Bermuda’s Everest Re Group Ltd. last night announced record 12-month net income of $840.8 million for 2006 — a billion-dollar improvement from the hurricane-induced losses of the previous year.

Everest was the first of Bermuda’s major reinsurers to publish its fourth-quarter and year-end results. And others are likely to follow suite with announcements of bumper profits in the coming weeks, thanks to a lack of catastrophe losses in a year when not a single hurricane made landfall in the US.

Everest also announced that it had reached a landmark figure as shareholders’ equity surpassed $5 billion.

Broken down, the company’s net income for the year amounted to $12.87 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $218.7 million, or $3.79 per share, for 2005.

Everest made net income of $206.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2006, or $3.15 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $162.2 million over the corresponding three months in 2005.

Claims arising from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma impacted heavily on Everest’s results in 2005. Firmer reinsurance rates, combined with a relatively benign year for catastrophe losses were the main reasons for the success in 2006.

Joseph V. Taranto, Everest’s chairman and chief executive officer said: “With more than $5 billion in shareholders’ equity, we have reached yet another milestone in Everest’s history.

“This accomplishment is a testament to the strength of our operating platform and focused market strategy, which emphasises profitability over growth. Year over year, premium was down modestly but our financial results, and underlying accident year trends remain strong.”

Shareholders’ equity shot up by more than 23 percent from the end of 2005 and now amounts to $5.11 billion, or $78.53 per outstanding share.

Gross premiums written in the last three months of 2006 were $987.3 million, a 13.4 percent increase compared to the $871.0 million written during the corresponding period in 2005.

The ramp up of new programmes in the US Insurance segment, which grew by 15 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2005, was an important factor in the overall growth.

Net investment income also rocketed, climbing by 36 percent to $183.5 million as compared to $135.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. Everest put that success down to income generated by several limited partnership investments and strong overall growth in the investment portfolio.

The annualised return on average shareholders’ equity was 17.1 percent for the quarter and 18.7 percent for the full year.