PartnerRe continued the excellent second quarter being had by the Bermuda insurance market, reporting an “exceptional” quarter at close of trade last night.

And its chief executive officer Patrick Thiele said that the multi-line insurer had set a new record for operating income, at $84.2 million or $1.57 per share on a fully diluted basis.

In the same quarter in 2002, PartnerRe reported operating earnings of $71.3 million, or $1.38 per share.

“We had an exceptional second quarter,” said Mr. Thiele.

“In addition to setting a new record for operating income, we continued to achieve significant levels of written premium and book value growth, clearly indicating that we are benefiting from both our operating strategies and the current attractive market conditions.” Operating earnings, which exclude net realised investment gains or losses and are calculated after payment of preferred dividends and include the impact of the refinancing of the series A preferred shares and the expense related to stock incentives during this quarter in 2003.

For the three months ended June 30, 2003, net income was $121.9 million, or $2.00 per share on a fully diluted basis and includes a net after-tax realised gain on investments of $23.1 million or $0.43 per share.

This quarter's per share result includes one-time preferred share charges of $9.6 million or $0.18 per share relating to the issuance of new series C preferred shares and redemption of the series A preferred shares.

Net income for the second quarter of 2002, including a net after-tax realised loss on investments of $9.7 million or $0.19 per share, was $66.6 million or $1.19 per share.

Net premiums written for the second quarter were $838.9 million, a 49 percent increase over the comparable period in 2002.

Total revenues increased 54 percent in the quarter to $952.9 million, including $862.8 million of net premiums earned an increase of 53 percent, net investment income of $63.8 million an increase of 7 percent, and net realised investment gains of $24.5 million.

For the second quarter of 2002, revenues were $620.3 million, with $565.7 million of net premiums earned, net investment income of $59.5 million, and net realised investment losses of $6.3 million.

“Growth in net written premium during the second quarter continued to be strong, representing a 49 percent increase over the second quarter of 2002,” Mr. Thiele said. “Given our strong second quarter growth on top of the 50 percent growth in the first three months of 2003, we now expect a higher level of growth for 2003, closer to 30 percent.

“Again, this level of growth reflects our solid and differentiated market position, both in the US and in Europe,” Mr. Thiele continued. “It is indicative of our ability to attract quality business across a diversified portfolio of reinsurance lines, our broad geographical spread and the access we have to both the direct and broker markets.

“Our Non-Life segment continued to perform very well, with a combined ratio of 92.6 percent. This represents the high volume of profitable business written over the last several quarters, and a moderate level of catastrophe losses during the quarter.

“In the Life segment, we continued to take advantage of opportunities in European life business, virtually doubling life premiums for the first six months of 2003 over the comparable period in 2002. We are confident we are building value which will benefit our income statement in future periods.” Mr Thiele added that virtually all of their operations were performing well this year, which is the company's tenth anniversary. He added that the current market was allowing PartnerRe to demonstrate its strengths in underwriting, financial capacity and client relationships.

He added: “These strengths were exhibited in our July 1 renewals where we experienced 17 percent growth in estimated premium production over the expiring premium base. The growth of well-priced business plus expected growth in our non-life investment income account makes us optimistic about results through this year and next.