Finnish earnings-related pension provider, Elo, made a €1bn investment return, equivalent to 3.3 per cent, in the first quarter of 2024.

Publishing its interim result, Elo revealed the market value of its investments was 30.9bn, at the end of March 2024, up from €30bn at the end of 2023. The 10-year average return on its investments was 5.7 per cent, which corresponds to a real return of 3.6 per cent.

During the quarter, the provider’s quoted equity investments and hedge fund investments performed the best. Commenting, Elo CEO, Carl Pettersson, said: “Elo started the year strongly with good investment returns, driven by equity investments. Add to this our first-class customer service, competitive treatment fees and continuously evolving capability management services, and we can be satisfied with the start of the year.”

The return on Elo's equity investments was 5.1 per cent. The best performing investments were quoted shares, which returned 7 per cent. Equity market returns were supported by expectations of an easing of monetary policy and a significant strengthening of earnings growth expectations for technology companies, especially in the US.

However, equity market returns were geographically diversified. European, Japanese and US markets delivered excellent returns, while returns in China were modest and Finland ended up with negative returns. Elo's private equity investments returned 2.3 per cent.

In addition, its fixed-income investments returned 0.7 per cent and the return on real estate investments was 0 per cent.

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