Bermuda re/insurer Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd swung to a profit of nearly $79 million, despite taking a hit from claims related to the Italian cruise ship disaster.Aspen also wrote more business and its operating earnings of 88 cents per share handily beat the average 69 cents per share expectations of analysts polled by Bloomberg.Aspen CEO Chris O’Kane said there were “numerous signs that the market is firming” and described the company’s first-quarter performance as “encouraging”.Last night the company reported net income of $78.7 million for the first three months of the year, compared to a net loss of $152.8 million in the same period last year, when it paid out on catastrophes including the Japan earthquake and tsunami.The company also saw its share price climb 72 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $28.32 during regular trading hours in New York yesterday, after it announced an increase in its quarterly dividend. The company raised its 15 cents per share payout to shareholders to 17 cents, representing a 13 percent increase.The Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster hit Aspen with net losses of $27 million during the quarter, while there were also $16.9 million in losses resulting from tornadoes and storms in the US.In its earnings statement, Aspen said trading highlights in the quarter included areas of improved pricing, especially in loss-affected and peak-zone property lines.The company said its reinsurance segment performed strongly and recorded a loss ratio of 50 percent with good performance in each of the property, casualty and specialty lines.Aspen CEO Chris O’Kane said: “Our overall results this quarter are encouraging on a number of fronts. The quarter saw strong performance in reinsurance whereas insurance results were impacted by the Costa Concordia event.“We continue to execute our strategy of ensuring that our capital, products and people are well aligned with our customers, especially those who are paying good or improving prices for our products.“Throughout the first quarter of 2012 we continued to build capital, further strengthening our balance sheet with a preferred stock issuance in April, and we remain very confident in our financial flexibility.“There are numerous signs that the market is firming, and we are well positioned to deploy our capital to profitable underwriting or share repurchases.”Combined ratio, the proportion of premium dollars spent on claims and expenses, was 93.8 percent compared with 148.7 percent in the same period last year. The Costa Concordia event represented 6.3 points on the combined ratio.Net investment income for the quarter was $52.4 million, compared with $55.5 million in the first quarter of 2011.Aspen reaffirmed its outlook for 2012 for gross written premiums to be $2.3 billion, plus or minus five percent, and a combined ratio in the range of 93 percent to 98 percent including a catastrophe load of $150 million.Diluted book value per share of $38.58 was up 5.8 percent from the first quarter of 2011 and up one percent from the end of 2011, while annualised net income return on average equity was 10.4 percent and annualised operating return on average equity was 9.2 percent for the first quarter.Gross written premiums of $782.1 million for the first quarter of 2012 compared with $671.3 million for the first quarter of 2011, representing an increase of 16.5 percent.