yesterday with net income down ten percent to $69 million from $77 million a year ago.

And Partner Re executives said they did not expect the past two months' catastrophes like the hailstorm in Sydney, Australia and the tornadoes in Oklahoma to have a "major impact'' on the next quarter's results.

But they admitted in a statement it was "too early at this juncture to provide an estimate of the actual expected losses from these events''.

The company posted diluted net income per share for the quarter of $1.15 -- a drop from $1.25 for 1998's first quarter.

For the three months ended March 31 operating earnings available to common shareholders were $61.8 million or $1.11 per share compared to $62.8 million or $1.08 per share for the first quarter of 1998.

On the final day of the quarter total assets were $7.7 billion while shareholders' equity was $2.1 billion and diluted book value per common share increased to $33.97 from $33.53 at the close of the previous quarter.

The board of directors also declared a regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents per common share payable on June 1 to shareholders of record on May 21.

With the quarter's results including those of Winterthur Re operations for the first time, net premiums earned climbed to $408.1 million from $168.3 million for the same quarter last year.

Net investment income also rose to $72.9 million with net realised investment gains of $3.7 million, compared to $40.1 million and $17.1 million in 1998's first quarter.

President and CEO Herbert Haag said the company had undergone significant change as it diversified and expanded through two major acquisitions in less than two years.

"In the current competitive market conditions it is clear to us that the best use of our capital is to continue to invest in our share repurchase programme,'' he said.

"In addition to the 562,100 shares and warrants bought back in the first quarter, we purchased 836,000 shares and 332,000 warrants during April for a total of 1.7 million shares and warrants repurchased to date this year.'' He said while there were tentative signs of improvement in selected segments of the market PartnerRe could not breathe easy just yet and there were more grey days ahead.

"To this end, we shall maintain underwriting discipline, sharpen our technical skills and build on our areas of specialisation. This will ensure our advancement as one of the preeminent global professional reinsurers.

"We expect to see further consolidation and disruption in the global reinsurance markets and believe that our emphasis on building a quality franchise will be rewarded in the long term.''