Amlin Bermuda, the Island reinsurance arm of Lloyd's insurer Amlin, yesterday reported premium income of $144.4 million for the first four months of this year — an increase of 26 percent over the same period in 2006 — and expressed confidence in prospects for the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, parent company Amlin PLC said yesterday that gross written premiums for through April fell slightly to $593m, from $604.3m a year earlier, although its full-year outlook remains 'very healthy.'

In a statement ahead of its AGM yesterday, Amlin said its non-marine, marine and Bermudian operations, which represent about 80 percent of its expected premiums for 2007, are trading in a well priced environment and offer good prospective margins.

Development of claims on prior underwriting years has also been better than expected, Amlin said.

Insurance rates for the aviation and UK commercial divisions fell off by 5 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, although the company maintained that pricing was 'competitive.'

US catastrophe reinsurance pricing is still strong, it said, although it was "off the peak achieved in 2006".

There was also good news for investors as the insurer said that early indications for the forthcoming Florida reinsurance renewals season were "encouraging" and that the impact of a decision by the State of Florida to limit the price of reinsurance was having less impact than initially expected.

It added that its outlook for 2007 remains "very healthy", with income at similar levels to 2006 and reduced exposures to major catastrophes.