Subject: 2023Q1 earnings
According to management, 2023Q1 earnings were good and all three arms of the company (esp. Ventures) did well.
They purchased shares at an average price of $1285 and current market price is only 3% above that. Current price is about 1.35 PB. Most analysis of MKL that I have read, value it at 1.5 - 1.6 PB, so current price is a substantial discount to IV.
Also Gayner stated that MKL has no direct exposure to commercial office building loans, just some very liquid CMBS which they are letting run off.
During the first quarter of 2023, we repurchased 63,000 shares of our stock under our outstanding share repurchase program, which is consistent with the number of shares repurchased in the first quarter of 2022
Charles Goard
Congratulations on the continued progress. I had a question about share repurchases. I know you have a program that automatically increases your appetite as the price is lower. Does that program eliminate all restrictions of the window being open or not open?
Tom Gayner
Well, you're correct that we try to do what we think is rational. So we make our own intrinsic calculation of what we think Markel is worth, and we make rational repurchase decisions based on that calculation and the other capital allocation opportunities that we look at. We have designed this to be able to try to be consistent in our ability to repurchase stock on a regular basis.
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