Exhibit 99.1
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| | | | Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. Eastern Alliance Insurance Group Eastern Life & Health Insurance Company Employers Alliance, Inc. |
DATE:June 5, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend
Lancaster, PA. Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: EIHI) (“EIHI,” the “Company”) announced today that its board of directors has authorized a $0.07 per share quarterly cash dividend on its issued and outstanding shares of common stock, payable June 26, 2009 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 12, 2009.
EIHI is the parent company of Eastern Life and Health Insurance Company (“ELH”), which converted from mutual to stock form on June 16, 2006. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s order approving the conversion prohibits both ELH and EIHI from making any distribution to shareholders without prior Pennsylvania Insurance Department approval for a period of three years. EIHI sought and received Pennsylvania Insurance Department approval for the quarterly dividend. The provision within the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s order requiring approval for ELH and EIHI prior to any shareholder distributions expires on June 16, 2009.
EIHI operates through its subsidiaries a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers’ compensation, a domestic accident and life insurance company, a third-party claims administration company and a specialty reinsurance company. EIHI has regional offices in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Indianapolis, Indiana. EIHI’s Web address iswww.easterninsuranceholdings.com.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the statements contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of these terms or other terminology. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the time the statements are made and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, therefore no assurance can be given that management’s expectations, beliefs or projections will occur or be achieved or accomplished. Factors that could affect the Company’s actual results include, among others, the fact that our loss reserves are based on estimates and may be inadequate to cover our actual losses; the uncertain effects of emerging claim and coverage issues on our business; the geographic concentration of our business; an inability to obtain or collect on our reinsurance protection; a downgrade in the A.M. Best rating of our insurance subsidiaries; the impact of extensive regulation of the insurance industry and legislative and regulatory changes, a failure to realize our investment objectives; the effects of intense competition; the loss of one or more principal employees; the inability to acquire additional capital on favorable terms; a failure of independent insurance brokers to adequately market our products; and the effects of acts of terrorism or war. More information about these and other factors that potentially could affect our financial results is included in our Form S-1 Registration Statement, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in our other public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. This press release also does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, EIHI securities. Such an offer will be made only by means of a prospectus.
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June 5, 2009 | | EIHI Announces Quarterly Dividend |
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| SOURCE: | | Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. |
| CONTACT: | | Kevin Shook, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, 717.735.1660, kshook@eains.com |
