Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd’s profits were up more than $45 million during the second quarter of this year, thanks to a nominal level of property catastrophe event losses.The company also indicated that it expects to see a net underwriting loss of $15 million to $25 million in the third quarter from crop insurance claims resulting from the drought affecting large areas of the US.The re/insurer posted a net income of $78.9 million, or 77 cents per share, for the quarter, compared to $32.6 million, or 30 cents per share, for the same period last year.Major catastrophe events took their toll on the company last year — it reported a net loss of $14.1 million in the first six months of 2011. This year however, the company is reporting a net income of $158 million for the first half.Alterra also beat Wall Street expectations with a second quarter net operating income of $69 million, or 68 cents per share, compared to the same period of 2011 when it reported a net income of $39.6 million, or 37 cents a share. Analysts estimated earnings per share at 58 cents. They also estimated revenues of $405.2 million, but the company beat that too, reporting revenues of $420 million.Annualised net operating return on average shareholders’ equity for the second quarter of 2012 was 9.7 percent.“We are pleased to report another solid quarter for Alterra. Despite a challenging market environment, we achieved an annualised net operating return on equity close to ten percent for the quarter, while continuing to maintain a conservative philosophy on our newer product lines and teams,” said Marty Becker, president and CEO of Alterra.“While we would prefer to see rates increasing at a faster pace, we are pleased that overall firming continues. Over the last 12 months, we have supplemented our 7.7 percent operating return on equity with significant share repurchases at a discount to diluted book value, contributing to a 12.5 percent increase in diluted book value per share, including dividends, since June 30, 2011.“We expect to continue to use share repurchases as an important capital management tool for maximising shareholder value until rate increases enable us to more effectively deploy any excess capital in our underwriting operations.”The global speciality re/insurer wrote only slightly more property and casualty business for the first three months of this year compared to last with gross premiums written up from $563.9 million in Q2 of 2011 to $565.8 million in Q2 of 2012.Alterra’s net premiums written decreased 11.8 percent to $376.1 million compared to the same quarter of 2011. The company says the decrease reflects increased property reinsurance premiums ceded in order to manage aggregate property exposures across all segments.The insurer reported a combined ratio on property and casualty business of 86.6 percent compared to 93.7 percent in the second quarter of 2011.