COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF: CITIZENS, XL GROUP, STATE AUTO FINANCIA

Citizens Property Insurance, Florida’s last-resort property insurer, has offered to settle around 600 sinkhole claims, two weeks after reaching a deal to offer settlements to another 300 customers. Citizens has been hit with a total of 2,000 sinkhole claims from homeowners. XL Group will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per ordinary share on September 30. The dividend will be payable to shareholders of record as of September 15. State Auto Financial saw second-quarter net income fall 52% to $3m as its underwriting loss more than doubled to $19.4m on higher non-catastrophe losses. The combined ratio rose to 107.3% from 103.6%, as earned premiums grew 1.8% to $268.3m and claims costs increased 2.3% to $190.4m.