Allied World Assurance Company Holdings posted record annual net income of $665 million, as chief executive officer Scott Carmilani said the re/insurer's domicile move from Bermuda to Switzerland had helped to improve the firm's positioning for the future.Net earnings fell 42 percent for the fourth quarter to $92.8 million compared to $161.3 million in the same quarter of 2009. Earnings per share of $2.24 exceeded the $1.95 forecast of analysts polled by Bloomberg.Allied's full-year earnings were up nearly 10 percent from 2009's $606.9 million.The company said its fourth-quarter results were hit by $21.4 million of net losses from “major loss driven events”.Diluted book value per share rose by almost 25 percent during 2010 to $74.29.“The insurance industry continued to face significant hurdles throughout 2010,” Mr Carmilani said in the earnings statement.“In addition to the heightened rate pressure caused by strong competition and an overabundance of capacity, multiple global catastrophes increased loss costs while generally weak economic conditions posed additional challenges. In spite of these factors, we are very proud of our financial, strategic and operational accomplishments throughout the year.“We grew book value per share by 25%, producing a record net income of $665 million for the year. Just as importantly, we've improved our positioning for the future by redomiciling our holding company to Switzerland, establishing our own Lloyd's Syndicate 2232 for broader distribution, and further diversifying our products and service capabilities, while lowering our dependence on more volatile segments of the market.“In aggregate, these initiatives have helped us generate $197 million in gross revenues from new products and geographies that allowed us to modestly increase our gross premiums written by four percent for the year.”Gross premiums written for the fourth quarter were $381.9 million, an increase of 18.6 percent from the $322.1 million written by Allied in the last three months of 2009. Over the full year, gross premiums written rose 3.7 percent, to $1.78 billion from $1.7 billion.Underwriting operations were profitable in the fourth quarter, with a combined ratio of 82.8 percent, compared to 76.2 percent in the prior year. This was was helped by the release of $73.9 million in reserves from prior loss years, which benefited the combined ratio by 21.6 points.“We were also very successful on the capital management front during 2010 as we took advantage of our depressed valuation position and deployed significant excess capital to the benefit of our shareholders,” Mr Carmilani said.“The company begins 2011 in a strong capital position, which provides security to our current policyholders while leaving us with the flexibility to pursue additional potential opportunities for profitable growth.”