Allianz’s Australian property and casualty (P&C) arm made an operating profit of €433 million ($685 million) last year, up €91 million ($144 million) on 2017.

The combined operating ratio for the business also strengthened to 89.8% from 93.9%.

This solid performance in Australia contributed to the German insurer’s strong overall result, with operating profit up 3.7% to a record €11.5 billion ($18.2 billion) last year.

Overall net income gained 9.7% to €7.5 billion ($11.9 billion) and revenue grew 3.5% to €130.6 billion ($206.6 billion).

An improved expense ratio, lower natural catastrophe claims and premium growth combined to lift the group-wide P&C arm’s operating profit by 13.3% to €5.7 billion ($9 billion). P&C gross written premium gained 2.6% to €53.6 billion ($84.8 billion) and the combined operating ratio improved 1.2 percentage points to 94%.

“I am pleased by our strong internal growth and our good operating performance in the property and casualty business segment,” CFO Giulio Terzariol said.

“We reached our goal of a 94% combined operating ratio by our consistently disciplined underwriting and, moreover, by a substantially improved expense ratio.”

This year Allianz is aiming for a group operating profit of €11.5 billion, plus or minus €500 million ($791 million).