Hurricanes Gustav and Ike took their toll on Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd. as the insurer reported a net loss of $43.5 million, or 99 cents per share, during the third quarter of 2008.

Platinum slipped from a profit of $91.3 million for the same period last year, mainly due to storm losses estimated at around $120 million, net of reinstatement premiums and tax benefit.

The company also recorded other-than-temporary impairments and realised losses of $18.2 million associated with certain securities held in Platinum's investment portfolio during the three months ending September 30.

The results for the quarter include net premiums earned of $280.7 million, a decrease of 3.3 percent from the same quarter last year, net favourable development of $32 million, compared with net favourable development of $13.4 million for the same quarter in 2007.

Platinum posted net investment income of $48 million, a decrease of 11.5 percent over the same period.

Michael Price, chief executive officer of Platinum, said: "Significant catastrophe activity and the impact of the global financial crisis on our investment portfolio adversely affected our results in the quarter.

"Our book value per share was $33.64 as of September 30, 2008, a decrease of 9.1 percent for the quarter and a decrease of 1.2 percent for the nine months ending September 30, 2008.

"Our outlook for market conditions is cautiously optimistic. Given the challenging state of the credit and equity markets, we expect increasing demand for reinsurance.

"However, reinsurers may be reluctant to provide capacity without appropriate rate increases. We believe we are well capitalised and have the financial strength to continue writing a significant multi-class reinsurance portfolio and buying back shares, provided the business performs as expected."