Endurance Specialty will spend 2004 in a consolidation and development mode, according to the company?s chairman and chief executive officer, Ken LeStrange (pictured above).

Speaking to after the Bermuda company reported that its profits had nearly doubled for the first quarter of 2004, from $51.2 million to $100.9 million, Mr. LeStrange said that the company would be slowing down its rate of growth after years of fast-paced development.

?Just a few years ago we were three people, now we are 250 worldwide,? he said. ?We are very much in development mode but the pace of growth will slow down a little bit.?

Endurance was one of 74 insurance companies to set up in Bermuda in the wake of the capacity crunch created by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

It has grown to have 110 staff in Bermuda, with huge offices in the Zurich Centre on Pitts Bay Road and offices in New York and the City of London.

The company reported this week that total assets were $4.1 billion and cash and invested assets were $3.0 billion, up almost $1.8 billion since the company?s formation in December, 2001.

But for now growth will be focused on marine and energy as well as building out the US insurance arm of the company, but Mr. LeStrange said the company did not expect to open any new offices around the world in the coming year.

He warned that the phenomenal profits seen in the first quarter would not be repeated every quarter during the year, and that the second quarter might be down slightly.

He explained that part of the huge rise in profits was reinsurance business that had previously been written in other quarters being moved to the first quarter, when reinsurance is traditionally renewed.

The growth in written premiums was a result of the renewal of business obtained from the Hart Re portfolio acquisition during the second quarter of 2003 and growth from the company?s US and UK subsidiaries which commenced operations at the beginning of 2003.

?There were three reasons for the growth in net income,? he said. ?One is the traditional 1/1 reinsurance anniversary date, the second is the UK and US are fully staffed and the third is growth across the board.?

And Mr. LeStrange said that despite the softening of the insurance and reinsurance segments, his company continued to see a reasonably attractive market both by geography and segment.

?We expect more moderate growth,? he said, but would not commit to any figures, saying that they only reaffirmed a return on equity for this year of between 15.5 percent and 17.5 percent.

?Certainly the insurance and reinsurance business has gotten more competitive,? he said. ?But it does not faze us as we are finding ample opportunities ? that said we are very mindful we are operating in a competitive environment.?

In the first quarter of 2004, operating income (which excludes after-tax realised investment gains and losses and foreign exchange gains and losses) was $98.7 million or $1.44 per diluted share, 91.4 percent higher than for the first quarter of 2003 and annualised operating return on average equity during the first quarter of 2004 was 23.2 percent.

?Generating $100 million in net income for the quarter was another milestone achievement for Endurance. We have again demonstrated the ability of our business platform to deliver superior results,? said Mr. LeStrange. ?Each of our business segments reported strong results. Our US and UK subsidiaries made significant progress during their first renewal season as fully staffed companies. We are now increasingly seeing the benefits of key strategic decisions made during the company?s formation to focus across a number of highly attractive business lines and key geographies.?

Gross premiums written were $720.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, an increase of 99.0 percent from the $362.1 million in gross premiums written for the first quarter of 2003.

Mr. LeStrange said that the company remained flexible to deal with the changes in market conditions, and said the company?s mix of business was already moving more towards insurance rather than reinsurance due to the softening of the market.

?We were set up to be flexible,? he said.