ENDURANCE GROWS NET INCOME 6% IN Q1

Endurance bucked the trend of falling net income among Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers by posting earnings growth of around 6% to $106.4m during the first quarter. The company was boosted by the acquisition of Montpelier Re, which helped drive a 23% increase in gross written premiums to $1.6bn. Insurance gross written premiums grew 13% to $835.1m, while reinsurance premiums were up 37% to $776.6m. Low catastrophe activity contributed just 0.8 percentage points to Endurance’s combined ratio, which improved to 77.9%, compared with 82.4% in last year’s first quarter. This year’s first quarter combined ratio was boosted by 11 percentage points of favourable prior year loss reserve development. Net investment income of $11.2 million represented a decrease of $30.7m compared with last year’s first quarter. John Charman, chairman and chief executive of Endurance, said the company had retained nearly all the Montpelier business it anticipated.