NU Online News Service, Oct. 29, 3:55 p.m. EDT

In a dramatic turnaround from its 2008 third quarter net loss of $126.1 million, Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited reported third quarter net income of $144.7 million.

Chris O'Kane, chief executive officer of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based (re)insurer credited the changed profit picture to a benign period for catastrophe losses, improvement in investment markets, and strong performance from the company's property reinsurance segment.

For the first nine months of 2009, Aspen reported net income of $346.5 million, a 323 percent increase over the same period in 2008 figure of $82 million.

In the third quarter, gross written premiums were $490.3 million compared to 2008 third quarter gross written premiums of $441.3 million. Net earned premiums climbed to $470.9 million from $434.2 million in the 2008 third quarter.

For property reinsurance, gross written premiums increased by 12 percent to $171.2 million, Aspen said. Casualty reinsurance showed a 21.1 percent increase to $96.5 million, and international reinsurance stayed relatively flat at $183.9 million. The U.S. insurance segment saw gross written premiums increase to $38.7 million from a 2008 third quarter figure of $28 million.

The 2009 third quarter combined ratio was 80.3, compared to the 2008 third quarter combined ratio of 123.3. In property reinsurance, the combined ratio fell to 58.1 from 146 for the same period in 2008, which was affected by Hurricane Ike losses. Casualty reinsurance saw the third quarter combined ratio drop to 88.3 from 90.4, while international reinsurance fell to 89.8 from 119.4. For U.S. insurance, the 2009 third quarter combined ratio fell to 96.6 compared to 172.1 for the same period in 2008.

On the investment side, Aspen reported third quarter net investment income of $58.9 million compared to 2008 third quarter net investment income of $19.3 million. The company also reported net realized and unrealized gains of $13.5 million for the quarter compared to a loss of $58.1 million in the previous year's third quarter.

"The third quarter of 2008 featured $42.2 million of losses from funds of hedge funds investments," Aspen said. "The fund of hedge fund investments were redeemed effective June 30, 2009."

The company added, "The current quarter included $7.5 million of mark-to-market gains from the trading portfolios and $1.8 million of other-than-temporary impairment charges."

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Aspen Records 3Q Profit On Investment Gains, Fewer Losses

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