Dear Sampo shareholders. My name is Antti Mäkinen, and I am the Chair of the Board of Sampo. I wish you warmly welcome to the 2024 Annual General Meeting. I will next briefly touch upon the past financial year from the Board point of view. Our CEO, Torbjörn Magnusson, will, in his intervention, provide a more detailed review of the major events of the past financial years and the figures. If we start with Mandatum, a year ago, this general meeting decided on a demerger where Mandatum was transferred from the ownership of Sampo to the direct ownership of you, Sampo shareholders.
Based on the authorization granted by the AGM, we conducted the demerger so that Mandatum was decoupled to become a separate entity from the beginning of October, and also the Mandatum share was listed on Nasdaq Helsinki, and we are happy to see that their share price has developed clearly better than the general index on the stock market. This process was ended. It was published in January 2021, where we said that Sampo will concentrate on P&C insurance and Mandatum was the end point of this process, and this process has now been finalized successfully at the end of last year. On last year's financial result and the set targets, a couple of words on those. Our CEO will, in his review, go through the financial figures in more detail, but it can be stated already now that financial year 2023 was financially successfully for the company.
Our earnings grew by 11%. That was very good result. Our underwriting grew by 13%, being EUR 1,031 million. We defined a three-year period financial target, 2021 to 2023, and we reached and even exceeded these targets. The Board last autumn started to prepare the financial targets for the next strategy period, 2024 to 2026. These were published in the beginning of March, and as characteristic to Sampo, these targets are very clear and easy to understand. The main attention of the company is to utilize the operative competencies achieved with perseverant work so that we can achieve the operative earnings per share growth rate of over 7%. As regards capital management, our central goal for this three years period is to utilize the shareholders' capital efficiently, but taking care of the appropriate group solvency in all circumstances.
Through that, of course, taking care of the security of our customers. With these targets, we aim to create over EUR 4 billion of capital within three years, which we can invest in developing in the company and returning this to the shareholders entirely or partially. We can do spot-on acquisitions or then return it to the shareholders. A couple of words on capital management and our dividend. According to our dividend policy, out of the operational result, at least 70% is distributed as dividend to the shareholders. The possible excess capital can be returned as extra dividend or purchasing of own shares or a combination of these. The Board proposes to pay out a dividend for the past year of EUR 1.8 per share, so that according to the dividend policy, the regular dividend is EUR 1.6 and EUR 0.2 is distributed as extra dividend.
The regular dividend, EUR 1.6, presents 78% of the financial year's operational result, which is according to our dividend policy. A couple of words on remuneration and the remuneration report. The remuneration report has been published a month ago, approximately, and this report explains in detail the remuneration of the past year, the salaries and fees paid. The Board fees have been decided by the annual general meeting last year. The CEO remuneration, let's see if I can get the next slide. Yes, thank you. The CEO remuneration, maybe it's easy to see on the slide what we're talking about. From 2022 to 2023, there has been no change in remuneration. The elements of the remuneration have changed, but the total has remained the same. More detailed information on remuneration can be found in that remuneration report. Two words on sustainability then.
The Board is committed to the sustainability policy with which we believe that we can create value for customers, society at large, and naturally to our shareholders. Last year, we decided that Sampo joins the SBTI, i.e., the Science Based Targets Initiative, with which we aim to manage the greenhouse gas emissions to be able to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. We approach the goal through our subsidiaries. Hastings and Topdanmark are currently preparing their own targets, and they will be presented for approval during the current year. If has already set its goals, and they were confirmed last year. The SBTI targets and the group level targets will follow the subsidiaries, and we will present them for approval next year. Then a couple words on Board work. The Board convened on 10 occasions during the past year. The attendance rate was an excellent 95%.
The Board members are extremely committed to their task, and their wide and varied competence and long experience benefit the company widely. Later in this meeting, we will resolve on the election of Board members. Our proposal includes only minor changes. Fiona Clutterbuck has informed that she's no longer available for re-election, and I would like to extend my warm thanks to Fiona for her valuable work in favor of the company. Thank you, Fiona. Fiona was elected five years ago and has served as the member of the Audit Committee of the Board. At the same time, I'm happy to propose as a new member of the Board, Astrid Stange. She will, under a later agenda item, briefly present herself to the AGM. I believe that her broad experience and competence will complement the Board in an excellent manner.
In closing, I would like, on my own behalf and the Board's behalf, to thank the shareholders for their trust last year. I'm especially glad that we gained during last year some 9,000 new shareholders, which I also interpret as trust towards the work done in the company. With these words, distinguished shareholders, I declare the annual general meeting open.
Thank you. Dear shareholders and meeting participants, 2023 was not an easy year for Nordic P&C insurers, with an elevated level of weather claims, high number of large claims. Despite this, we delivered a resilient result with strong growth. It is a pleasure to be able to extend our already excellent track record of generating solid profits for shareholders. I will try to present both our achievements last year as well as our plans for the future here. If I can get the next slide, maybe. In 2023, we completed our transformation into a pure P&C insurance group. Structurally, we took the final step with the demerger of Mandatum Group in October. The resulting Sampo is an insurer with four main divisions, most of it mass market business for private customers and for small and medium-sized enterprises.
It is a very modern company, leading the development in digital services and sales. Finally, during this past three-year period, we also expanded the group into the digital segment of the U.K. personal lines market, where we have outperformed this market substantially in the period. This market provides growth opportunities for us which are not present in the very stable Nordic market. This also gives us a uniquely attractive business mix in total. We are now the largest P&C insurer in the Nordic market, in the Nordic region, with more than 7 million customers. Next slide, please. In terms of market developments, 2023 was a continuation of the previous years. Customers continue to increasingly choose digital interaction with us, which we benefit from as we have invested in that channel for so many years, for a decade.
I am pleased to see that the resulting customer satisfaction and retention rates are extremely high, something that supports our growth. In 2023, we grew by 11% in local currencies on a very broad basis across the group. The U.K. stood out a little bit last year with 32% premium growth as that market reacted to pressure from claims inflation. The U.K. has since taken steps towards more stability. In the Nordics, the claims environment was maybe a touch tougher than is what is typical for us. With high weather claims and several very large individual claims in the market, we managed this well, being helped by our scale and diversification across markets. All in all, and despite the tough environment, the underwriting result increased by 13% in 2023. Quite an achievement, I think.
As always, we are careful with our internal expenses and improved, again, our cost ratio for the 14th consecutive year. On the investment side, the higher fixed income yields supported returns together with a good overall mood in the stock markets. Group profit before taxes increased to just below EUR 1.5 billion. Finally, in this rather numerical slide, let me point out that we have also been able to return EUR 1.9 billion to shareholders during 2023, and at the same time kept the strength of our balance sheet in the preferred range. Next slide, please. If we now take stock and compare to our targets for the previous planning period, I am very pleased to be able to announce that we have reached all group level targets by a good margin, despite varying claims conditions around the group.
Our best result is, in fact, for the target that matters the most, the growth in the underwriting profits, where we outperformed and reached a 15% per annum average against the target, mid-single digit. The one target that could be discussed if we reached is for Hastings, our U.K. operations. As we perform much better than almost anybody else in that market, and at the same time prepared for the future, I take the liberty of being satisfied also with this. Next slide. Looking forward, we see a number of growth areas, and most of them have been created by our strong digital position. In personal insurances, that is accident, sickness, and health, it is the clear perception of the receding public services that has created a higher demand in many countries.
These are service products where efficient and effective interaction with the customers is crucial and where our digital proficiency really helps. In private property, another example, our Nordic position is somewhat underweight for historical reasons. We have a potential there to grow, and we have indeed grown market share for the past couple of years. Let me add one thing to this slide. Scale and the ability to invest in technology is becoming gradually more and more important in our industry, and we will reap even more benefits of our size and structure in the coming period. On the next slide, we depict over the almost 15 years since we started investing heavily in digitalization, that we were and still are convinced that this will be the future also for non-life insurance. We have continued these investments since then.
Last year alone, we invested roughly EUR 200 million in IT developments across Sampo, a number that clearly tops Nordic peers by a margin. Our focus on technology investments has made us more competitive and also more customer-friendly, as is evidenced both by our retention numbers and our cost ratio. In the coming period, we will continue these investments relentlessly, aiming to enhance productivity as well as service levels. Next slide, if I may. Sampo held a Capital Markets Day in mid-March this spring, where we presented our plans for the coming three-year period. With our usual stability, the plans are a continuation of our achievements in this period, the previous period, but even more ambitious. Three numbers summarize what we aim to do. First, we aim to grow the operating EPS by more than 70% per year on average, driven by primarily higher underwriting profits.
Secondly, we will maintain our underwriting discipline, ensuring high profitability also after this three-year period. The target is a combined ratio below 85% every year. This will entail an annual reduction in the cost ratio and a constant focus on maximizing retention and winning new profitable business. Finally, and adding together the earnings and planned capital actions, we expect to generate more than EUR 4 billion that can be deployed to shareholders or used for bolt-on acquisitions. We will not enter new markets in this period, as organic growth is such an attractive alternative at the moment. On the next slide, looking at our target of operating EPS growth above 7%, we assume mid-single digit growth in the Nordics. This reflects a stable operating environment. It reflects the growth opportunities that we see and also the falling inflation.
In the U.K., we expect a higher rate of growth in the low double digits, reflecting our belief in Hastings' skills and opportunities to be able to grow at attractive margins and create good value at the same time. At the same time, we recognize the cyclicality of the U.K. market, and should the market worsen, we will always focus on margin discipline as Sampo has always in the past. Investment income will supplement operational profitability in the form of the running yield that we have in our fixed income portfolio, as well as dividends and realized equity gains. However, we don't assume investment income to be a driver of profit growth over the next three years. There's also room for some financial engineering, which will add a little to our EPS growth. Turning now to capital distribution on the next slide. Thank you.
We have aimed to have a stable, regular dividend that grows with the operating profit. For 2023, Sampo's Board of Directors have proposed a regular dividend of EUR 1.6 per share, which is a 7% growth from the previous year. The proposed extra dividend is EUR 0.20, and the total dividend, thus EUR 1.8 per share, in total, some EUR 900 million. In the past couple of years, we have also used share buybacks to distribute excess capital. In 2023, we returned over half a billion euros to our shareholders this way. Summing up the past three years, our total capital returns to shareholders amounts to EUR 7 billion. Our dividend policy, that our chairman already mentioned, remains unchanged so that at least 70% of the operating profits should be returned as dividends, which sets the floor on capital returns.
Excess capital from operating profits or capital optimization will be returned to shareholders unless deployed in bolt-on acquisitions. On my final slide then, it only remains for me to sum up. Sampo has a very long and excellent track record of creating value for its shareholders, both by strategic actions and by focusing on delivering value to our customers. Our annual growth rate for the underwriting profit, the most important long-term feature in an insurance operation, has been extremely high over the decade covered in the left-hand graph on this slide. In addition to this, we have produced truly excellent returns since we announced our P&C focus strategy in 2021, and clearly overshadowing our Nordic competitors.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that Sampo has the right position to deliver on the new targets, and I look forward very much to continuing to build the leading Nordic P&C insurance group together with our customers, colleagues, and our shareholders. Thank you very much.