Hannover Ruck SE

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call on annual results 2025. I'm Sergan, the Chorus Call Operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in a listen-only mode and the conference being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. Unauthorized recordings, publications, or broadcasts are not permitted. At this time, it's my pleasure to turn it over to Karl Steindl. Please go ahead, sir.

Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome from sunny Hanover to our analyst and investment fellow on our full year results for the year 2025. As announced, our CEO, Clemens Jungstöse, and our CFO, Christian Hermann-Lingmeier, will provide a brief overview of the business development in 25 and the outlook for the current year. For the Q&A session, they will be joined by Claude Schevren and Sven Althoff. And it's now my pleasure to hand over to you, Clemens.

Thank you, Karl, and good afternoon from Hanover. So let's start with our business performance 25, which was indeed very satisfactory. The group net income of 2.64 billion Euro is a record result for Hanoveri, reflecting a sustainable increase in the earnings power of the group. The proposed dividend of 12 Euro 50 for 2025 is a significant step up of almost 40% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the result is based on a very strong underlying profitability Our deliberate actions to strengthen the balance sheet increases our confidence in future earnings growth. We have achieved this by adding around 700 million euros to resiliency reserves and by actively realizing losses of almost 600 million euros in our fixed income portfolio. The sum of these effects is clearly higher than the total tailwind from the benign large loss experience, positive currency effects, and a lower than expected tax rate. We have continued to grow in 2025. The underlying revenue growth in P&C was around 10%, clearly ahead of our 7% growth target, including the impact of the refinement in the calculation of the non-distinct investment component the FX adjusted growth was 3.8%. In life and health, we recorded favorable FX adjusted growth of 6.8%. Moreover, the new business CSM increased in both business groups, providing a good basis for further earnings growth. Also, our total investments have grown by 0.7%, driven by a strong operating cash flow of 5.7 billion. The fact that assets increased despite negative currency effects of around 4.5 billion euros and the redemption of a hybrid bond is remarkable. The impact of large losses in P&C was clearly below our budget, driven by an overall benign NatCat experience. As previously indicated, We have used this opportunity to continue to realize losses in our fixed income portfolio and to add resiliency reserves also in the fourth quarter. Altogether, the EBIT of 2.6 billion euros and the combined ratio of 84% in P&C reinsurance are based on a strong underlying earnings power. In life and health reinsurance, the profitability has been satisfactory as well. The reinsurance service result of 903 million euros came in above the targeted level of at least 875 million. The new business generation increased by 22% to 755 million euros, including a favorable contribution in the fourth quarter. The ordinary investment performance was very satisfactory. Against the backdrop of the overall strong profitability, we have realized another 270 million euros of fixed income losses in the fourth quarter, bringing the total loss realization to almost 600 million for the full year. Hence, the return on investment of 2.5 is deliberately below our target. to improve further of future investment returns and increase the flexibility in our investment portfolio. The capitalization of Hanoveri remained very strong, with a solvency ratio of 256%. This number reflects a strong operating capital generation of 3.7 billion euros, and a successful deployment of capital for growth. In addition, the strong capitalization allowed us to reduce the level of hybrid capital and to pay a significantly increased dividend to shareholders. The moderate decrease in the solvency ratio in the fourth quarter was mainly driven by our prudent reserve bid. In the solvency regime, This was more pronounced in the fourth quarter compared to previous quarters. Finally, we were able to keep our group cost ratio flat at a very low 3.2%. This will continue to provide us with an important advantage in a competitive market environment. The dividend proposal of €12.50 on the next slide is a significant increase compared to the previous year. In line with our adjusted dividend strategy, the full amount will be paid as a regular dividend. Furthermore, according to the targeted progressive growth of our dividend, this is also the new minimum level for the next year, reflecting our strong confidence in future earnings growth. At 57%, the payout ratio is in line with our target of around 55%. The retained earnings of slightly above 40% will support future growth opportunities in a continued attractive market environment. Shareholders' equity increased by 10%, driven by the strong 2025 results. A mitigating factor is the negative impact from currency translation within the OCI, the other comprehensive income. The CSM decreased by 3.1%. The healthy level of new business generated by both business groups has been offset by negative currency effects. If X adjusted, the group CSM would have increased by 4.4%. The risk adjustment decreased by 6.6%, mainly driven by some model refinements in PNC, and again, by negative currency effects. Our long-term ROE performance highlights our ability to consistently provide shareholders with attractive returns, significantly above cost of capital. Our ROE performance also creeps green favorably compared to peers. On top, we have achieved this outperformance with less volatility. And as you can see in the chart on the right-hand side, Hanoveri is well placed in the top left quadrant. Comparing the 10-year ROE performance, we have reported the highest ROE with the lowest volatility. This will continue to be our ambition altogether 2025 was another strong and successful year for hanaburi confirmed by the return on equity of 21.4 percent and just as a reminder our successful participation in beryllium has contributed around 500 million to the equity position over time without affecting the ifs net income Given that the balance sheet has been further strengthened to support future earnings growth, the underlying performance for 2025 was even better. And on that note, Christian, I'll hand over to you.