Ilmarinen's investment returns turned positive
Ilmarinen interim financial report Q1/2009
The beginning of the year was positive for Ilmarinen. The company’s investment returns in the first quarter was positive after being negative for the past five quarters. Investment returns for 1 January–31 March 2009 at fair value was +0.2 percent (-4.0 percent in 1-3/2008). The company’s income from investments in different types of assets developed as follows: fixed-income investments were up +3.7 percent, equity investments were down -5.2 percent, real estate investments were down -0.7 percent and other investments were down -6.9 percent. At the end of March, the total market value of the company's investments stood at EUR 21.8 billion.
At the end of March, Ilmarinen’s solvency capital stood at EUR 2.8 billion. It represented 14.5 percent of technical provisions and was 2.3 times the solvency border. Solvency capital in relation to technical provisions increased by 0.5 percentage points from year end.
”It seems that the worst is over on the investment markets and the value of shares has stopped decreasing. This is true from Ilmarinen’s viewpoint because our investment portfolio is highly diversified,” explains Timo Ritakallio, Ilmarinen’s Deputy CEO.
Ritakallio points out that even though there are signs of a calmer economic situation, a more permanent turn may have to wait a little longer.
“Share prices have already decreased by nearly as much as in the previous financial crisis. The rise seen in share prices in the past few weeks may mean that prices bottomed out already in early March. One should, however, be realistic and remember that the international recession is much longer and deeper than what was expected a few months ago. Several setbacks are probably still to come in the future months."
These figures are unaudited.
For more information, please contact:
- Jaakko Tuomikoski, Deputy CEO, tel. 010 284 3447, 050 66398
- Timo Ritakallio, Deputy CEO, tel. 010 284 3838, 0500 536 346
- Päivi Sihvola, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Human Resources, tel. 010 284 3590, 040 757 4992
E-mail: firstname.lastname@ilmarinen.fi