RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd notched up $171.1 million in profit for the second quarter of the year.

The figure, equal to $4.24 per common share, is up $34.8 million on the $136.3 million and $3.22 per common share recorded for the same period last year.

Operating income for the quarter amounted to $113 million, or $2.79 per common share, compared to $66.6 million, or $1.55 per common share, a year ago.

Kevin O’Donnell, chief executive officer of RenRe, said: “We had a good quarter generating an annualised operating return on average common equity of ten per cent and growing tangible book value per common share plus accumulated dividends by 3.9 per cent.”

“Recognising challenging market conditions, we executed on our gross-to-net strategy to build and attractive portfolio of risk.

“We believe that we have the right strategy and necessary flexibility to navigate the market conditions ahead while continuing to maximise shareholder value over the long term.”

Gross premiums written by the firm went up $68.3 million, or 9 per cent, to $827.4 million year on year.

RenRe underwriting income totalled $109.7 million in the second quarter of 2017, which generated an annualised total investment return of 4.8 per cent.

The company bought back 501,000 common shares over the period at an aggregate cost of $69.7 million, representing an average price of $139 per common share.

The investment result for the quarter was $112.3 million, a drop of $11.25 million on the $123.8 million recorded in the second quarter of 2016.

RenRe’s statement said: “Impacting the investment result were strong returns in the company’s equity investments trading and private equity portfolios combined with positive returns in its fixed maturity investments trading portfolio, principally driven by the tightening of credit spreads across a number of sectors in the portfolio and higher average invested assets.”