Darwin Professional Underwriters, Inc. Reports Record Net Income of $10.9 Million for the Four...( Net income increases 88% and net pr...),Health

Net income increases 88% and net premiums written increase 22% over the

comparable year-earlier quarterly results

FARMINGTON, Conn., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Darwin Professional Underwriters, Inc. ("Darwin," the "Company," or "Our") (NYSE: DR) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007. Highlights include:
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060829/NETU014LOGO )

-- Gross premiums written for the fourth quarter are $70.8 million. Fourth

quarter gross premiums written are 12.6% ahead of our gross premiums

for the same period a year ago. Net premiums written for the quarter of

$51.2 million are up 22.2% over the fourth quarter of 2006.

-- Net income of $10.9 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007

represents an 88.3% increase over the $5.8 million for the quarter

ended December 31, 2006 and our highest net income in our approximately

five-year operating history.

-- Overall, the combined ratio is 77.2% for the fourth quarter 2007, which

compares favorably to the fourth quarter 2006 combined ratio of 89.2%.

The combined ratio improvement is primarily driven by a decrease in the

loss ratio (11.2% improvement to 50.1%). The fourth quarter combined

ratio improvement includes approximately $6.8 million ($4.4 million,

net of tax) in favorable loss reserve development and the corresponding

ceded premiums, offset by additional incentive compensation and profit

sharing expenses stemming from the favorable development of the 2003

through 2006 accident years.

-- Earnings per diluted share for the three months ended December 31, 2007

are $0.64 compared to $0.34 per share for the same period in 2006. For

the full year, ea
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