repurchase programme to buy up to $25 million of its shares.

The buyback represents about 2.5 percent of the value of all its outstanding shares. The company is currently valued at about $992 million on the stock market, selling for about $44 a share. The stock has risen about 17 percent during the last year.

The property catastrophe reinsurer repurchased about 1.5 milion shares, or 6.4 percent of its shares outstanding at the beginning of 1997 for $53.5 million.

The company reported net operation income, excluding realised investment gains and losses, of $34.4 million, or $1.52 a share for the first quarter ended March 31.