Montpelier Re chief Christopher Harris yesterday said his firm was performing well on its own — even as larger rivals are merging in a tough reinsurance market.

Mr Harris said: “We’ve always said we try and focus on being better not bigger.”

And Mr Harris added the firm’s relatively small size meant it could manoeuvre faster than larger competitors.

He said: “And I think in this marketplace our size does bring us some advantages in terms of again, having shorter lines of communication.

“We think we can be more nimble than some other competitors out there.”

Mr Harris, president and CEO of Montpelier, was speaking during a conference call to discuss Montpelier Re’s 2014 fourth quarter and year end results with analysts.

He said: “And I think it’s a stage in the market cycle where it’s very easy to become unfocused and kind of stray from your core underwriting expertise and you could run into trouble if you do that.

“So we’re very pleased with where we are right now and we are going to stay extremely focused on executing our plan.”

The firm reported operating income of $60.3 million for the last quarter of 2014, equivalent to $1.34 on income per common share.

The share income result beat the average estimate by analysts of $1.04 for the last quarter of 2014.

Montpelier said net premiums written in the fourth quarter of 2014 were 20 per cent up year on year — with a decline in premiums written by the Bermuda arm of the business offset by increases in Montpelier’s Lloyd’s of London and collateralised reinsurance sectors.

The report said its Blue Capital subsidiary had seen steady growth in capital under management to a total of $790 million.

Montpelier, which has a market capitalisation of just over $1.6 billion, has often been cited by industry observers as a likely takeover target.

XL Group, now based in Ireland but which started operations in Bermuda in the 1980s, has announced a $4 billion plus merger with Island-based Catlin, which will create a combined company worth about $12 billion.

Axis Capital Holdings is to merge with PartnerRe, which will create a group with market capitalisation of nearly $11 billion, which will make it the world’s fifth-biggest property and casualty reinsurer.

And RenaissanceRe earlier revealed it had struck a deal to acquire fellow Bermuda reinsurer Platinum in a $1.9 million deal.