Capital Re Corp. said third-quarter net income rose slightly to $9.6 million, or 65 cents per share, from $9.5 million, or 64 cents per share, in the same period last year.
For the first nine months, net income rose 10% to $30.5 million, or $2.06 per share, from $27.7 million, or $1.86 per share.
Capital Re, the holding company for Capital Reinsurance Co., attributed the gains in part to the performance of its Capital Mortgage Reinsurance Co. unit, which began mortgage guaranty reinsurance operations earlier this year.
"It is clear that the company has been successful in its development of a second product line, mortgage guaranty reinsurance, which will have a material positive impact on revenues," said Michael E. Satz, Capital Re's chairman and chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.
Net premiums written in the third quarter fell to $21.1 million from $26.8 million a year ago, a decrease of 21%. For the first nine months, net premiums written increased 7.1%, to $66.3 million from $61.9 million in the first nine months of last year.
As with earnings, the mortgage guaranty business helped Capital Re post an increase in net premiums written despite a slowdown of more than 40% in municipal issuance. Activity in the mortgage sector contributed $19.9 million of net premiums written in the first nine months of the year versus $1.4 million in the same period last year.
Information on the firm's qualified statutory capital base, which stood at $428.4 million at the end of the second quarter, was not available.
