Bermuda insurer and reinsurer, IPC Holdings Ltd., yesterday reported record profits for the first quarter of 2004, rising by 9 percent to $73.6 million with management stating the company was in its ?strongest ever position?.

A year earlier the company had reported net income of $67.5 million for the same quarter, but good pricing and a generally healthy market as well as few catastrophes led boosted results.

Net operating income (which is net income less net realised gains and losses) was $68.0 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2004, compared to $63.8 million the first quarter of 2003.

?Our gratifying record first quarter 2004 earnings are reflective of a number of factors,? said Jim Bryce, president and chief executive officer of the company.

?The fact that we started the year in our strongest ever financial position, the benefit from having consistent superior ratings from A.M. Best and Standard & Poor?s, the long-term relationship that we have cultivated with many of our clients, assisted by the consistency of our business strategy and transactional excellence, satisfactory pricing levels in a generally healthy market and the tenth consecutive relatively benign quarter in terms of catastrophic property losses that have impacted our clients? catastrophe reinsurance programs.?

Mr. Bryce went on to say that all of those factors combined have resulted in a ?record? quarter, in terms of both premium writings and earnings.

?As a reminder, our first quarter premium volumes typically represent 60-65 percent of the annual writings for that year,? he added.

Mr. Bryce went on to say that renewals at April 1, 2004 continued to be satisfactory, albeit with continuing competitive pressure resulting in some single digit percentage decreases in pricing, generally in the range of 0 percent to 7 percent. ?However, strong emphasis was again placed on the quality of reinsurance security in the form of financial strength ratings, and as a result we were able to maintain or enhance our position in many of our clients? reinsurance programs,? he said.

But he warned that it was unlikely that the extended period of low catastrophe activity of an exceptionally severe nature will continue in the future.

?However, as demonstrated during our ten-plus years of operations in which we absorbed the largest and third largest insured losses in history, we believe that we are capable of handling such exceptional events,? he said.

The company wrote gross premiums of $210.2 million in the first quarter of 2004, compared to $191.9 million in the first quarter of 2003, an increase of 9.5 percent.

The company also wrote business for new clients and additional business for existing clients, which more than offset business that they did not renew, the company said.

Gross premiums written in the first quarter of 2004 included $4.8 million of adjustment premiums, and $3.3 million of reinstatement premiums, compared to $4.7 million and $3.3 million, respectively, in the first quarter of 2003.

Excluding those items, gross written premiums increased by 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2004 compared to the first quarter of 2003.