Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings announced its earnings results late last night — beating Wall Street expectations.The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.13 by 35 cents.Endurance reported a $63.4 million profit for the second quarter of this year, citing light catastrophe losses and improving property and casualty (P&C) market conditions.The reinsurer’s net income of $1.48 per share for the second quarter compares to its reported net income of $41.1 million, or 87 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2011.Underwriting operations were profitable with a combined ratio of 92.5 percent, which included 3.8 percentage points of favourable prior year loss reserve development and 2.7 percentage points of catastrophe losses from current quarter events.CEO David Cash cited improved underwriting margins within the company’s insurance and reinsurance segments compared to a year ago.“Our results this quarter reflect relatively light catastrophe losses and improving P&C market conditions which led to improved underwriting margins,” said Mr Cash. “Through successful growth initiatives and favourable renewals, we were able to grow our agriculture insurance, catastrophe reinsurance and casualty reinsurance businesses in the quarter while maintaining underwriting discipline in the current market.”Commenting on current drought conditions and the company’s crop insurance business, Mr Cash said that while they do expect it will have an adverse impact on the company’s earnings in the second half of the year, Endurance’s crop insurance business is well diversified by crop and geography.“Our strong positions in the Southern states where irrigation is more prevalent and in parts of the northern and western corn belt of the Midwest where drought conditions currently have not been as severe will likely help mitigate the adverse impact of the drought claims we expect to receive in the central and eastern corn belt of the Midwest.”Endurance wrote more business in the second quarter of 2012, recording gross premiums written of $604.1 million compared to $502.9 million in the second quarter of 2011 — primarily driven by the agriculture and catastrophe reinsurance segments.Net investment income was $31.8 million, a decrease of $8.1 million from a year earlier.Endurance ended the quarter with diluted book value per share of $53.48, an increase of 3.0 percent for the quarter and 5.8 percent from the year-end 2011.Endurance’s shareholders’ equity was $2.75 billion, or $53.48 per share, versus $2.61 billion, or $50.56 per share, at December 31, 2011. For the quarter and six months ending on June 30, 2012, Endurance declared and paid common dividends of 31 cents and 62 cents per share respectively.