(Bloomberg) ? Catlin Group Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty insurer and re-insurer, said first-half profit climbed 89 percent, helped by its UK and corporate-insurance units. The shares advanced. Net income rose to $95.8 million, or $1.10 a share, from $50.7 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier, the insurer said. Gross premiums written rose 25 percent to $935.3 million. Founded in 1984 by chief executive Stephen Catlin, the company first sold shares to the public in April this year, raising $182 million after expenses to support underwriting. Gross premiums written were boosted by Catlin UK, a provider of property and casualty insurance for companies that Catlin started in January.

?A lot of the growth we?ve experienced in 2004 is coming from Catlin Bermuda and Catlin UK,? Stephen Catlin said. The two units generated 27 percent of the company?s gross premiums in the first half, compared with 17 percent a year earlier.