Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings reported a modest operating income of $25.7 million for the third quarter tempered by US crop losses.Beating estimates polled by Yahoo Finance, Endurance reported operating income of 60 cents per common share, though, posted a net underwriting loss of $62.8 million in its agriculture insurance business line due to the Midwest drought.Net income was $31.9 million for the quarter compared to a net loss of $28.2 million for the same period last year.“Strong investment portfolio performance, favourable reserve development and solid underwriting profits in several of our insurance and reinsurance lines meaningfully offset our drought related agriculture insurance losses this quarter, which enabled us to generate a modest underwriting profit, illustrating the benefits of our diversified insurance and reinsurance business model,” said David Cash, CEO.“Looking forward, we believe the heavy agriculture claims volumes and service requirements stemming from the Midwestern drought will present us with an additional opportunity to showcase our industry leading service and technology in agriculture insurance.”Endurance’s combined ratio of 99.5 percent included 10.1 percentage points of favourable prior year loss reserve development, 2.4 percentage points of catastrophe losses from 2012 events and the quarter’s crop losses.The company wrote less business during the quarter — reporting $621.3 million of gross premium written compared to $700.9 million in 2011.Net premiums written in the insurance segment decreased $81.9 million due to declines in agriculture, property and casualty premiums, offset in part by growth in professional lines premiums.Endurance’s reinsurance segment posted a $44.7 million increase in net premiums written compared to the third quarter of 2011 primarily due to increases within the property and casualty lines of business, partially offset by a modest decline in the catastrophe line of business.Endurance’s net investment income for the quarter was $45.9 million, up $31.8 million from the same period last year.The company’s book value per share was $54.95 at quarter end, an increase of 2.7 percent.