ALLIANZ GROUP 48 In property and casualty insurance, premium income rose 4.0 percent  to 43.4 billion euros, after adjustment for currency and consolidation  effects.  Total revenues increased 0.3 percent. The combined ratio was brought down 8.7 percentage points to 97.0 percent. Net income of the segment came to 4.5 billion euros.  The 4.0 percent premium growth (after consolidation and ex- change rate effects) is the result of the following influences: _  we rigorously eliminated unprofitable business from our port- folio; _  we imposed more risk-adequate rates, particularly in Ger- many, France, Spain and the U.S.A.; and _  expanded our business, particularly in the growth markets of Central and Eastern Europe.  We were able to bring down the  claims ratio to 71.5 (78.2) per- cent. In particular, we attribute this improvement to: _  portfolio-restructurings throughout the company; _  successful turnarounds at our companies Fireman’s Fund,  Allianz Global Risks and AGF; and  _  a more favorable development of major and elementary losses.  Insurance reserves decreased by 3.6 billion euros in comparison to last year. The largest part of this decrease is attributable to currency effects. In addition, the positive development of the claims situation resulted in lower reserves. The ratio of reserves for claims in the year under review to total claims expenses in the year under review remained unchanged. The  expense ratio eased off 2.0 percentage points to 25.5 per- cent because we were able to keep absolute costs at constant levels, or even lower them in a number of countries, while rev- enues went up. Acquisition costs and administrative expenses in this segment dropped by a total of 0.5 billion euros. Investments generated a net income of 6.5 (11.7) billion euros. Current income fell to 4.3 (5.9) billion euros. Realized gains and losses came to 6.4 billion euros (8.8 billion euros, includ- ing 3.9 billion euros from Group-internal transactions) and were essentially determined by the sale of shares of Beiersdorf AG, which contributed 2.8 billion euros to income. The balance of write-ups and write-downs decreased 17 percent to – 1.4 billion euros.  Earnings before taxes and amortization of goodwill came to  5.9 billion euros. Amortization of goodwill increased to 383 (370) million euros. Tax expenses came to 619 million euros in the reporting year. After deduction of minority interests in earn- ings (– 384 million euros)  net income in property and casualty insurance amounted to 4.5 billion euros. That is a significant improvement over the prior-year figure which, after adjustment for Group-internal transactions, amounted to 3.4 billion euros.