Maiden Holdings Ltd’s first-quarter profit fell by 24 per cent to $20.5 million, the island-based reinsurer reported last night.

The earnings, which broke down to 23 cents per share, compared to $27.2 million, or 35 cents per share in the first three months of 2016.

Art Raschbaum, the company’s chief executive officer, focused on Maiden’s return to profit following a $74.7 million fourth-quarter loss last year, driven by a $120 million charge to bolster reserves, specifically for its commercial auto exposures.

“Notwithstanding a challenging operating environment, Maiden’s results improved significantly from the company’s fourth-quarter 2016 underwriting loss,” Mr Raschbaum said.

“While the aggregate combined ratio for the quarter was 100.9 per cent, it reflects the impact of more conservative initial expected loss ratios for the AmTrust master quota share as well as higher than anticipated losses in the quarter from select casualty lines.

“Gross revenues increased by 6.9 per cent across our two operating segments while investment income also reflected strong year-on-year growth of 16.1 per cent.

“We believe that we are well positioned to continue to further strengthen returns for the balance of the year while continuing to implement new business initiatives across the company.”

Maiden’s net investment income of $42.2 million was up from $36.3 million in the first quarter of 2016.

Book value per common share was $12.19, up 0.6 per cent from the end of last year.

Maiden’s shares fell 20 cents to close at $11.80 in New York trading yesterday.