Sampo plc´s AGM decides to distribute dividend of EUR 0.60

The Annual General Meeting of Sampo plc held today decided, in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors, to distribute a dividend of EUR 0.60 per share for 2005. The record date for dividend payment is 10 April 2006 and the dividend will be paid out on 19 April 2006. The Annual General Meeting adopted the financial accounts and discharged those accountable from liability.

The Annual General Meeting re-elected the following members to the company’s Board of Directors: Tom Berglund, Anne Brunila, Georg Ehrnrooth, Christoffer Taxell, Matti Vuoria and Björn Wahlroos. The Annual General Meeting elected Jussi Pesonen and Jukka Pekkarinen as new members. At its organisational meeting, the Board elected Georg Ehrnrooth as the Chairman and Matti Vuoria as the Vice Chairman.

The Annual General Meeting decided that the fees payable to the members of the Board of Directors until the close of the 2007 Annual General Meeting will be as follows: the Chairman will be paid EUR 120,000 per year, the Vice Chairman EUR 85,000 per year, and the other members EUR 70,000 per year. In a departure from earlier practice, no separate meeting fee is proposed to be paid to members of Sampo Group’s Board of Directors. The Annual General Meeting decided that Sampo plc’s A shares will be purchased for the members of the Board of Directors with 30 per cent of the Board members’ annual compensation. Board members employed by the company will not be paid a separate fee for Board work.

Ernst & Young Oy was elected as the Auditor.

Pursuant to the authorisation granted by the Annual General Meeting to the Board of Directors on 11 April, 2005 concerning the buying back of Sampo's own shares, Sampo plc has bought back 7,000,000 of its own A shares, corresponding to approximately 1.23 per cent of the company's share capital and approximately 1.22 per cent of all votes.

The Annual General Meeting decided to decrease the company's share capital by the total counter value of Sampo's own shares held by the company, approximately EUR 1 177,315.50, and to transfer this sum from the share capital to the premium reserve. The share capital decrease will be implemented without consideration by cancelling the 7,000,000 Sampo A shares bought back by Sampo, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the total number of A shares. The company’s equity and reserves will not be reduced as a result of the share capital decrease.

The Annual General Meeting decided to approve the “Sampo 2006” equity-based incentive plan. The “Sampo 2006” equity-based incentive plan applies to the managers of Sampo or its subsidiaries as decided by Sampo’s Board of Directors and to Sampo’s President and CEO. The aim of this plan is to ensure continuity, taking into account previous incentive plans, their termination, and the persons’ current long-term incentive schemes. The equity-based incentive plan will be valid from 2006 to 2010, and the first part of the incentive will be paid, if applicable, in December 2008. A maximum of 1,500,000 of Sampo’s A shares may be distributed as incentives under the equity-based incentive plan. The terms of the incentive plan are available on Sampo’s web pages at www.sampo.com/ir.

The Annual General Meeting granted the Board of Directors authorisation, valid until 5 April 2007, to buy back Sampo shares. The maximum amount of A shares that can be bought back is 5 per cent of the company’s share capital or of the number of votes carried by all shares. Shares can be bought back either by an offer made to all holders of A shares in proportion to their holdings and on equal terms determined by the Board, or through public trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, in which case the shares will not be bought in proportion to the shareholders’ holdings. The authorisation to buy back Sampo's own shares given by the Annual General Meeting on 11 April 2005 and which will end on 11 April 2006 will be replaced by this authorisation.

The A shares can be bought back to implement Sampo Group’s equity-based incentive plans and/or to be cancelled.

All of the Board of Directors’ proposals that the Annual General Meeting decided to approve today were published in full in stock exchange releases on 15 February, 17 February and 13 March 2006.

SAMPO PLC

Hannu Vuola
Head of Group Communications
Tel. +358 10 516 0040

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Jarmo Salonen, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 10 516 0030
Hannu Vuola, Head of Group Communications, tel. +358 10 516 0040

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