Bahrain National Holding Company (BNH), the parent company of bni and BNL, registered a net profit of BD900,000 ($2.4 million) for the first quarter of this year.

Total gross written premiums for the period were BD6.7 million, reporting net earned premiums of BD3.3 million.

The underwriting profit was BD100,000 and net investment income was BD1.1 million.

'It was a difficult period for underwriting with a large number of claims in the first quarter but we anticipate an improvement in the second quarter,' said chief executive officer Mahood Al Soufi.

'The realised investment income of this quarter produced a very positive result but we are concerned by the current EU crisis which could have implications for the rest of 2010,' he said.

'Performance sustainability and prudent risk assurance are core objectives to which we are committed to in order to achieve growth and a positive return on investment for our shareholders and all our business partners,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service