Endurance Specialty Holdings Reports $51 Million Q1 Net Income

Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., a provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance set up by Aon and Zurich Financial Services in 2001, announced first quarter net income of $51.201 million, or $0.86 per diluted share, compared to $3.257 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, for the same period in 2002.

Gross premiums written were $362.1 million for the first quarter of 2003, up from $130.9 million in the first quarter of 2002, “resulting from the continued build-out of a larger more robust organization.” Net premiums written increased to $360.1 million from $130.9 million in the first quarter of 2002.

“The combined ratio for the first quarter 2003 was 83.4% and the loss ratio for the quarter was 54.9%,” said the bulletin. “The acquisition expense ratio and the general and administrative expense ratio were 18.2% and 10.3% respectively.”

Kenneth J. LeStrange, Chairman, President, and CEO commented, “Endurance delivered excellent results in the first quarter of 2003. Our focused underwriting platform and technical risk analysis continue to drive our company and its results. I am extremely proud of what our organization has accomplished over the last three months. In addition to completing a successful initial public offering in an extremely difficult market, we have also met or exceeded our expectations in all critical areas – including net income, return on equity, and gross premiums.

“As we built Endurance, we anticipated strong demand across the business lines we’ve chosen to pursue,” he continued. “Endurance remains focused on those lines where we have specific underwriting expertise and assembled teams with extensive experience in each distinct line of business. Our property catastrophe, casualty treaty and property treaty businesses all posted significant growth and we continue to build a strong presence in our other business segments.

“We are pleased with our strong start as a public company. Looking to the rest of the year we are optimistic about our renewals in our key markets. We believe that our experienced, world-class management team, clean balance sheet, and strong financial position will allow Endurance to take advantage of the opportunities in the market throughout the remainder of the year.” LeStrange concluded.
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The bulletin noted that the company’s shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ENH” on February 28, 2003, following the initial public offering of 9.6 million shares. The offering raised net proceeds of $201.6 million to provide additional capital to Endurance’s subsidiaries and for general corporate purposes. The company used $50.6 million from the offering proceeds to repay a portion of the outstanding debt.

Topics Profit Loss