Finnish insurer Sampo books $1.1 bln impairment on Nordea stake (updated)
11/02/2021 07:52
(Adds results, quote)
Feb 11 (Reuters) - Finnish financial group Sampo SAMPO.HE
reported on Thursday a loss for the fourth quarter as it booked
a 899 million euro ($1.09 billion) impairment charge due to a
revaluation of its shares in lender Nordea NDAFI.HE .
The pan-Nordic insurer, which is the largest shareholder of
Nordea with 15.9% stake, said it had reduced the book value of
its Nordea shares to 7.50 euros from 8.90 euros. Shares in
Nordea closed at 7.094 euros on Wednesday.
Last week, activist investor Elliott said Sampo should sell
its holding in Nordea this year and focus on its insurance
operations. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K80E3
Sampo reported an October-December pretax loss of 675
million euros, compared with analysts' average forecast for a
242.2 million profit, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Sampo's main property and casualty (P&C) insurance unit If
reported quarterly pretax profit up 25% from a year earlier to
285 million euros, and Chief Executive Torbjorn Magnusson was
upbeat on the future.
"We expect P&C underwriting results to remain robust and
continue to work toward a more focussed group structure," he
said in a statement.
($1 = 0.8246 euros)
(Reporting by Tarmo Virki in Tallinn. Editing by Jason Neely
and Mark Potter)
((tarmo.virki@thomsonreuters.com; +372 564 4562 ;))