Bermuda-based property catastrophe reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has declared net income of $156,160,000 or $6.01 per share for the year to December 31, a 4.1 percent drop from the previous year of $162,780,000 or $6.75 per share.

The year-end results came after an improved fourth quarter net income of $41.2 million (1995: $40.3 million).

Chairman, president and CEO, James N. Stanard, stated, "I am pleased that we were able to continue to generate attractive net income and return on equity (30.2 percent) during 1996, despite the increasing competition in our market.

"In response to this competition, we continued to `raise the bar' on customer service and have continued to strengthen our organisation to achieve this.'' Net operating income, excluding realised investment gains and losses, increased to $41.4 million (1995: $39.7 million) for the fourth quarter and was slightly lower for the full year at $159.1 million (1995: $160.5 million).

Gross premiums written for the fourth quarter improved from $16 million in 1995 to $16.8 million for the same three months in 1996. For the year, they were down 7.8 percent from $292.6 million in 1995 to $269.9 million for 1996.

Net premiums earned for the quarter were down from $74.3 million to $65.7 million, and for the year decreased 12.5 percent to $252.8 million from $288.9 million.

The company reported improvement in the combined ratio which was 51.2 percent for the 1996 fourth quarter (1995: 57.2 percent) and 51.3 percent for the full year of 1996 (1995: 52 percent).

Net investment income, excluding realised gains and losses, improved for the fourth quarter of the comparative periods from $9.1 million to $11.3 million.

Net investment income improved 36.8 percent year over year from $32.3 million for all of 1995 to $44.2 million for all of 1996.

Shareholders' equity stood at $546.2 million at December 31, up from $486.3 million a year before. Book value per share improved over the same period from $18.99 to $23.21.

RenaissanceRe spent $71.9 million in repurchasing 2.1 million shares at $34.50 per share during the fourth quarter. The company has also commenced a $28.1-million tender offer for an additional 800,000 shares at the same price, which expires today, unless extended.

The repurchase and tender offer will return $100 million of capital to shareholders. As a result of the December repurchase, the number of common shares outstanding at December 31 was 23.5 million, compared to 25.6 million a year before.

Mr. Stanard said, "The common share repurchases are an integral component of the company's continuing capital management programme, and while they did not impact 1996 earnings per share, the repurchases will be accretive in 1997.''