Danish pension company Velliv returned between 5.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent for a typical customer with 15 years to retirement and with medium risk in the first quarter of 2024, it has revealed.

Velliv stated that the financial markets had offered high returns in the first three months of the year, which resulted in a good start to 2024.

Its pension customers’ return totalled DKK 11.8bn, almost double the DKK 6.4bn return in the same period in 2023.

However, the pension company stated that it expected the remaining part of the year to be characterised by increased volatility, pointing to the performance of the S&P 500 in April and May as an example.

“In April, the S&P 500 had six consecutive days of negative returns, which has only happened nine times in the last decade, and conversely, May offered predominantly positive returns that caused the year's return to increase further,” Velliv stated.

The pension company’s profit before tax was DKK 136m in the first quarter of 2024, down slightly from DKK 137m in Q1 2023.

Its deposits were also down, from DKK 9.1bn in Q1 last year to DKK 8bn in the first quarter of this year.

Velliv’s current payments increased by 6 per cent to DKK 4bn, while its one-off payments also amounted to DKK 4bn.

"In the first quarter, Velliv achieved a result of DKK 136m before tax, which is on par with 2023,” commented Velliv managing director, Kim Kehlet Johansen.

“The current payments increased by 6 per cent to now DKK 4bn. The deposits are, as expected, the same level.

"The customers' return of DKK 11.8 bn was close to doubling compared to the same period in 2023."

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