Distinguished shareholders, my name is Antti Mäkinen, and I am the Chair of the Board of Sampo. I would like to welcome you to our Annual General Meeting 2025. I am very happy to see so many of you here. It is good to see our investors and owners here in person. Next, I would like to go through our financial period, which ended at the end of December 2024, from the perspective of the board. Our Group CEO, Torbjörn Magnusson, will, in his speech, give a more detailed description of the key events and financial performance of the past financial period. A few words about financial period 2024. It was a success for Sampo.
Our insurance revenue increased by 12%, and at the same time, our combined ratio improved. The increase in our revenue and the improved combined ratio meant that our underwriting result in 2024 improved by 13% to EUR 1,316 million. In March 2024, Sampo set its strategic targets for the three-year period 2024 to 2026. Where are we in attaining those goals? The first goal was that our operating EPS should increase by more than 7%. We were able to achieve that when that increase was 13%. Our combined ratio should be under 85% annually, and last year it was at 84.3%, so that annual goal was achieved as well. Our third goal concerns our deployable capital generation needs to be at least EUR 4.5 billion in a three-year period cumulatively. For this goal, we were able to reach approximately EUR 2 billion in this first year.
For this goal as well, we are proceeding quite nicely towards attaining this goal or even exceeding it. I can say that the year for Sampo was excellent financially speaking. A few more words on the key events of last year. The most important one was the acquisition of Topdanmark. Sampo had been a large owner of Topdanmark for more than 15 years, so for a long time. In 2017, our ownership achieved 47% of Topdanmark, and then we started to consolidate the financial statements to Sampo. But since half of the Topdanmark shares were owned by outsiders, we were not able to optimize the Topdanmark business as part of the Sampo Group. Instead, we had to take into account the interests of other Topdanmark owners.
That was not an optimal situation for Topdanmark, and neither was it optimal for the development of the If Denmark business. Then we acquired all of the outstanding shares of Topdanmark, something we had considered for many years, even previously that. I am very happy to say that Topdanmark owners accepted our public exchange offer. This transaction means that we can develop the business of If Denmark and Topdanmark more effectively, and it also creates considerable synergies. The board will very carefully follow the integration of Topdanmark into the Sampo Group, and our reports that we have received show us that the integration process has proceeded quite nicely so far. A few more words on capital management and dividend. As part of this transaction, Sampo issued some new shares directed to Topdanmark owners, and this was worth approximately EUR 2 billion.
To optimize our balance sheet and to avoid excessive dilution, we bought back some of our own shares worth EUR 475 million. Sampo's dividend policy says that at least 70% of the operational result for the financial period is paid back to the share owners and our effective capital management goals mean that this excess capital can either be returned to our shareholders, either as extra dividend or through share buybacks. Now we are proposing to the AGM that a dividend of EUR 0.34 per share be paid, and this represents approximately 77% of our operating result for the past financial period. A few more words on sustainability next. The board is very much committed to our sustainability policy because that can create more value for our shareholders and for customers.
As part of this policy in 2024, we got the approval of the SBTi organization for our climate goals, which means that we will be cutting back on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions between 2022 and 2030 by 42%, in accordance with the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degree reduction goal. This is all reflected in our sustainability statement, which is a part of the Board of Directors report, and I encourage you, dear shareholders, to take a look at that sustainability statement for 2024. It's part of our Board of Directors report, and it details our sustainability work extensively. A few more words on our board work. Our board convened 14 x last year. Attendance was great at 97.5%. Our board members are very committed to their tasks, and they have extensive and versatile knowledge and long experience that the company can benefit from.
Later on in this meeting, we will be electing board members, and we will propose that there be a reduction in the number of board members from nine to eight, and that Sara Mella be elected as the new board member, and Sara will introduce herself to the meeting later on. Board members Jannica Fagerholm and Björn Wahlroos have notified the company that they will not stand for re-election. At this point, I would like to thank Jannica and Björn for the work that they have done for the company. It has been very valuable. Jannica has been a board member for 12 years, the vice chair of the board for six years, and the chair of the audit committee for nine years. I think the least that the annual general meeting can do is give her a big applause.
Finally, on my behalf and on the board's behalf, I would like to thank our shareholders for their trust in us the past year. With these words, distinguished shareholders, I will open this Annual General Meeting.
Thank you. Dear shareholders, 2024 was a landmark year of Sampo. After five years of strategic actions at very high speed, we are now a pure property and casualty insurance group with leading capabilities in all our markets. It is a pleasure to present what we have achieved in 2024 and our plans for the future. Our development towards pure play P&C started in 2020 and has included the acquisition of Hastings, exit out of Nordea, the separation of Mandatum from the group, and a number of other smaller actions. Last year, we were finally able to acquire the remainder of the shares in Topdanmark, a much-awaited transaction that completes our Nordic structure. in September, Topdanmark shareholders accepted our offer, and we were able to welcome them as shareholders in our group. We now operate in two markets.
We have a consolidated Nordic leadership position, and we are capturing strong growth opportunities in the digital U.K. personal line segment. Our structure is a simple one, easy to understand for shareholders in capital markets, and more focused for us to manage. Furthermore, the expectation we had in 2020 that digitalization would play a decisive role in P&C insurance going forward is playing out exactly as we expected. It will be a major force in the industry for many years to come. As the largest Nordic insurer, with a decade of substantial investments in this field, we will have a competitive advantage here. This has also been the backdrop to even more consolidation in the Nordics, with very rational markets and extremely few small insurers being able to compete.
Lately, we have also seen the same trend in the U.K., where some consolidation is taking place this year and some digital insurers, like ourselves, gaining market shares very consistently. When it comes to Topdanmark, it is a company we have known and owned partially for some time. The corporate structures of Sampo and Top are similar. Integration has started very rapidly, energetically, and smoothly. We have appointed an integrated Nordic leadership team. We have spent significant time working through the synergies, which include IT transformation, enhanced claims, procurement efficiency, improving pricing, and strengthening of partnerships. All this means better service and higher productivity for the benefit of both customers and shareholders. By 2028, after all process and IT projects are done, we expect some EUR 30 million of revenue synergies and EUR 65 million of cost synergies annually. Turning then to the overall 2024 results.
I am pleased to be able to present a solid set of numbers. First of all business areas supported us from top-line growth of 12%. I will return in more detail to the background for this, but let me already here point out that some of our important target areas, particularly in personal insurance and property, have delivered very robust premium growth. Margin trends remain positive as claims inflation eased slightly and markets remained very rational. I think this can all be summarized in the board's proposal to increase the regular dividend by 6%, adjusted for the recent share split, that is EUR 0.34 per share. Crucially also, for an insurance company, as can be seen from this slide, we have been able to do this upholding a very strong capitalization with a solvency ratio now of 177%. Looking then at our growth a bit more in detail.
Non-motor lines continue to perform really well, leading to a 6.5% top-line growth in Nordic private lines. In many ways, this reflects several decades of long investments in digital customer service, which in turn supports growth now basically in all Nordic markets, as they all become digital. Our collaboration agreements with a number of car industry partners are intact, but hampered by the low Nordic car sales that we have seen over the last few years. In the U.K., the results continue to impress with over 400,000 new customers and a strong increase in premiums last year. We are a specialized digital personal lines insurer in this market, which means that we are rapidly growing in motor and home insurance, the two products that we provide there. Adding a comment on Topdanmark as well, as the acquisition was closed in October.
Topdanmark grew by 16%, which was supported both by pricing, by net customer increase, and by the acquisition of a Danish health insurance company called Oona Health. As you will remember from our updated strategy last year, we are driving a number of key targeted initiatives in our focus areas. I am thus pleased to see that those investments that we made in personal insurance, private property, and SME insurances are paying off, delivering growth of 12%, 6%, and 5% respectively. In addition to these numbers, the services we offer in several cases are giving customers services and opportunities that they haven't had before, and we need to be persistent in driving these changes to the markets over the next few years. The U.K. is the strongest contributor to growth this year, as it has been in several of the past few years.
At the same time, as we produce a strong bottom line there, we increase the number of customers, as I said, by more than 400,000, and premium income increased by an exceptional 21%. Increasing rates significantly to meet the high inflation in the U.K. Now for a technical slide. I would like you all to get at least a little feel for what we do in our daily grind, and the balance that we always have to strike between profits and risk-taking. Excellence in underwriting is, as always, with Sampo at the very core of what we do. It is where we excel, but also a field that requires active managers and experience. One such example is in industrial lines here to the left-hand side, where we deliver very attractive margins and where rates have improved significantly over the past, say, five years.
As can be seen here from the 15% improvement in the frequency loss ratio, i.e., the loss amounts, say, from small losses. However, this segment at the same time is exposed to very large individual losses like fires in pulp and paper industries or machinery breakdowns in the metal industry, to name just a couple. As we, in general, dislike volatility in results, as do the stock markets, of course, we have forced through actions to reduce the largest exposures, but still keeping the customers and rates in the past 12 months. This will definitely increase the stability even further in our Nordic industrial business. Another example of our daily grind is profitability in the segment of insuring electric vehicles. This has been notoriously difficult for some of our Nordic peers, but thanks for accurate pricing and disciplined underwriting.
If electric vehicle profitability is at the same level as the more traditional combustion engines. We now insure some 300,000 electric vehicles in the Nordics very successfully compared to many of our peers' statements. If we then turn to the financial summary of the year, dear shareholders, it's my pleasure to report, as did our chairman already, that Sampo exceeded those plan financial targets that can be measured in after one year with an operating EPS growth of 13%, combined ratio of 84.3, solvency ratio of 177, and financial leverage well below 30%. Furthermore, for 2025, we expect insurance revenue to increase by 4%-7%, to EUR 8.7 billion-EUR 9 billion, and the underwriting result to increase by 3%-10%, or EUR 1.35 billion-EUR 1.45 billion. This gives us full confidence to be able to meet also the remaining three-year targets for capital generation.
Finally, all I have shared today wouldn't have been considered a success unless it provided some attractive shareholder returns, of course. Let's look at the evidence here. As our track record shows, we aim to balance dividends and buybacks. We are delivering an attractive and very reliable regular dividend while doing substantial buybacks, also in 2024. As mentioned, the board has proposed a regular dividend of EUR 0.34 per share, representing a 6% growth. In 2024, we returned EUR 475 million through buybacks. Altogether, Sampo then returned EUR 1.7 billion in 2024, representing some 85% of the EUR 2 billion in deployable capital generated in that year. A new buyback program is expected later in 2025, but given the uncertainties in the markets and in the world in general, it's likely that we will provide an update on this with our Q2 result.
In conclusion then, I am very pleased with what we achieved in 2024. I'm grateful for all the hard work put in by everyone in the company, and I thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. Thank you