A near $4 million drop in profits year-on-year has been recorded by White Mountains Insurance Group.

However, the group increased its revenue from insurance and reinsurance premiums by $37 million to a total of $938 million across its three units OneBeacon, White Mountains Re and Esurance.

There was an improvement in pre-tax profit by OneBeacon from $48.4 million last year to $86.5 million, however this was offset by poorer performances from White Mountains Re and Esurance.

The pre-tax profits of White Mountains Re dropped from $84.3 million to $58.3 million, with the impact of European windstorms Kyrill and Hanno accounting in part for the loss.

Esurance made an $8.8 million pre-tax loss compared to the $3.5 million loss it recorded in the first three months of 2006.

A further $4.1m pre-tax loss was made elsewhere in the group, which was less than the $12.4m loss of the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Ray Barrette, chairman and chief executive officer, said: “We had an OK quarter. At WMRe, underwriting results were negatively impacted by $45 million of European storm losses and $9 million of more conservative loss ratio picks.

“OneBeacon and Esurance were on track. Once again, superior investment results drove our book value growth.”

Allan Waters, recently elected CEO of White Mountains Re, said: “Our combined ratio was impacted by the European storms. We have also taken a bit more conservative view of our reserves. January and April renewals went well, although pricing was not as strong as it has been and our premium volume reflects that.

“I’ve had the opportunity in these past few weeks to reacquaint myself with our operations and I am heartened that White Mountains Re’s businesses are in solid shape.”

In March, White Mountains Re issued $400 million of 10-year senior notes with an annual effective yield of 6.5 percent used in part to repay the $320 million of outstanding borrowings on White Mountains’ revolving credit facility.

Adjusted comprehensive net income for the entire White Mountains group in the first quarter was $103 million, compared to $117 million in last year’s first quarter, while net income was $92 million, compared to $96 million.

White Mountains Insurance Group’s first quarter fully diluted tangible book value per share was $415, an increase of 2.6 percent for the quarter and 20.1 percent for the past twelve months, including dividends.