The answer is a clear no. We are still the market leader by a considerable margin. This was also the case at the end of last year. The number of insured cars rose by 100,000 to almost 14 million. Every fourth household is insured with us. In the new car business, together with Neo Digital Autoversicherung, we achieved a record figure of over 1.6 million vehicles.

In 2023, we actually performed worse than the market in this combined ratio at 113%. The reason: we started the year with only a moderate premium adjustment. In addition, we ultimately increased our reserves significantly, which according to our analyses was also above the market average. We then significantly improved the combined ratio last year.

We are now ahead of the market again by the usual margin. The combined ratio for 2024 is at least 10 percentage points better than in the previous year, and no further special allocations to the claims provision were necessary. The industry association GDV currently estimates the combined ratio in German automotive insurance at 106% in 2024, perhaps even slightly better.

We are getting noticeably close to 100%, but I don't want to be more specific yet. A Casco loss provision that we set up as a precaution in 2023 was reversed last year. This will make an additional contribution to earnings.

First and foremost, the relatively substantial premium adjustment that we had to make in the portfolios. This increase of around 13% was unfortunately necessary. The second driver is the claims frequency. After a noticeable increase in 2023, it is now moving sideways.

It remains at a high level and is three to four times higher than the general inflation rate. However, the rate of price growth is at least stable, perhaps even falling slightly.

We have adjusted our prices more than the market, by a necessary 3 to 3.5 percentage points. We are also working with a new tariff system. Our people have built something really new that we will refine over the next few years.

It is much more complex than any of the previous approaches used by HUK-Coburg. You see, at the very beginning of the differentiated tariff system, for example, it was only about regional classification and no-claims, later gender and mileage were added. The new system discovers statistical links between characteristics that we were previously unaware of. Ultimately, we have far more different prices in this pricing system than we have inhabitants on this earth.

Of course, these are theoretical definitions; we only use a fraction of the prices. But ultimately this system also makes prices more risk-appropriate for customers. The impact on the combined ratio was probably still limited because we only started last spring.

In these times, it is really challenging to offer car insurance. The pricing system, for example, has cost us a lot of money and effort. An insurer can only afford such a serious investment if it has the necessary size. Car insurance is becoming much more of a scale game than it used to be. The smaller providers are also feeling this in their combined ratio.

It's better, but we're still not where we want to be. The big challenge, as my fellow board member Jörg Rheinländer always says, is to make ourselves weatherproof as a car insurer. We also have to prepare for climate change in our organisational set-up. In other words, we have to find solutions for cases where five times the usual number of claims come in in one day.

HUK-Coburg is increasing its flexibility. We have proposed specific packages of changes to the employee representatives. We hope to present results to them soon. We are also working together with the external service provider ETB.

We continue to believe very strongly that the way mobility is consumed will change significantly. This is unlikely to happen in the next five years. We are therefore preparing for a very long-term decline in the importance of car insurance.

HUK-Coburg never envisaged disruptive developments within two years. But to be honest, we listened to the assessment of experts from the automotive industry, who always said that we would see masses of self-driving cars at the beginning of 2020. That has not materialised. My conclusion from this is that we have simply gained a bit of time.

The new claims reality, coupled with high inflation, has naturally shifted the focus of all insurers significantly back to their core business. Insurers are also suffering from the combination of a high workload and a tight labour market. As a result, companies across the market are focussing much more on their core business again – which is a good thing.

We simply want to provide more arguments for customers to come to HUK-Coburg. We are also working to ensure that mobility remains affordable for consumers. At Pitstop, we can offer advantageous products and services.

That's true, and we're sticking to it. However, 2024 was a year of upheaval, including changes at management level. Unfortunately, there was no major development in terms of figures, but that should happen in the current year. Pitstop will also play a much stronger role in the management of all car service activities. They are professionals, they know their business.

We are taking a much more cooperative approach, for example with the car subscription model. HUK-Coburg no longer takes such business onto its own balance sheet. We are also talking to the major car dealer groups and, in some cases, directly with manufacturers. We also want to develop digitally based offers for new cars.

Business at the turn of the year 2023/2024 ended with a decline of 100,000 contracts. We have made up for this and are up by 100,000 without the mopeds. Even if you factor in the one-off effect of not renewing a contract with a major scooter rental provider, we have grown. I am pleased that we have managed to make up for the dip at the beginning of the year. Our people all did a good job together.

Cancellation rates have already risen noticeably due to the major premium adjustment. The premium volume in motor vehicle insurance has risen by almost 14% to almost 5.2 billion euros.

We had to increase prices in car insurance by between 13 and 15%. We had therefore thought that we would lose a lot of contracts again. Now things have turned out completely differently, we will even go out with a positive balance. That's really quite nice.

My hypothesis is that other companies had a lot more catching up to do in terms of premium levels, which is why an incredible number of customers looked around the market for alternatives. But some of them came back to HUK despite cancelling.

Phew, not really. It really has been an exhausting year. The high losses were tough for all car insurers and their managers. But if, like HUK-Coburg, you have more than half of your business in the motor line, then that's a special number.

We can also report a new business record in other property insurance lines, including legal expenses insurance at our main company. In life insurance, new business growth is around 20 per cent. Things are moving in a really good direction again in many areas.

If the earnings situation is like it was in 2023, then we as management need to work on changing things. If we then succeed in significantly improving the earnings situation and at the same time maintaining and strengthening the brand's appeal, then I will openly say: I'm pretty happy with that.

We have achieved a figure similar to that of the previous year, so in the region of 400 to 500 million euros before tax. Contrary to expectations, we did not have to withdraw any money from the equalisation reserve in property and casualty insurance, but actually added to it again.

The order of magnitude is similar, but the quality is much better. As mentioned, the 2023 result included relevant withdrawals from the equalisation reserve, and we also received significant sums from reinsurers due to the high natural disaster losses. It was also a pretty good investment year.

The car industry assumes that we will not return to the high figures for new registrations and new ownership. We will probably remain at the reduced level of between 9 and 10 million transactions per year compared to previous years.

The combined ratio for the market as a whole will probably improve even more in the current year than in 2024, provided we don't experience any surprises on the claims side. This is because premiums were adjusted significantly across the market at the turn of the year. The market could even turn slightly positive. HUK-Coburg will definitely make a profit.

Our core advantage that customers come directly to us must be maintained. This saves us from having to use expensive intermediaries. This gives us the difference in sales costs. We will simply work to ensure that the perception remains the same: You have to go to HUK-Coburg as a customer.