Bosses at Everest Re are on top of the world after posting record earnings of $1.3 billion for last year.

The firm notched also notched up a 20 percent return on equity and a 12 percent increase in the book value of its shares for the year.

Everest Re president and CEO Dominic Addesso said: “This is certainly a reflection of the effort over the last several years to position the company for profitable growth.”

And he predicted: “We continue to strategically manoeuvre through a challenging marketplace and are confident that the portfolio we put together post-January renewals can produce another strong year in 2014.”

Gross written premiums jumped more than a fifth for the year, reaching $5.2 billion, with reinsurance premiums up 21 percent and direct insurance premiums up by 18 percent.

The firm also recorded net investment income of $548.5 million for last year — which included limited partnership income of $46.9 million.

And net pre-tax catastrophe losses totalled $177.7 million.

The after-tax operating income return on average adjusted shareholders’ equity was 16.5 percent and net income return on equity was 19.5 percent.

Shareholders’ equity ended 2013 at $7 billion, up 3.5 percent on the $6.7 billion recorded for the year before.

Over 2013, the company also repurchased 4.7 million common shares for a total cost of nearly $622 million.

The Everest Re Group is a Bermuda holding company that operates through several subsidiaries in Bermuda, the UK, US, Canada and Ireland.