Hit in the fourth quarter by losses from Hurricane Georges, Bermuda-based catastrophe reinsurer LaSalle Re Holdings declared income of $65.2 million for the year ended September 30, a 46 percent drop from 1997 results.

The $65.2 million is before minority interest is calculated, and includes net realised gains on investments.

For the fourth quarter LaSalle lost $4.6 million, compared with income of $23 million in the same period last year. LaSalle paid out losses and loss expenses of $43.3 million during the fourth quarter, or 132.2 percent of net premiums earned.

LaSalle chairman, president and chief executive officer Victor Blake noted that insurers' catastrophe losses in the US for the first nine months of the 1998 calendar year are estimated at $8.3 billion, about three times the total for all of 1997.

"The year has shown both severity and frequency of catastrophe losses unmatched since the inception of the company five years ago,'' Mr. Blake stated in a press release.

The company wrote gross premiums of $155.3 million during the fiscal year, compared with $171.4 million in 1997. Losses and loss expenses for the year were $95.5 million, or 61.8 percent of net premiums earned, compared with $31.2 million or 19 percent of net premiums earned in fiscal 1997.

The company also announced it had renewed its underwriting relationship with CNA in October. Under the agreement underwriting functions will be undertaken by LaSalle Re. CNA's employees in Bermuda have been transferred to LaSalle under the agreement.

"This reflects the maturation of the company and its capability to build its own infrastructure,'' Mr. Blake said.

Hurricane Georges this summer caused an estimated $2.5 billion in insured property damage in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and four Gulf Coast states.