Bermuda-based White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd reported net income of $52 million for the third quarter — slightly down from $57 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

Ray Barrette, the group’s chairman and chief executive officer, described the July through September period as “a flat quarter”, although he described the results of reinsurance subsidiary Sirius as “excellent”.

“Investment returns were lacklustre as a small gain in bonds was offset by a loss in equities and a $7 per share loss from currency,” Mr Barrette said.

“OneBeacon had a solid quarter with a 95 percent combined ratio and is on track to close the run-off sale in the fourth quarter.

“Sirius Group results continue to be excellent as they reported a 79 percent combined ratio. BAM’s insured portfolio topped $10 billion of par outstanding, although pricing remains below target.”

White Mountains’ prefereed gauge of performance is book value, which was $666 per share, little changed for the third quarter and up 3.8 percent for the first nine months of the year, including dividends.

Sirius wrote gross written premiums of $261 million during the quarter, up ten percent from last year. It suffered $15 million of catastrophe losses, including $4 million from hurricane Odile and $4 million from hailstorms in Bulgaria.

“Despite a difficult market environment, written premiums exceed prior year for both the quarter and nine months, reflecting the strength of our long-term partnerships across the globe,” Sirius CEO Allan Waters said.

The group’s municipal bond insurer BAM insured $1.9 billion of municipal bonds, $1.8 billion of which were in the primary market, up more than 60 percent from the third quarter of last year.

Insurer OneBeacon recorded net written premiums of $346 million in the third quarter, up ten percent from the same period last year.