aud under parity, page-3

I agree Jossette, however perhaps the only negative is the recent European turmoil. It has the effect of reducing treasuries ( US 10yr has fallen to 1.79%) and this will inflate the NPV of future claims. This is a non cash item, which is passed thru the P&L to balance sheet and therefore distorts the results. December was, we thought, a low point in treasuries / risk free rates and this was one of the impacts to the full year result. At time of the release of their full year results presentation they were somewhat bullish, as these rates had risen as Europe settled down and had the books closed then there would have been a large positive write back. But now we are back in the thick of Europe's troubles. So let's hope there is some clarity and calm at 30 June. Also the longer this goes the more difficult it will be for them to average 3% cash investment returns across the year.

All in all I am still very happy, and large cats willing I am looking forward to half year and full year. If it turns out as we hope we could see the dividend back up over $1.00 for the year (actually closer to the $1.20 mark).

Good luck to all