(Reuters) - Lancashire Holdings Ltd, a British property and casualty insurer, posted a 40 percent rise in third-quarter profit, helped by fewer major catastrophe losses and its acquisition of Lloyd's of London insurer Cathedral Capital.
The company, which writes policies for heavy-duty assets such as oil rigs, ships and aircraft, also said it would pay a special dividend of $1.20 per common share.
Pre-tax profit rose to $36.1 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from $25.7 million (16 million pounds) a year earlier.
Net premiums earned were up 34 percent to $179.6 million, due mainly to Lancashire's Lloyd's of London business that came with its acquisition of Cathedral in late 2013.
The underwriter said it had not taken any major catastrophe hits, with a quiet hurricane season in the United States.
However, Lancashire recorded higher losses at its aviation and Lloyd's businesses, pushing quarterly insurance losses and loss adjustment expenses up to $92.4 million from $76.1 million.
Quarterly investment income rose 10 percent to $6.7 million, boosted by its larger investment portfolio from the Cathedral buy.
Lancashire's London-listed stock was down 0.7 percent to 647 pence at 0802 GMT on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Robin Paxton)