Insurance and reinsurance firm Endurance yesterday posted a $1 million rise in profits for the second quarter of the year.

The firm recorded net income of $76 million, equal to $1.68 per common share, compared to profits of $75 million in the same period last year, which also saw a figure of $1.68 per common share.

Endurance chairman and CEO John Charman said: “These strong results continue to reflect the significant strategic improvements we have implemented over the past 30 months at Endurance.

“Our globally recognised, market leading underwriters are now firmly established and are attracting high quality, historically profitable business.

“Our underwriters’ careful risk selection and underwriting discipline remain critical in this very competitive rate environment and I am confident of our ability to continue to deliver strong financial results as well as creating exceptional value for our shareholders.”

The results come a week after Endurance completed its successful bid for Montpelier Re.

Mr Charman said: “Having spent the last several months diligently planning, we have already begun to immediately integrate Montpelier into Endurance.

“We are confident in our ability to materially exceed our original synergy estimates and to achieve our targeted strategic and financial objectives.”

In its insurance segment, Endurance wrote gross premiums of $468.9 million for the second quarter, up nearly 46 per cent on the same period last year.

The firm’s reinsurance business saw gross written premiums of $392.3 million — up 6.6 per cent on the corresponding three months in 2014.

Mr Charman said the firm had delivered an operating return on earnings of 11.1 per cent “in spite of very challenging market conditions.”

He added: “We were also able to meaningfully expand our global specialty book of business as evidenced by our 25 per cent growth in gross written premiums.”