LONDON (Bloomberg) — Catlin Group Limited, the largest insurer on the Lloyd's of London market, said first-quarter revenue more than doubled, helped by its acquisition of Wellington Underwriting Plc last year.Insurance revenue rose to $1.2 billion from $500 million a year ago, meeting the company's targets, the Bermuda-based insurer said following its annual meeting for investors in Hamilton last Thursday.

Catlin, which gets about half its premium income from catastrophe coverage, bought London-based Wellington for $591 million ($1.17 billion) in October. It has predicted the combination will lift earnings this year and save $70 million after restructuring costs.

Gross premiums written in London were comparable to the combined volumes during the first quarter of 2006, whilst gross premium underwritten in Bermuda grew.

The insurer "performed strongly" in the first three months of the year helped by "benign" losses, Catlin said yesterday. Profit margins "should remain strong" for the rest of the year, "but there is expected to be modest pressure on pricing and volumes," the insurer said.

"Whilst we expect continued downward pressure on rates for more classes of business throughout the remainder of 2007, we believe that underwriting margins are still robust," chief executive officer Stephen Catlin said in the statement. "The pricing and volumes of business written have met our expectations," he said.

Insurance rates for property and energy risks in regions vulnerable to hurricanes have increased following 2005's record US storms, Lloyd's insurers said earlier this year.

Catlin has "substantially" reduced its exposure to storm damage over the past 18 months, the insurer said yesterday.

Its annualised investment return to the end of March was 5.7 percent, which included unrealised gains resulting from the US bond rally earlier in the year, the company said.

A commercial motor insurance underwriting team has been recruited in London and will begin writing business for Catlin in the autumn.