Axis Capital made a profit of $43 million, or 52 cents per share in the third quarter, compared to a loss of $468 million for the same period in 2017. Its operating income was $81 million, or 96 cents per share, which easily beat analysts’ estimates of 69 cents.

Gross premiums written were $1.4 billion, a rise of 20 per cent. There was a 49 per cent increase in the insurance segment, mostly as a result of Axis’ acquisition of the Novae Group last year.

Adjusting for the impact of Novae, Bermudian-based Axis had a $92 million, or 8 per cent, decrease in gross written premiums.

Albert Benchimol, president and chief executive officer of Axis Capital, said: “In the third quarter, we continued to see positive momentum, as our efforts to optimise our business and invest in growing our market leadership have generated real traction.

“We advanced our positioning and relevance in key markets requiring our specialist expertise and are seeing ongoing benefits from the further integration of Novae into our business. We also continued to drive forward the implementation of our transformation programme, which is helping to improve our efficiency and position Axis to be profitable under a wide range of market conditions.”

Axis’ combined ratio was 97.9 per cent, down from 152.9 per cent year-on-year.

Adjusted for dividends, book value per diluted common share increased 62 cents, or 1 per cent, compared to the end of June.