Bermuda reinsurer Maiden Holdings Ltd. last night reported first quarter 2010 net income of $13.6 million — up 3.6 percent from the same period of last year.

Net written premium totalled $311.3 million, compared with $336.5 million in the first quarter of 2009.

"Maiden's results reflect continued solid underlying fundamentals in the face of a challenging quarter for the reinsurance industry overall and once again highlight the differentiated value of our non-catastrophe specialist approach," said Art Raschbaum, president and chief executive officer of Maiden Holdings, Ltd.

"We generated income from operations of $25.6 million this quarter and our teams continue to see increased opportunities to deliver our relationship-oriented products and services to our target regional and specialty property and casualty clients.

"Our disciplined approach to our non-catastrophe, lower volatility, relationship model positions us well to capture additional opportunities and our new agreement with ACAC agreement generated approximately $22 million of net written premium and $2 million of earned premium in the month of March.

"We expect this relationship to further strengthen the top and bottom line over the next 12 months and beyond."

Shareholders' equity of $710.0 million grew $33.4 million during the quarter and book value per share increased five percent to $10.10 from $9.62 at year end 2009. Net investment income of $17.6 million increased 23.3 percent from $14.3 million in the first quarter of 2009.

The combined ratio for the first quarter totalled 97.1 percent compared with 95.4 percent in the prior-year period.

Total assets of $2.7 billion increased 3.5 percent from $2.6 billion from year end 2009. Total investible assets of $2.1 billion which include total investments, cash, restricted cash, cash equivalents and the loan to a related party, remained relatively stable from year end 2009, the company said.

During the first quarter, Maiden's board declared a dividend of 6.5 cents per share.