Catlin Group has reported a record net income of $147.3m for the six months of 2006, compared to $111.2m in the same period of 2005.
In early trading, shares in Catlin, a favourite of many city analysts, surged over 4.5% to 495p.
The international property and casualty insurer said gross premiums written increased over 15% to $903.1m (H1 2005: $781.7m).
However the combined ratio dipped marginally to 84.7% from 82.3% in the first half of 2005.
Despite a mild storm season so far in 2006, Catlin reassured the market that it was "in an even stronger position to withstand the impact of severe hurricane events than we were a year ago."
Stephen Catlin, chief executive, said: "We had record premium volume and net income, while at the same time we have reduced our exposure to natural catastrophe risk by approximately one-third compared with a year ago and continued to diversify our risk portfolio.
He added: "We have also made great strides in building our business for the future. We have established strong management in our recently established US operating platform, and we have also opened a number of offices in North America and Asia. We are encouraged by the opportunities that this expansion creates."
