Despite the fiercely competitive state of the market we are satisfied with the development of our business in property and casualty reinsurance. Even though rates in most markets continued to decline, our positioning as a financially robust reinsurer enabled us to act on opportunities for profitable growth, as a consequence of which premium income in the year under review grew more strongly than had been anticipated. Gross premium increased by 18.2% as at 31 December 2015 to EUR 9.3 billion (EUR 7.9 billion). At constant exchange rates the increase would still have been as much as 8.1%.

Investment income from assets under own management rose by 12.3% year-on-year to EUR 924.8 million (EUR 823.2 million). It is particularly gratifying to note that ordinary income was higher than in the previous year despite the protracted low interest rate environment. This can be attributed in part to increased income from real estate and fixed-income securities, although special effects associated with our private equity investments were also a factor here.

The underwriting result, which improved by 23.0% to EUR 432.2 million (EUR 351.5 million), was also thoroughly positive. While expenditure on large losses was higher than in the previous year, it remained within the budgeted amount of EUR 690 million at EUR 572.9 million (EUR 425.7 million). The combined ratio stood at 94.4% and was thus better than our targeted level of below 96%. The operating profit (EBIT) as at 31 December 2015 surged by 12.6% to EUR 1,341.3 million (EUR 1,190.8 million). The EBIT margin amounted to 16.6% (17.0%), thereby again comfortably beating our minimum target of at least 10%. This is a reflection of the very good performance in property and casualty reinsurance. Group net income increased by 10.3% to EUR 914.7 million (EUR 829.1 million).