FHLB of Pittsburgh at March 31, 2026.

We measure all share-based payments to employees, including grants of stock options, and use a fair-value-based method for the recording of related compensation expense in our results of operations. In determining the expense we record for stock options granted to directors and employees of our subsidiaries and affiliates, we estimate the fair value of each option award on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The significant assumptions we utilize in applying the Black-Scholes option pricing model are the risk-free interest rate, the expected term, the dividend yield and the expected volatility.

We historically granted stock options on an annual basis at our December board meeting, which occurs in the middle of December. At its December 18, 2025 board meeting, our board of directors approved the recommendation of the compensation committee to change the form of equity awards we issue on an annual basis from stock options to restricted stock units and to delay issuance until the first day of the next calendar year. Accordingly, on January 1, 2026, we granted 115,500 restricted stock units to our officers and the officers of Donegal Mutual that will vest in three equal annual installments. We plan to grant restricted stock units on January 1 of each year. This practice will allow vesting under each grant to occur on the same date and for the value of the shares our officers and the officers of Donegal Mutual receive upon vesting of multiple grants to be calculated consistently using the closing price of Class A common stock on the last trading day of the preceding year.

We recorded compensation expense related to our stock compensation plans of $326,859 and $296,936 for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively, with a corresponding income tax benefit of $68,640 and $62,357, respectively. At March 31, 2026, we had $2.1 million of unrecognized compensation expense related to nonvested share-based compensation granted under our stock compensation plans that we expect to recognize over a weighted average period of approximately 2.3 years.

We received cash from option exercises under our stock compensation plans during the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025 of $232,330 and $6.3 million, respectively. We realized actual tax benefits for the tax deductions related to those option exercises of $13,100 and $300,981 for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively.

 We account for financial assets using a framework that establishes a hierarchy that ranks the quality and reliability of the inputs, or assumptions, we use in the determination of fair value, and we classify financial assets and liabilities carried at fair value in one of the following three categories:

 

Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities;

 

Level 2 – directly or indirectly observable inputs other than Level 1 quoted prices; and

 

Level 3 – unobservable inputs not corroborated by market data.

For investments that have quoted market prices in active markets, we use the quoted market price as fair value and include these investments in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. We classify publicly-traded equity securities as Level 1. When quoted market prices in active markets are not available, we base fair values on quoted market prices of comparable instruments or price estimates we obtain from independent pricing services and include these investments in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. We classify our fixed maturity investments and non-publicly traded equity securities as Level 2. Our fixed maturity investments consist of U.S. Treasury securities and obligations of U.S. government corporations and agencies, obligations of states and political subdivisions, corporate securities and mortgage-backed securities.

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 could be realized 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 or obtain market quotations for substantially all of our fixed maturity and equity investments. We generally obtain two prices per security. These 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 verify that the estimates we obtain from the pricing services are representative of fair values based upon our investment personnel’s general knowledge 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 types and recent trading activity. Our investment personnel periodically review documentation with respect to the pricing services’ pricing methodology that they obtain to determine if the primary pricing sources, market inputs and pricing frequency for various security types are reasonable. At March 31, 2026, we received two estimates per security from the pricing services, and we priced substantially all of our Level 1 and Level 2 investments using those prices. In our review of the estimates the pricing services provided at March 31, 2026, we did not identify any material discrepancies, and we did not make any adjustments to the estimates the pricing services provided.

We present our cash and short-term investments at estimated fair value. We classify these items as Level 1.

The carrying values we report in our balance sheet for premium receivables, reinsurance receivables related to paid losses and loss expenses and reinsurance balances payable approximate their fair values. The carrying amounts we report in our balance sheets for our borrowings under lines of credit approximate their fair values. We classify these items as Level 3.

We evaluate our assets and liabilities 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 March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025.

The following table presents our fair value measurements for our investments in available-for-sale fixed maturity and equity securities at March 31, 2026:

 

The following table presents our fair value measurements for our investments in available-for-sale fixed maturity and equity securities at December 31, 2025:

 At March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively, we had no material unrecognized tax benefits or accrued interest and penalties. In 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) began a federal income tax audit of our consolidated tax returns for tax years 2016 to 2018. No material issues have been raised and no adjustments have been proposed as a result of this ongoing audit. We provide a valuation allowance when we believe it is more likely than not that we will not realize some portion of our tax assets. We established a valuation allowance of $7.5 million for our net state operating loss carryforward at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, which will expire between 2026 and 2045. We have determined that we are not required to establish a valuation allowance for our other deferred tax assets of $33.8 million and $31.8 million at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively, because it is more likely than not that we will realize these deferred tax assets through reversals of existing temporary differences, future taxable income and the implementation of tax planning strategies.

On July 4, 2025, a budget reconciliation package referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (the “OBBBA”) was enacted. The tax provisions included within the OBBBA did not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

The establishment of appropriate liabilities for losses and loss expenses is an inherently uncertain process, and we can provide no assurance that our insurance subsidiaries’ ultimate liabilities for losses and loss expenses will not exceed their loss and loss expense reserves and have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. For example, legislative, judicial and regulatory actions may expand coverage definitions, retroactively mandate coverage or otherwise require our insurance subsidiaries to pay losses for damages that their policies explicitly excluded or did not intend to cover. Furthermore, we cannot predict the timing, frequency and extent of adjustments to our insurance subsidiaries’ estimated future liabilities, because the historical conditions and events that serve as a basis for our insurance subsidiaries’ estimates of ultimate claim costs may change. As is the case for substantially all property and casualty insurance companies, our insurance subsidiaries have found it necessary in the past to increase their estimated future liabilities for losses and loss expenses in certain periods, and, in other periods, their estimated future liabilities for losses and loss expenses have exceeded their actual liabilities for losses and loss expenses. Changes in our insurance subsidiaries’ estimate of their liabilities for losses and loss expenses generally reflect actual payments and their evaluation of information received subsequent to the prior reporting period.

We summarize activity in our insurance subsidiaries’ liabilities for losses and loss expenses as follows:

 

Our insurance subsidiaries recognized a decrease in their liabilities for losses and loss expenses of prior years of $5.7 million and $10.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, 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 2026 development represented 0.8% of the December 31, 2025 net carried reserves and resulted from lower-than-expected loss emergence or severity primarily in the commercial automobile and personal automobile lines of business, offset partially by unfavorable development in the commercial multi-peril and other commercial lines of business that we attribute to higher-than-anticipated case reserve development. The majority of the 2026 development related to decreases in the liabilities for losses and loss expenses of prior years for MICO and Atlantic States. The 2025 development represented 1.5% of the December 31, 2024 net carried reserves and resulted from lower-than-expected loss emergence or severity primarily in the commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril, and personal automobile lines of business. The majority of the 2025 development related to decreases in the liabilities for losses and loss expenses of prior years for Atlantic States and MICO.

Short-duration contracts are contracts for which our insurance subsidiaries receive premiums that they recognize as revenue over the period of the contract in proportion to the amount of insurance protection our insurance subsidiaries provide. Our insurance subsidiaries consider the policies they issue to be short-duration contracts. We consider the material lines of business of our insurance subsidiaries to be personal automobile, homeowners, commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril and workers’ compensation.

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, the IBNR reserves of our insurance subsidiaries 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 the three months ended March 31, 2026.

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 from which the actuaries select loss development factor assumptions. The actuaries base their selection of a point estimate on a judgmental weighting of the estimates each of these methods produce.

 

The actuaries consider loss frequency and severity trends when they develop expected loss ratios and point estimates. Loss frequency is a measure of the number of claims per unit of insured exposure, and loss severity is a measure of the average size of claims.  Factors that affect loss frequency include changes in weather patterns and economic activity.  Factors that affect loss severity include changes in policy limits, reinsurance retentions, inflation rates and judicial interpretations.

 

Our insurance subsidiaries create a claim file when they receive notice of an actual demand for payment, an event that may lead to a demand for payment or when they otherwise determine that a demand for payment could potentially lead to a future demand for payment on another coverage under the same policy or another policy they have issued. In recent years, our insurance subsidiaries have noted an increase in the period of time between the occurrence of a casualty loss event and the date at which they receive notice of a liability claim.  Changes in the length of time between the loss occurrence date and the claim reporting date affect the actuaries’ ability to predict loss frequency accurately and the amount of IBNR reserves our insurance subsidiaries require.

 

Our insurance subsidiaries generally create a claim file for a policy at the claimant level by type of coverage and generally recognize one count for each claim event.  In certain lines of business where it is common for multiple parties to claim damages arising from a single claim event, our insurance subsidiaries recognize one count for each claimant involved in the event. Atlantic States recognizes one count for each claim event, or claimant involved in a multiple-party claim event, related to losses Atlantic States assumes through its participation in its pooling agreement with Donegal Mutual. Our insurance subsidiaries accumulate the claim counts and report them by line of business.

We make estimates with respect to the potential impairment of financial instruments and recognize expected credit losses as an allowance rather than impairments as credit losses are incurred. We have established allowances for expected credit losses with respect to held-to-maturity debt securities and reinsurance receivable.

Held-to-Maturity Fixed-Maturity Securities

For held-to-maturity debt securities, we make estimates concerning expected credit losses at an aggregated level rather than monitoring individual debt securities for credit losses. We establish an allowance for expected credit losses based on an ongoing review of securities held, historical loss data, changes in issuer credit standing and other relevant factors. We utilize a probability-of-default methodology, which reflects current and forecasted economic conditions, to estimate the allowance for expected credit losses and recognize changes to the allowance in our results of operations.

The following table presents the balances for fixed maturities classified as held-to-maturity, net of the allowance for expected credit losses, at March 31, 2026 and 2025 and changes in the allowance for expected credit losses for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025.

 

Reinsurance Receivable

For reinsurance receivable, we establish an allowance for expected credit losses based upon our ongoing review of amounts outstanding, historical loss data, changes in reinsurer credit standing and other relevant factors. We utilize a probability-of-default methodology, which reflects current and forecasted economic conditions, to estimate the allowance for expected credit losses and recognize changes to the allowance in our results of operations.

The following table presents the balances for reinsurance receivable, net of the allowance for expected credit losses, at March 31, 2026 and 2025 and changes in the allowance for expected credit losses for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025.

In December 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance to enhance the transparency and usefulness of income tax disclosures. The guidance requires disclosure of specific categories in the rate reconciliation table and additional information for reconciling items that meet a quantitative threshold of equal to or greater than 5 percent of the amount computed by multiplying pretax income or loss by the applicable statutory income tax rate. The guidance also requires disaggregated disclosure of the amount of income taxes paid for federal, state and foreign taxes. The guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2024. The adoption of this guidance will not have an impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In November 2024, the FASB issued guidance requiring disaggregated disclosure of income statement expenses in the notes to financial statements. The guidance requires disclosure of certain expenses, including employee compensation, depreciation and selling expenses. The guidance will not impact current income statement expense captions that industry-specific guidance requires. The guidance is effective for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026. The adoption of this guidance will not have an impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

We recommend that you read the following information in conjunction with the historical financial information and the footnotes to that financial information we include in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We also recommend you read Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We combine our financial statements with those of our insurance subsidiaries and present them on a consolidated basis in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”).

Our insurance subsidiaries make estimates and assumptions that can have a significant effect on amounts and disclosures we report in our financial statements. The most significant estimates relate to the liabilities of our insurance subsidiaries for property and casualty insurance losses and loss expenses. While we believe our estimates and the estimates of our insurance subsidiaries are appropriate, the ultimate amounts may differ from the estimates we provided. We regularly review our methods for making these estimates and we reflect any adjustment we consider necessary in our results of operations for the period in which we make an adjustment.

Liabilities for Losses and Loss Expenses

Liabilities for losses and loss expenses are estimates at a given point in time of the amounts an insurer expects to pay with respect to incurred policyholder claims based on facts and circumstances the insurer knows at that point in time. For example, legislative, judicial and regulatory actions may expand coverage definitions, retroactively mandate coverage or otherwise require our insurance subsidiaries to pay losses for damages that their policies explicitly excluded or did not intend to cover. At the time of establishing its estimates, an insurer recognizes that its ultimate liability for losses and loss expenses will exceed or be less than such estimates. Our insurance subsidiaries base their estimates of liabilities for losses and loss expenses on assumptions as to future loss trends, expected claims severity, judicial theories of liability and other factors. However, during the loss adjustment period, our insurance subsidiaries may learn additional facts regarding individual claims, and, consequently, it often becomes necessary for our insurance subsidiaries to refine and adjust their estimates for these liabilities. We reflect any adjustments to the liabilities for losses and loss expenses of our insurance subsidiaries in our consolidated results of operations in the period in which our insurance subsidiaries make adjustments to their estimates.

Our insurance subsidiaries maintain liabilities for the payment of losses and loss expenses with respect to both reported and unreported claims. Our insurance subsidiaries establish these liabilities for the purpose of covering the ultimate costs of settling all losses, including investigation and litigation costs. Our insurance subsidiaries base the amount of their liability for reported losses primarily upon a case-by-case evaluation of the type of risk involved, knowledge of the circumstances surrounding each claim and the insurance policy provisions relating to the type of loss the policyholder incurred. Our insurance subsidiaries determine the amount of their liability for unreported claims and loss expenses on the basis of historical information by line of insurance. Our insurance subsidiaries account for inflation in the reserving function through analysis of costs and trends and reviews of historical reserving results. Our insurance subsidiaries monitor their liabilities closely and recompute them periodically using new information on reported claims and a variety of statistical techniques. Our insurance subsidiaries do not discount their liabilities for losses and loss expenses.

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. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and related government mandates and restrictions resulted in various changes from historical claims reporting and settlement trends during 2020 and resulted in significant increases in loss costs in subsequent years due to a number of factors, including supply chain disruption, higher new and used automobile values, increases in the cost of replacement automobile parts and rising labor rates. These trend changes caused significant disruption to historical loss patterns and give rise to greater uncertainty as to the pattern of future loss settlements. Related uncertainties regarding future trends include social inflation, availability and cost of replacement automobile parts and building materials (including due to tariffs), availability and cost of skilled labor, the rate of litigation (including specialized plaintiff attorney involvement) in claims, increasing plaintiff attorney utilization of litigation financing and its impact on litigation strategies and the cost of medical technologies and 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 March 31, 2026. At March 31, 2026, 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 $7.2 million.

The establishment of appropriate liabilities is an inherently uncertain process and we can provide no assurance that our insurance subsidiaries’ ultimate liability will not exceed our insurance subsidiaries’ loss and loss expense reserves and have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, we cannot predict the timing, frequency and extent of adjustments to our insurance subsidiaries’ estimated future liabilities, because the historical conditions and events that serve as a basis for our insurance subsidiaries’ estimates of ultimate claim costs may change. As is the case for substantially all property and casualty insurance companies, our insurance subsidiaries have found it necessary in the past to increase their estimated future liabilities for losses and loss expenses in certain periods and, in other periods, their estimated future liabilities for losses and loss expenses have exceeded their actual liabilities for losses and loss expenses. Changes in our insurance subsidiaries’ estimates of their liability for losses and loss expenses generally reflect actual payments and their evaluation of information received subsequent to the prior reporting period.

Excluding the impact of severe weather events and the COVID-19 pandemic, our insurance subsidiaries have noted stable amounts in the number of claims incurred and the number of claims outstanding at period ends relative to their premium base in recent years across most of their lines of business. However, the amount of the average claim outstanding has increased gradually over the past several years due to various factors such as increased property and automobile repair and replacement costs, rising medical loss costs and increased litigation trends and lengthening of repair completion times for property and automobile claims. We have also experienced a general slowing of settlement rates in litigated claims. Our insurance subsidiaries could have to make further adjustments to their estimates in the future. However, on the basis of our insurance subsidiaries’ internal procedures, which analyze, among other things, their prior assumptions, their experience with similar cases and historical trends such as reserving patterns, loss payments, pending levels of unpaid claims and product mix, as well as court decisions, economic conditions and public attitudes, we believe that our insurance subsidiaries have made adequate provision for their liability for losses and loss expenses.

Atlantic States’ participation in the underwriting pool with Donegal Mutual exposes Atlantic States to adverse loss development on the business that Donegal Mutual contributes to the underwriting pool. However, pooled business represents the predominant percentage of the net underwriting activity of both companies, and Donegal Mutual and Atlantic States share proportionately any adverse loss development relating to the pooled business. The business in the underwriting pool is homogeneous and each company has a pro-rata share of the entire underwriting pool. Since the predominant percentage of the business of Atlantic States and Donegal Mutual is pooled and the results shared by each company according to its participation level under the terms of the pooling agreement, the intent of the underwriting pool is to produce a more uniform and stable underwriting result from year to year for each company than either would experience individually and to spread the risk of loss between the companies.

Our insurance subsidiaries’ liabilities for losses and loss expenses by major line of business at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025 consisted of the following:

 

 

We have evaluated the effect on our insurance subsidiaries’ loss and loss expense reserves and our stockholders’ equity in the event of reasonably likely changes in the variables we consider in establishing the loss and loss expense reserves of our insurance subsidiaries. We established the range of reasonably likely changes based on a review of changes in accident-year development by line of business and applied those changes to our insurance subsidiaries’ loss and loss expense reserves as a whole. The range we selected does not necessarily indicate what could be the potential best or worst case or the most likely scenario. The following table sets forth the estimated effect on our insurance subsidiaries’ loss and loss expense reserves and our stockholders’ equity in the event of reasonably likely changes in the variables we considered in establishing the loss and loss expense reserves of our insurance subsidiaries:

 

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Non-GAAP Information

We prepare our consolidated financial statements on the basis of GAAP. Our insurance subsidiaries also prepare financial statements based on statutory accounting principles state insurance regulators prescribe or permit (“SAP”). SAP financial measures are considered non-GAAP financial measures under applicable SEC rules because the SAP financial measures include or exclude certain items that the most comparable GAAP financial measures do not ordinarily include or exclude. Our calculation of non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similar measures other companies use, so investors should exercise caution when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to the non-GAAP financial measures other companies use.

Because our insurance subsidiaries do not prepare GAAP financial statements, we evaluate the performance of our personal lines and commercial lines segments utilizing SAP financial measures that reflect the growth trends and underwriting results of our insurance subsidiaries. The SAP financial measures we utilize are net premiums written and statutory combined ratio.

Net Premiums Written

We define net premiums written as the amount of full-term premiums our insurance subsidiaries record for policies effective within a given period less premiums our insurance subsidiaries cede to reinsurers. Net premiums earned is the most comparable GAAP financial measure to net premiums written. Net premiums earned represent the sum of the amount of net premiums written and the change in net unearned premiums during a given period.  Our insurance subsidiaries earn premiums and recognize them as revenue over the terms of their policies, which are one year or less in duration. Therefore, increases or decreases in net premiums earned generally reflect increases or decreases in net premiums written in the preceding 12-month period compared to the comparable period one year earlier.

The following tables provide reconciliations of our net premiums earned to our net premiums written for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025:

 

Statutory Combined Ratio

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.

The statutory combined ratio is a non-GAAP financial measure that is based upon amounts determined under SAP. We calculate our statutory combined ratio as the sum of:

The calculation of our statutory combined ratio differs from the calculation of our GAAP combined ratio. In calculating our GAAP combined ratio, we do not deduct installment payment fees from incurred expenses, and we base the expense ratio on net premiums earned instead of net premiums written. Differences between our GAAP loss ratio and our statutory loss ratio result from anticipating salvage and subrogation recoveries for our GAAP loss ratio but not for our statutory loss ratio.

Combined Ratios

The following table presents comparative details with respect to our GAAP and statutory combined ratios for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025: