Arch Capital Group Ltd made a profit of $233.2 million, or 56 cents per share, in the second quarter. That is up from $173.8 million year-on-year.

The Bermudian-based company’s after-tax operating income was $242.6 million, up from $168.9 million. That represented an operating income per share of 59 cents, which outperformed a Zacks census estimate by 13. 5 per cent.

Gross premiums written were up 5.4 per cent at $1.696 billion, while the combined ratio fell 1.9 per cent to 82.7 per cent. Combined ratio excluding catastrophic activity and prior year development was 84 per cent.

The company reported $14.9 million of pre-tax current accident year catastrophic losses, net of reinsurance and reinstatement premiums.

The book value of Arch Capital’s common shares at the end of June was $20.68, a rise of 1.3 per cent in the second quarter, and 4.1 per cent in the trailing 12 months.

The company repurchased 6.4 million shares, valued at $170.3 million in total, during the quarter. At the end of June it had $272.9 million of share repurchases remaining and available for buy back under its current authorised programme.