Property catastrophe reinsurance company, IPC Holdings, Ltd., improved operating income per share by nearly 18 percent to $1.06 and declared a first quarter profit to March 31 of $27,512,000, a marginal increase of less than two percent over the same period a year ago.

The net income included realised gains and losses from the sale of investments.

IPC's subsidiary, International Property Catastrophe Reinsurance Co., Ltd.

(IPC Re) also provides, to a limited extent, marine, aviation, property-per-risk excess and other short-tail property reinsurance on a worldwide basis.

The successful quarter came after an increase in premium writings of nearly $10 million, including new premium of $4.1 million from the California Earthquake Authority.

New business and larger signings on existing business more than offset the effect of continuing rate reductions.

President and CEO, John Dowling, was pleased the company was able to continue to grow premium, despite the ongoing competitive environment and soft market.

He said, "Recent renewals have continued to see a softening of rates, generally in the range of ten to 15 percent, but by as much as 20 percent or more in some cases.

"Our continued growth reflects the confidence that our clients place in the security we offer, and our long-term, strategic approach to developing relationships with those clients, who value the strength of our disciplined underwriting.

"Our growth has also been assisted by our increased financial strength. We have clearly benefited from the quarter being comparatively quiet in terms of claims, and this should not be considered indicative of claims experience from the balance of the year.

"However, I believe that IPC has also benefited from focusing on its objectives and on risk-adjusted returns to shareholders.'' IPC Re wrote $71.4 million in premium for the quarter, compared to $61.8 million in the first quarter of last year. Premiums earned increased by about $600,000 to $28.6 million when compared to the same quarter a year before.

Net investment income was up 13 percent to $7.6 million, due to a higher investment yield and an 8.4 percent larger investment base.

Losses incurred were $2.5 million, or 8.7 percent of premiums earned.

Acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses were $4.9 million or 17.4 percent of earned premiums.

There was very little claim activity during the quarter, with the majority of incurred losses being reserves established for current year property, marine and aviation business, offset by reductions from prior year claims.

Total assets at March 31 were $605.3 million, an increase of 10.4 percent over total assets three months before.

The company's board on Friday declared an extraordinary dividend of $1 per share, in addition to the quarterly dividend of $0.3175 per share.

Chief financial officer, John Weale, said that in view of the company's continuing growth in premium volume and its excellent results, the board felt an extraordinary dividend was appropriate.

He said, "We are mindful of our responsibilities to shareholders, and our long term strategy of capital management.''