Validus Holdings last night reported net income of $162.4 million for the first quarter — a fall of 27 percent from the $223.2 million recorded in the same period of 2013.

Aided by a lack of catastrophe claims, the Bermuda Class of 2005 reinsurer achieved a 17.7 percent annualised return on average equity.

Operating income of $146.1 million, or $1.49 per share, fell just short of the $1.51 consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Yahoo Finance.

Validus’ chairman and chief executive officer Ed Noonan said: “Validus delivered very solid results for the first quarter of 2014. The company had $162.4 million in net income, 4.6 percent growth in book value per diluted share inclusive of dividends and a 17.7 percent annualised return on average equity.

“While there is clearly competition in the re/insurance industry, Validus’ size, scale and our willingness to share analytical insights with our customers allows us to maintain a preferred position in the marketplace.”

The company said there were no notable loss events during the quarter.

Validus wrote less business in the first three months of the year as gross premiums written fell 8.4 percent to $1.01 billion, compared to $1.1billion for the first quarter of 2013.

The combined ratio — the proportion of premium dollars spent on claims and expenses — was 68.3 percent, which included $39.4 million of favourable loss reserve development on prior accident years, benefiting the loss ratio by 8.2 percentage points. That compared to a combined ratio of 60.5 percent last year.

As at March 31, 2014, total shareholders’ equity was $4.2 billion including $540.9 million of non-controlling interest. Shareholders’ equity available to Validus was $3.6 billion as at March 31, 2014.

Book value per diluted common share was $37.58 at March 31, 2014, compared to $36.23 at the end of last year.

During the quarter Validus spent $197.3 million repurchasing 5.4 million of its shares.