Catlin Group Limited, a Bermuda-based insurer that counts London as the base for its largest operations, said business through the first four months of the year was ten percent ahead of the same period last year.

?We have made a good start to the year,? said chief executive Stephen Catlin, in a trading statement released yesterday, and following the company?s annual general meeting, held on the Island on Tuesday.

Mr. Catlin added that the insurer, which is named for him, was reducing its exposure to business that could be hit by hurricane-related losses, while stepping up its appetite for catastrophe policies. The company said, through April, policies in hurricane-prone areas increased 28 percent, on a weighted average, while rates for other types of policies fell one percent.

Overall, the rates for all of the types of policies Catlin sells increased nine percent.

Of the rates seeing a healthy rise were catastrophe-exposed property reinsurance policies being sought by insurers seeking to buy significant protection.

Reinsurers sell coverage to insurers, helping to spread the risk. Both insurers and reinsurers have stepped up their purchase of reinsurance since last year?s record hurricane season, which left the industry with losses of up to $80 billion.

?We are making strong progress with our multi-platform strategy for driving growth in the long term based on uncorrelated risk,? Mr. Catlin said.

Catlin?s UK and Bermuda units were on May 23 assigned a long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength rating of ?A-? by Standard & Poor?s.The company already has an ?A? financial strength rating from A.M. Best, assigned to its Lloyd?s syndicate, Bermuda and UK operations.