Aspen Insurance Holdings yesterday reported profits of $117.9 million for the final quarter of last year.

The figure is equivalent to $1.75 per share and up more than $50 million on the $67.2 million recorded for the same period the year before.

Operating income totalled $84 million, or $1.21 per share, for the same period. That fell short of the $1.29 per share forecast of analysts tracked by Yahoo Finance.

Chris O’Kane, chief executive officer of Aspen, said 2015 was “a year of significant progress across Aspen”.

“We continued to diversify further our reinsurance and insurance operations, expanding both by product and geography,” Mr O’Kane said.

“Aspen Re had a very successful year in the face of market conditions that remain challenging, delivering an excellent performance with growth focused on the specialty and other property sub-segments.

“Our insurance business continued to find opportunities for profitable growth, primarily in the US and select international markets.”

The latest figures put the net income for the firm for the full year at $323.1 million, down from the $355.8 million for 2014.

Gross written premiums for the fourth quarter went up by 3.2 per cent to $634.8 million compared to the $615.4 million logged for the same period the year before.

Mr O’Kane said: “Looking to the next chapter for expanding our business, we recently launched our global insurance product lines strategy which, we believe, will create opportunities to deploy products more widely, increase scale where we choose and bring us closer to our brokers and clients.

“Our aim is to deliver consistent, high-quality returns across all cycles.”

The company announced last month it had bought out AgriLogic, a specialist US crop insurer and agricultural consultancy.

Mr O’Kane said: “As we grow the Aspen business, we remain committed to driving efficiency and consistency across our company to generate increased profitability over the long-term.”