With the exception of Sharia-compliant reinsurance, responsibility for this market area rests with our life branch in Paris. Business developed in line with our expectations, enabling us to report another thoroughly gratifying result.

After the decline in single-premium business in 2010, we are well on track to bounce back to our accustomed premium level thanks to the favourable development of certain treaties this year. We generated gross premium of EUR 473.2 million (EUR 452.0 million) in the year under review. Our EBIT was boosted by 26.0% to EUR 65.6 million (EUR 52.1 million); with net premium standing at EUR 454.8 million, this corresponds to an above-average EBIT margin of 14.4%.

Sharia-compliant reinsurance is written by our subsidiary Hannover ReTakaful. Since its establishment in 2006 we have built up an excellent client base and we continued to expand activities in the reporting period. Exceptional growth is still the hallmark of the overall Islamic reinsurance market. Our local presence enables us to serve this increased demand for life reinsurance coverage.

By stepping up our underwriting activities we were able to boost our premium volume, more than doubling it in the year under review to EUR 29.3 million (EUR 12.6 million). This growth was similarly reflected in a comparable increase in profitability.