Sampo as an investment
Sampo is the leading property and casualty (P&C) insurance group in the Nordic region—and the only one operating across all Nordic countries, customer segments, and product lines. The Group also holds a strong position in the fast-growing digital P&C insurance market in the UK.
Why invest in Sampo?
Listed on Nasdaq Helsinki since 1988, Sampo is one of the most valuable companies on the exchange. The Group is also listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and Copenhagen.
Comprehensive diversification and strong market position
Sampo is the only pan-Nordic P&C insurance group with a leading presence in all customer segments. In total, we have around 4 million customers in the Nordics with a core focus on private individuals and SMEs.
In the UK, Sampo is one of the leading digital motor insurers and an emerging challenger in the digital home insurance market with over 4 million customers. In addition, Sampo operates in the Baltic region, serving around 370,000 customers.
Unique operating capabilities
Sampo’s strategy centers on disciplined underwriting and leveraging digital capabilities through the group’s pan-Nordic operating platform.
Our sizeable and growing investments in digitalisation enhances every part of the value chain – from distribution and pricing to underwriting and claims handling. Combined with our industry-leading partner network, this enables superior customer service and continued cost efficiency improvements.
Multiple growth areas
Around half of the Group’s business is positioned in attractive growth areas.
In personal insurance, growth is driven by rising demand in the Nordics and our cross-selling opportunities. Meanwhile, the growth outlook in private property benefits from our extensive digital product offering, broad channel mix, partnerships, and pricing capabilities. In the Commercial SME business, we are able to capture growth potential by leveraging our digital capabilities and service model.
In the UK, Sampo is well-positioned to expand in both digital motor and home insurance markets supported by our advanced pricing, risk selection, and distribution capabilities.
Stable and growing earnings
Our operations are inherently resilient, supported by stable and consolidated Nordic markets. Combined with wide diversification, scale benefits, and operational excellence, this creates a solid foundation for predictable earnings.
Sampo has an exceptional track record of delivering strong results and a clear focus on underwriting profitability is the cornerstone of our strategy. Growth is pursued selectively whenever it can be achieved without compromising margins.
Sampo targets an operating EPS growth of more than 9 per cent annually on average, while maintaining below 85% combined ratio in 2024-2026.
Attractive capital returns
Sampo’s cash-generative business model and disciplined capital management enable us to deliver consistently attractive capital returns to shareholders.
We aim to return capital through a reliable and progressive regular dividend complemented by share buybacks. In a typical year, Sampo expects to return around 90 per cent of its operating result to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, of which its annual dividend is expected to represent more than two-thirds. In adverse years, the Group intends to keep the regular dividend per share stable.
For 2024-2026, Sampo’s target is to generate over EUR 4.5 billion of deployable capital and most of this will be returned to shareholders through regular dividends and share buybacks.
Frequently asked investor questions
For more questions, contact us at ir(at)sampo.fi.
Sampo was listed on Helsinki Stock Exchange, known today Nasdaq Helsinki, on 14 January 1988. In addition, Sampo has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 2022 and on Nasdaq Copenhagen since 2024.
The Sampo AGM is usually held in April-May. Notice to the AGM will be published, at the latest, three weeks before the AGM as a stock exchange release and on Sampo's website.
If’s main competitors are other Nordic P&C insurers, many of which operate primarily in a single market. In Finland, If’s main competitors are OP Pohjola and LähiTapiola, while in Sweden they include Länsförsäkringar, Trygg-Hansa and Folksam. In Norway, the key competitors are Gjensidige, Fremtind and Tryg, while in Denmark they are Tryg and Alm. Brand. In the UK, Hastings’ main competitors include Admiral, Aviva, Allianz and AXA.
Any risks that cause volatility in fixed income and equity markets can affect Sampo through the Group’s investment activities. From an operational perspective, political risks are relatively limited in Sampo’s core markets in the Nordics and the UK. The most relevant risks include potential changes in taxation and insurance regulation, which could affect areas such as insurance pricing, competitive dynamics or claims liabilities.
Sampo has detailed plans in case of changes in personnel when the time comes.
The majority of the Group’s investments are invested in fixed income. This reflects the objective of keeping the risk profile of the investment portfolio low and the balance sheet capital-efficient. From an equity return perspective, our aim is to keep the balance sheet light and efficient, while maintaining strong solvency to support a high credit rating and high capital distributions.
Fixed income investments are also well suited to backing insurance liabilities and managing the associated risks. In addition, Sampo’s earnings are primarily driven by successful underwriting, i.e. the assessment and pricing of insurance risks, rather than investment returns. This contributes to stable earnings performance across the Group over time.
Changes in interest rates primarily affect Sampo through the Group’s investment portfolio and insurance liabilities. The majority of Sampo’s investments are in fixed income, and higher rates gradually support investment income as maturing fixed income investments are reinvested at higher yields. Lower rates, in turn, reduce reinvestment yields but increase the market value of existing fixed income investments.
Higher interest rates also lead to higher discount rates for insurance liabilities, reducing their present value. Lower interest rates have the opposite effect.
Very high inflation can create pressure on profitability as increases in claims costs cannot be passed on to insurance prices in the middle of contract periods. So-called “normal inflation” has a limited impact on the business as we take expected claims inflation into account in pricing. Overall, the Group’s scale and long-term partnerships provide good visibility on costs and support disciplined cost management over time.
Geographically we prefer the Nordic countries, where we know the markets, companies and people. Other main principle is that we like to keep our investments and technical reserves in substantially the same currency in order to avoid extra currency risk.
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