Finnish insurer Sampo's third-quarter profit jumps (updated)
03/11/2021 08:02
(adds CEO quote, combined ratio, Nordea gains)
HELSINKI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Finnish insurer Sampo SAMPO.HE
on Wednesday reported a stronger-than-expected rise in
third-quarter pretax profit, aided by a strong performance from
its insurance subsidiary If and gains from selling a stake in
Nordea bank NDAFI.HE .
"Our largest business If P&C reported a record-breaking
third-quarter combined ratio of 80.2 percent," Chief Executive
Torbjorn Magnusson said in a statement, referring to a key
industry measure.
July-September pretax profit rose 30% to 632 million euros
($732 million) from 485 million last year, beating the 594.2
million expected by analysts in a Refinitiv poll. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2RS1X2
The third-quarter group combined ratio decreased 2.3
percentage points to 80.8%, beating analysts' consensus estimate
of 81.5% in a company-provided poll. A ratio below 100 means an
insurer earns more in premiums than it pays out in claims.
Sampo gained 144 million euros from selling shares in
Finland's Nordea bank in September. Sampo has said it will
significantly reduce ownership in the bank as it focuses on
insurance business.
Sampo has further reduced its Nordea holding to 6.1%, but
remains its largest owner.
In October, Sampo began a programme to buy back 750 million
euros of shares and has said it plans another buyback programme
for next year.
The insurer also said its board would propose an
extraordinary dividend of at least 2 euros per share.
($1 = 0.8632 euros)
(Reporting by Essi Lehto
Editing by Mark Potter)
((Essi.Lehto@thomsonreuters.com; +358505412375;))