No. of Recommendations: 2
Tom Gayner speaking at the Acatis-Value-Konferenz in Frankfort, May 2025 (the conference motto: Keine Chance ohne Risiko). Acatis is a German / Swiss value-oriented manager.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-obsymtCJ0 Gayner's not an outstanding speaker. He falls behind his slides, and I think he pitched it a little basic for that room. He has a fondness for slogans and mission statements and platitudes that I find annoying. Charlie Munger he ain't. So there's not a lot new here for someone who's reading the filings, but I did note a couple of points:
-The importance of reserving
-Reporting for an insurer is a "wrestling match" between the company's income statement and balance sheet
Markel claims their intrinsic value is something like $2,400 or 1.85 current BV, which seems optimistic to me. They underperform their specialty peers on underwriting; the investment portfolio has done OK but not outstanding; we don't really know how well the Ventures businesses are doing. At 1.5x book, I'm not adding here.
