LONDON (Bloomberg) - Omega Insurance Holdings Ltd., a Lloyd's of London insurer, said first-half profit rose 34 percent, boosted by its Omega Specialty division.

Net income climbed to $21.8 million, or 14 cents a share, from $16.3 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said in a statement yesterday. Gross premiums written climbed 7.4 percent to $185.9 million.

Omega Specialty, which provides reinsurance for Lloyd's Syndicate 958, contributed $21.1 million to profit, driven by $179.3 million in gross written premiums. The unit will add $250 million in gross premiums by the end of the year, CEO Richard Tolliday said in a phone interview yesterday.

"The windstorms in the US will determine in large part how the market responds,'' he said. Claims related to tornadoes and flooding in the southern US were limited in the first half, Omega said. In the past two weeks, Hurricanes Ike and Gustav have forced mass evacuations and killed more than 600 people in Cuba, Haiti and Louisiana. Omega, which is traded on London's Alternative Investment Market, offers property insurance and reinsurance to small and medium-sized businesses. The company will pay an interim dividend of 10.3 cents a share, an increase of 34 percent from a year earlier.

Omega rose 2.5 pence, or 1.7 percent, to 151 pence at 10am in London, giving the insurer a market value of £223 million ($392 million).