Validus Holdings said it made a profit of $183.4 million, or $1.77 per diluted common share for the three months ended September 30, compared to $207.3 million, or $2.11 per diluted common share last year.

The re/insurer said net operating income for the three months ended September 30, was $155.2 million, or $1.50 per diluted common share, compared to $170.6 million, or $1.74 per diluted common share, last year.

Commenting on the results, Validus’ chairman and CEO Ed Noonan stated: “Validus’ size, scale and diversification across short tail classes of reinsurance and insurance continues to benefit our shareholders as evidenced by our strong results for the quarter.

“All three of Validus’ operating segments — Validus Re, Talbot and AlphaCat — performed well which led to an overall 68.6 percent combined ratio and $166.8 million of underwriting income.

“Annualised return on average equity was 19.8 percent and diluted book value per share inclusive of dividends increased 5.2 percent.”

Gross premiums written for the three months ended September 30 were $356.8 million compared to $390.2 million for the 2012 period, a decrease of $33.5 million, or 8.6 percent.

The combined ratio for the three months ended September 30 was 68.6 percent which included $65.1 million of favourable loss reserve development on prior accident years, benefiting the loss ratio by 12.2 percentage points compared to a combined ratio for the three months ended September 30, 2012 of 69.9 percent, which included $49.8 million of favourable loss reserve development on prior accident years, benefiting the loss ratio by 10.5 percentage points.

During the three months ended September 30, Validus said it did not incur any notable losses.