As it looks to diversify beyond traditional reinsurance, Hamilton, Bermuda-based Everest Re Group Ltd. on Monday reported first-quarter net income of $323 million, a 9.8% increase over the same period a year ago.

Gross written premiums totaled $1.40 billion for the quarter, up 12.0%, while the company’s combined ratio increased 1.9 percentage points to 81.9%.

“The increase in the combined ratio was solely in the reinsurance segment, where competitive conditions are continuing to push rates lower and commissions higher,” Dominic J. Addesso, president and CEO of Everest Re, said during a Tuesday analyst call.

However, John Doucette, the reinsurer’s executive vice president and chief underwriting officer, said some trends in the reinsurance market are encouraging.

“Globally, large buyers in Japan, Australia and other regions are consolidating their panels of reinsurers and focusing on a few core trading partners and seeking long-term, stable relationships that can provide both meaningful capacity and comprehensive risk solutions,” Mr. Doucette said. “This benefits Everest as we gain preferential signings, sometimes at better-than-market pricing or terms.”

At the same time, the trend of smaller, regional clients around the globe placing business locally rather than global insurance hubs has helped Everest Re, Mr. Doucette said

“Everest’s centralized view of risk with decentralized distribution lets us capture local-market business,” he said. “Individually these deals are not that large, but in the aggregate, this is a sizeable amount of premium for us and insulated from global competition.”

Nonetheless, he said the reinsurance is working to improve its primary insurance operations, citing growth in premiums in the California workers compensation market as an example.

“California workers comp is one of the largest segments of our insurance book was almost $100 million in (the first quarter of 2015), up over 20% compared to the prior quarter,” he said. “We continue to add underwriting talent on order to support growth efforts throughout the state.”

“Reinsurance has long been Everest’s tradition, but over the next several years, we want to build an insurance operation to complement our reinsurance operation and strengthen the company overall,” Mr. Addesso said.