Ace Ltd. last night reported it earned $578 million in the third quarter, rebounding from a loss a year after Hurricane Katrina.

Net income was $1.73 a share, compared with a net loss of $112 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier, when the company took an after-tax charge of $742 million due to losses from a record hurricane season.

The year?s quiet hurricane season helped push Ace to three records in its third-quarter earnings: record net and operating income and record growth in book value, the company said.

Operating income, which excludes investment gains or losses, was $652 million, or $1.96 per share, compared to $187 million or 70 cents per share loss in the third quarter last year.

The company?s book value per share was $39.74 as of September compared to $34.81 at the end of 2005. The combined ratio, or the amount of each premium dollar spent on claims and expenses, was 85.7 percent for the quarter, compared to 116 percent for the third quarter last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had expected average earnings per share of $1.66.

?The positive effect of the lack of catastrophe activity only added to what was already a very good quarter of operating performance,? said Evan Greenberg, president and chief executive, in a press release. ?Our organisation is in great shape, and we expect to continue to produce excellent results into the future.?

All of Ace?s business segments improved their performance over last year?s third quarter. Its largest segment, its North American business, reported that net premiums written rose 11 percent to $1.5 billion. Net premiums written in its general overseas business rose 5 percent to $978 million.

In after-hours trading, shares of ACE were unchanged at $57.69.