Lancashire Holdings more than tripled profits to $36.2 million in the third quarter of the year.

In the same period in 2013, the firm’s net operating profit totalled $11.2 million — a $25 million increase for quarter three of this year.

The firm wrote a total of $152.1 million in gross premiums in the third quarter of this year, compared to $121.6 million in the same quarter of 2013.

Earnings per ordinary share also rose — 19 cents per share compared to 13 cents per share for the same period last year.

The company declared a special dividend of $1.20 per share.

Group CEO Alex Maloney said that 2014 had been a “challenging” year due to a soft patch in the underwriting cycle.

But he added: “Managing the cycle is one of the key skills of the Lancashire Group of companies.

“The market is probably the toughest it has been in Lancashire’s history, but we have the right people, the right strategy and the right platforms to manage the cycle.

“As a long-standing leader in the specialty insurance and reinsurance lines, the silver lining of the highly competitive market is the ability for Lancashire to maintain its core inwards portfolio while managing net exposures through greatly improved pricing, terms and conditions on the outward placements.

“Lancashire has always said that we focus on the risk-adjusted return and our net risk for both catastrophe and non-catastrophe exposures is now at an historically low level.”

The firm also showed net investment income of $6.7 million in the third quarter of this year — a 9.8 percent increase on the third quarter of 2013.

The firm said that the quarter had seen some losses with a combined ratio of 82.4 percent, but overall, the year to date combined ratio of 74.5 percent is a very strong result.

Mr Maloney added: “Given the nature of the Lancashire portfolio, individual quarters can fluctuate on the basis if events that are not truly significant on an annual review.”

And he said: “The market is not without challenges but the Lancashire business model was always designed in the knowledge that we have to cater for all phases of the cycle.

“The work we have done over the last couple of years in widening the base of our income and adding to our underwriting resources reinforces our ability to trade successfully through all conditions.

“We are continuing to match our capital to the available opportunity and the current repurchase of our shares, as well as the announcement of our special dividend, are a continuing demonstration of the active management of our business throughout the cycle.”