Finnish insurer Sampo's quarterly earnings beat forecast

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish insurer Sampo on Wednesday posted a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly earnings as its main subsidiary If continued to deliver growth even as overall profits retreated from highs seen during the pandemic.

Payments to cover insurance claims rose by just over 4%, but this was compensated by rising insurance rates, the company said.

"We continue to monitor claims trends carefully and will react with further price adjustments, should these be needed," Chief Executive Torbjorn Magnusson said in a statement.

The group's combined ratio rose by 0.4 percentage points to 81.1%. A ratio below 100 means an insurer earns more in premiums than it pays out in claims.

April-June pretax profit fell 30% to 499 million euros ($507.68 million), beating the 473 million euro mean estimate in a Refinitiv poll of analysts.

($1 = 0.9829 euros)

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)