One of Bermuda's newest insurers, Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., last week said that it had more than doubled its profits for the last quarter of 2003 after it saw growth in all its sectors.

The company, which is based in Wellesley House on Pitts Bay Road, reported fourth quarter 2003 net income of $88.9 million or $1.31 per diluted share versus net income of $38.6 million or $0.69 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2002.

“Endurance produced outstanding results for our shareholders in 2003. Every segment of our business performed well,” said Kenneth LeStrange, chairman and chief executive officer of Endurance.

“As a result, we have been able to exceed our operating return on equity objective of 14 to15 percent.”

And Mr. LeStrange said that for the year ahead he predicted that, bar any out of the ordinary catastrophes, that return on equity for 2004 would be between 15.5 a 17.5 percent.

In the fourth quarter of 2003, operating income, which excludes after-tax realised investment gains and losses and foreign exchange gains, was $86.5 million or $1.28 per diluted share, 107 percent higher than for the fourth quarter of 2002.

For the year ended December 31, 2003, net income was $263.4 million or $4.00 per diluted share and operating income for the year ended December 31, 2003 was $247.9 million or $3.76 per diluted share, up 138 percent from the same period of 2002.

“Our strategy of focusing specialty underwriting capabilities across multiple market segments is showing success. We experienced significant growth and highly attractive margins across each of our businesses,” said Mr. LeStrange.

The yearly operating return on average equity during the fourth quarter of 2003 was 21.6 percent. For the full year of 2003, operating return on average equity was 17.3 percent.

Mr. LeStrange added: “Given the strong profitability that we have generated, it is the intent of management to recommend to Endurance's board of directors an increase in our dividend payable in the first quarter of 2004 to $0.18 per ordinary share.”

He added that payment of such dividend is subject to the discretion and approval of Endurance's board of directors.

Gross premiums written and acquired were $262.2 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2003, an increase of 50 percent from the $175.3 million in gross premiums written for the fourth quarter of 2002.

For the year ended December 31, 2003, Endurance had gross premiums written and acquired of $1.6 billion, double the prior year. Earned premiums in the quarter were $356.0 million, an increase of 116 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002.

The combined ratio was 82.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 compared to 87.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002. The loss ratio was 54.9 percent in the quarter compared to 54.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002 after the company benefited from a low level of catastrophic loss activity in the quarter with no significant catastrophe events. General and administrative expense ratio decreased to 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 from 14.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002, reflecting a significant increase in premiums earned as business written in prior periods was recognised as revenue said the company.