Bermuda insurance giant ACE Ltd. saw its second-quarter profits, excluding a number of items, fall due to claims for damage from a series of natural catastrophes during the three months.

The company was hit by $55 million or 23 cents a share after taxes, with losses coming from storms including tropical storm Allison in June and storms hitting the Midwest of the US.

But ACE's chairman and chief executive officer, Brian Duperreault said that it was a very good quarter for the company, pointing to the industry-wide recovery in insurance prices.

Earlier this month ACE warned that its profits would be hit by the storms.

According to estimates from the Property Claims Services unit of the Insurance Services Office, catastrophic events which occurred during the quarter are expected to cause about $4.4 billion of insured loss, making April-June the worst quarter in the last ten years.

ACE Ltd., which provides insurance and reinsurance globally and is about to open its new world headquarters in Hamilton, reported operating profits, excluding realised investment gains and nonrecurring expenses, of $115.4 million, or 45 cents per share. That compares with $140.1 million, or 61 cents per share, in last year's second quarter.

According to Reuters news agency, the results met Wall Street's lowered forecast of between 40 cents and 65 cents per share, with a mean of 46 cents, according to analysts polled by research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.

Analysts cut their estimates from between 60 to 70 cents per share after ACE warned of heavy storm claims earlier this month.

Including investment gains and non-recurring expenses, the company's net income rose to $131.5 million, or 52 cents per share, from $113.9 million, or 49 cents per share, a year earlier.

Mr. Duperreault, said: "This was really a very good quarter for us held back only by an unusual number of catastrophes which adversely impacted us primarily in areas where we had a comparatively high market penetration.

"We are actively taking advantage of a global recovery in insurance prices which has permeated nearly every sector of our business."

Global premiums written during the year increased by 23 percent to $2.4 billion, compared with $2 billion for the comparable quarter last year.