Shares of White Mountains Insurance Group fell slightly yesterday after the re/insurance group announced that net income slid 17 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.

The Bermuda-based company, whose operations include insurer One Beacon, reinsurer Sirius Group and bond insurer BAM, said net income available to common shareholders was $95.6 million, compared to $120.4 million in the same period of last year.

Chief executive officer Ray Barrette declared a “good start to the year” as the group recorded a 2.2 percent increase in book value, including dividends, to $656.

In New York trading yesterday, after the earnings announcement, White Mountains shares fell $2.15, or 0.36 percent, to close on $587.85.

Mr Barrette said: “It was a good start to the year. Our investment portfolio gained 1.1 percent with steady results from our short, safe fixed income portfolio and a nice outperformance on the equity side.

“OneBeacon grew book value by four percent with a combined ratio of 89 percent and net written premium growth of 17 percent. Sirius Group reported a combined ratio of 73 percent and had a successful January 1, 2014 renewal season.

“BAM continues its advance, guaranteeing $1.5 billion of par in the quarter, well above last year’s first quarter. The interest rate on the BAM surplus notes was adjusted from a fixed rate of eight percent to a floating rate of 300 basis points above the one-year treasury to reflect current market conditions. We reached agreements on a number of smaller but high potential insurance marketing/technology investments with more in the works.”

OneBeacon CEO Mike Miller reported that premiums in his segment rose 17 percent, “reflecting new business momentum and nice contributions from our newer business units”.

He said growth was driven by strong contributions from n the company’s newer units OneBeacon Program Group, OneBeacon Surety Group and OneBeacon Crop Insurance, as well as from OneBeacon Technology Insurance.

Mr Miller added: “We remain focused on closing the sale of our run-off business in the second half of the year and are well-positioned to continue building our specialty platform.”

The first quarter of 2014 also includes a $5 million tax benefit to OneBeacon relating to the settlement of the IRS examination for tax years 2005 and 2006.

Sirius Group’s GAAP combined ratio was 73 percent compared to 81 percent for the first quarter of last year. The improvement was driven by better loss reserve development of five points, the company said.

First quarter 2014 gross premiums of $453 million were essentially flat compared to the first quarter of last year, as increases in the accident and health line offset decreases in the property and trade credit lines.

In the first quarter of 2014, BAM guaranteed more than $1.5 billion of municipal bonds, $1.3 billion of which were in the primary market, up more than 50 percent from the first quarter of last year. As of March 31, 2014, BAM’s total claims paying resources were approximately $583 million on total insured par outstanding (including policies priced but not yet closed) of $6.2 billion.