Nordic insurer Sampo trounces market expectations, shares rise 3%

By Marta Frackowiak and Elviira Luoma

(Reuters) -Finnish insurer Sampo reported an unexpected rise in its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, sending its shares more than 3% higher in early trading, as premiums grew in its private businesses in the Nordics and Britain.

Profit before tax rose 18% to 526 million euros ($609 million) in the quarter, also helped by disciplined underwriting and efficiency gains, it said. Analysts polled by Vara Research had expected it to drop to 430 million euros.

The result was ahead of even the most optimistic analyst forecast of 520 million euros included in the consensus, Jefferies analysts said in a note.

Gross written premium, or the total amount policyholders paid Sampo in the quarter, grew by 9% in the Nordic private business. In the UK division, the same metric rose by 13% on a like-for-like basis.

"We are on a strong growth path and really no trends have changed for us, so we look with confidence to the future," CEO Torbjorn Magnusson told Reuters.

"We have a better market structure in the Nordics than in several decades. Very strong consolidation of our markets, very few small, aggressive companies or new entrants, almost nothing in the UK," added the CEO, who is set to retire later this year.

He will be succeeded by Morten Thorsrud, who is currently the chief executive of Sampo's largest business unit If P&C. The appointment, announced in June, aligns with Sampo's shift into a pure-play property and casualty insurer in 2023.

The company also announced a 200-million-euro share buyback programme, which Jefferies said only a few analysts had expected.

Sampo raised the 2025 outlook, expecting its underwriting result to come between 1.43 billion and 1.53 billion euros, and slightly lifted the lower end of its range for insurance revenue, putting it between 8.9 billion and 9.1 billion.

In May, it had forecasted an underwriting result of 1.40-1.50 billion euros and group insurance revenue of 8.8-9.1 billion euros.

($1 = 0.8638 euros)

(Reporting by Marta Frąckowiak and Elviira Luoma in Gdańsk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)