Welcome back. My name is Patrik Brattelius, and I'm an equity analyst here at ABG within the financials team, and I cover Solid Försäkring, who is our next speaker today. So without further ado, I leave the floor to the CEO, Marcus Tillberg. Take it away.
Thank you, Patrik. Thanks for having me. This is what I plan on talking about today. I'll give you a little brief about Solid as a company. We'll move over to the little history and track record that we've had so far. We'll also move over to the segments, give you some information about that, our strategy that we work with, and then obviously, we are an insurance company, so it's hard to avoid figures. There'll be some of that as well, both regarding the performance so far in the insurance business, but also with regards to the investment portfolio and our asset management. Starting off with an overview. Solid is a niche non-life insurer with a Nordic focus. The company started back in 1993.
We've been a profitable company since then, and we consider ourselves market leaders within certain niche segments in the market space, and I'll come back to those a little later on. To the vast majority, our business is based on a partner-based distribution model, where we work with partners who distribute and mediate our insurance products. So it could be banks, financial companies, retailers, travel agents, and also players within the motor area, so car dealers and auto repair networks, for example. And it could be online players, offline, we work with them all, so to speak.
So almost 90% of the gross written premiums, the sales volumes, are generated through a partner-based distribution, and the rest is a B2C distribution, and that is when we distribute the insurance product directly to the end consumer. Looking at the geography, we have a Nordic focus, so about 90% of the volumes, and you can see the split here between the different countries. So 90% are derived from the Nordics. We have 10% outside, and this is what it looks like at end of Q3. Previously, we were a part of the Resurs Group, which entailed Resurs Bank and Solid, and we were spun off first of December 2021.
So we are approaching a 2-year anniversary as a newly listed Swedish insurance company. So this is a little bit about the track record that we have had throughout the years. And obviously, we're a 30-year-old company. A lot of things transpire under such a time span, and my plan is not to sort of bore you with the entire history, but there are some events and things that have happened throughout the years that could be good to know and worth mentioning.
If we move back almost 10 years ago, Nordic Capital acquired a majority stake in the Resurs Group, and that was sort of a starting point for a transformation journey for Solid as a company. At that time, we had ventured into more traditional insurance, car insurance, home insurance, and there are other insurers that are better than us with regards to those products. It almost... We did lose a lot of money. It almost capsized the company. So 10 years ago, Solid made no money at all from the insurance business. But it was sort of a sigh of relief when we managed to divest that portfolio back in 2014, and that enabled us to focus on our core business, which is niche insurance products.
I think it's been favorable for us, and as you can see, during the years here, we have managed to increase our top line. We have increased or improved our profitability and also increased our profits. During this time span here, we have made some acquisitions that have been strategically important to us. In 2015, we acquired Falck Insurance, registrar of bicycle insurances in the Swedish market. That proved important because it meant that we became a market leader within that specific segment in the market. In 2019, we acquired a mediator of car warranties in the Swedish market, enabling us to take a sort of more responsibility and be more involved in that business, and that has led that part of our business to grow as well.
On the first of January this year, we took over a similar company as a mediator on the Norwegian market, also with regards to car warranties, and that broadened our product portfolio and enabled us to geographically expand with our product offering, which is also good for us. If we then move over and have a look at our different segments and the products they entail, we, first of all, we believe that we have a pretty good split in the weight between the different segments. The volumes you see here and the weight, that is based on the full year figures for 2022, just wanted to say that.
But if we start off with personal safety, which last year contributed with 34% of the volumes, the most important product we work with there is the payment protection insurance, where we work with different banks and financial companies who distribute this product to their customers. We also have income protection. We mediate an accident insurance, but those are smaller products for us. And now, recently, as we communicated in our last report, we launched an expense insurance, which our largest partner has started to sell now as well. So that will be exciting to follow that development. The next segment is product and probably the segment that we are most known for, and we do have a lot of history with this.
This is an area or segment where we insure many different kinds of product categories. So it could be home electronics, bicycles, jewelry, eyewear, even hunting dogs. We work with mainly retailers, well-known brands in the Nordic region, online, offline, it doesn't matter. But that's how that segment works. And the last one here is assistance, and you can say that that is a segment that you could almost divide in two. One is geared towards the travel industry, where we work with different kinds of products towards that industry. So it's traditional travel insurance, cancellation products, and other niche products. And then the other area is geared towards the motor industry, where we work with roadside assistance and also insurance concepts regarding car warranties.
So we work with several auto repair networks in the market and also many car dealers. Moving along, and this is what we call our strategic framework, and what we focus on on a daily basis. And I believe this is one of the reasons that we've been able to show a decent track record during the past years. If we take it left from right here, enhance conversion performance. By that, we do have a quite a large partner base, over 100 partners that we cooperate with, and we try to focus on them in order for them to realize their full potentials. So we work closely with our partners in order for them to become successful.
The next one is strengthen Nordic footprint, and by that we mean with a strong value proposition in the market, gain new partnerships within the different segments that we work with today. And then we have capture after sales potential, and that is the B2C distribution that we have. Today, it mainly is extensions of policies originally sold, and it could also be, to some extent, that we work with cross-selling and upselling towards our customer database, which is quite large for us. So those are organic strategic areas, and the fourth one is an M&A agenda, and I mentioned some acquisitions that we made throughout the years. And we have a quite open-minded view towards acquisitions.
If we find a target in the market that we feel is a strategically good fit for us, we are definitely willing to pursue that opportunity. But we're not a company who acquires companies just for the sake of acquiring them. It needs to be a good fit, there needs to be synergies, and if we can find that, definitely, we are willing to pursue those opportunities. Before we move into a little bit more figures, these are our financial targets that we announced when we got listed. And, with regards to growth, we would like to see growth in our net earned premiums of 4%-7% on an annual basis. We would like to do that by maintaining a profitable business.
So we also have the Combined Ratio that we would like to keep 90 or below. Then we have a return target as well, where the Return on Net Asset Value should be above 14%. Our solvency ratio, that's an important part of being an insurer. We would like to keep the SCR level at 150 or above. And I'll go through a little later here where we stand at the moment. And then we have a dividend policy as well, to pay out 50% or more of our profits.... So the performance so far this year, this is the total profit before tax. In Q3, we grew the profits by 19%.
As you can see, if we look at the year-to-date figure, it's almost double what it was last year. And this is driven by the strong performance that we've had in our investment portfolio. Where the current market climate with higher interest rates, that's positive for us in one way. It's negative in another way because it obviously puts strain on the consumer, and that's why we do have a little challenges within certain areas of our segments. So the technical profit, the profit from the insurance business, decreased by 5% in Q3, and that was driven by lower profits from assistance and the product segment, whereas personal safety grew during the period.
As you can see as well, the profit per share is up quite a lot compared to last year as well. So if we can keep or if the financial markets are not too turmoil here during the last quarter, I believe that we will show a pretty good result for the full year here. If we have a look at the asset management and the allocation of the portfolio, the total portfolio as of Q3 amounted to almost SEK 1.4 billion Swedish crowns, and as you can see, it's allocated with the majority of the assets in bonds.
The way we work with this is that we have an investment committee who meets on a regular basis, and they act, or we act, according to guidelines set by the board of the company. So you could argue that we have a little defensive view regarding our allocations here, but we feel that that's something that we like, especially in this market climate. And the share of the equities here is only 6%. And that is something if we want, and if we feel that there are opportunities that arise, then we're able to increase that. And at this point in time, we are able to increase the weight in shares to up to SEK 200 million.
The results so far this year has been quite well, as you can see in the graph in the middle here. It's also been quite stable. That's not always the case, but so far, if you look at the last past 4 quarters, it's been quite good and quite stable. The total result is over SEK 52 million this year with a total return, and that's just to be clear here, that is the full year return, 3.8%. Just touching a little bit on our solvency capital requirement as well, the SCR level. By the end of Q3, and I can see that it says Q2 two places there, but that is Q3, the last graph there.
It amounts to 181, which is up 10 percentage points from the last quarter, and it's driven by profits over the quarter and also a little lower capital requirement. And this is something that we are comfortably above the level or the target that I mentioned of 150. It enables us to launch initiatives that to drive shareholder value. And this is just a last page of some of the things that we've been able to accomplish during the two years here that we've been a listed company. We have entered into new strategic partnerships. Our total partner base has grown over the period. We've also signed contracts with partners that were previously impossible for us to sign.
Being that we were a part of a group that entailed a bank, it was difficult for us to gain new partnerships with that area. But we've managed to do so now. We've signed Nordea Bank, for example, or Collector, which we will launch at the beginning of next year. Also, Blipp is another example of that. I talked about an acquisition that we made, that we where we took over the business from the first of January this year, related to the Norwegian market. We've also launched, during this period, two buyback programs. And the second one is still ongoing, and we've so far, I think we've acquired shares for about half of the mandate that was given by the AGM.
Also, this spring, we were able to pay a dividend of SEK 2.85. I think we've made some initiatives that are good and also delivered a little more than we said regarding the buyback program. So with that, Patrik, you usually have questions for me. Maybe you have some today as well, but thank you very much.
Thank you, Marcus. Yes, I do. Yes, a few questions. Maybe we can touch upon what you ended your presentation on. You have a very strong capitalization, with the solvency ratio well above your target level.
Yeah.
How do you view an additional buyback program after this one's ends, given your capitalization?
Yeah, well, I would be surprised if the board doesn't propose the AGM to for a new one this spring. But then obviously, it's up to them to activate it. But definitely, we do have the possibility to launch another one.
Which actions would you take if the solvency ratio would drop substantially, and what needs to happen before for that ratio to come down substantially the coming two quarters?
Well, I think if it were to come down rapidly, there needs to be exceptional events to happen. The financial markets would totally have to collapse. That's one scenario that could happen. But also, if we sort of are able to grow the business much, much faster than we have been able to do in the past, that could also have an effect. Because the way Solvency II works is that you build the capital requirement builds before premiums are actually coming in. They build when we think they will come in, so to speak. So we have to take that into consideration as well. But it's, I would we are quite stable.
So I would, I would say it's, it has to be very, very dramatic events to push the SCR level below, or below 150. That's no drama either. It's when you get close to 100, where, where you're, actually in trouble.
I see. When we looked at your financial targets, you're above on all metrics, except for the premium growth target at the moment.
Yeah.
Can you talk a little bit about your thoughts about premium growth here the coming 12 months, given where the disposable income are for the end consumers and where you're standing right now?
Yeah. Well, obviously, the current market climate, as I mentioned, it's good for us in one way, and that's related to the investment business, but it also puts a strain on the end consumer, and that's no surprise. So given the circumstances, I think, if you look ahead Q4 and the first half, next year, I think it will be challenging to actually reach that goal that we have. We should also note that when you look at those quarters, they, the comparison figures are quite high. So I think within assistance and product, it will be challenging, but I also think that we probably should be able to grow in the other area that we have, which is personal safety. But it will be challenging, definitely.
But I think we'll be able to produce stable profits going forward.
So, from your perspective as the CEO, what is the most important strategic aspect looking into 2024 that you will work on?
Yeah. Well, we've already signed new partnerships, and we need to make sure that we launch them in a good manner, so we come out running out of the gates. And we also focus on... Because that, that's one way to sort of handle a challenging climate, is to gain new partnerships. So that, that's also a main priority for us.
Can you talk a little bit about the competition to acquire these partnership, how this has evolved, or is it an increasing competition from foreign insurance companies, or has it been stable over time, or what do you see?
Well, it could vary a little bit over time, but I think the competition, and I've been with Zurich for a long time, it's always been fierce with all the aspects that we with all the in all the segments. So, unfortunately, we're not alone out there, and I think it's just the nature of the game. There is competition.
If you break that down into geographies or even sectors, is it any pocket where you see that it's a bigger opportunity, or that you prefer to grow within, looking ahead?
Well, I kind of like growth, so I wouldn't mind growing every segment. But what we are looking at now is that we believe that we will grow within personal safety, and that depends a little bit what happens in the Norwegian market. But that is one area. With regards to product, if we are to grow there, we need to gain more partnerships, definitely. And then assistance, I believe that we'll grow with regards to the area that is geared towards the motor industry, we will grow.
And within products then, which kind of black spots in terms of partners are you would be a target for us to, so we understand?
Basically, all areas, all product categories that we work with, we are trying to pursue new partnerships. So it's home electronics, eyewear, for instance, we're trying to pursue the opportunities that we see there.
Okay, thank you. Unfortunately, we're running out of time, so thank you, Marcus, and-
Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.