Bermuda-based re/insurer Catlin Group Ltd posted a $201 million loss in the first half of the year after record claims from natural catastrophes, the company announced today.The loss compared with a profit of $86 million in the year-earlier period, as Catlin counted the cost of $534 million in natural disaster losses in the first six months of the year.Japan’s biggest earthquake on record as well as flooding in Australia and earthquakes in New Zealand were behind most of the losses.The firm still expects to report a profit for the full year as premium rates increase, the company’s CEO Stephen Catlin said. The company raised its first-half dividend to 9 pence a share, from 8.6 pence a year earlier.The insurer also said Graham Hearne will step down as chairman in May 2012 and will be succeeded by John Barton, chairman of Next and Cable & Wireless Worldwide, who will join the firm as a director on December 1.At 3.44pm UK time Catlin’s shares were down 11.7 pence at 381.4 pence.