MKL - Markel Corp

[Liberty]

Markel Reports 2010 Financial Results

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104364&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1523502&highlight=

[Parsad]

Good report.  Nothing surprising.  Cheers!

[Liberty]

The MKL conf call begins in 10 minutes (10:30 ET):


http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104364&p=irol-irhome

[Liberty]

2010 annual report is out:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104364&p=irol-reportsAnnual

Update:

I thought this was a good observation:

Finally, one of the many perverse features of the
insurance industry is the mislabeling of riskiness and
capital adequacy. Right now, prices are falling and
premium to surplus ratios are declining. This makes it
look like the industry is more overcapitalized and less
risky as it charges lower prices to assume the same risks.

When prices start to rise, premium to surplus ratios will
rise and rating agencies, regulators and analysts will
state that the industry is becoming riskier and less
capital adequate as it charges higher prices to assume
the same risks.

In short, this is idiotic.

[zippy1]

Finally, one of the many perverse features of the
insurance industry is the mislabeling of riskiness and
capital adequacy. Right now, prices are falling and
premium to surplus ratios are declining. This makes it
look like the industry is more overcapitalized and less
risky as it charges lower prices to assume the same risks.

When prices start to rise, premium to surplus ratios will
rise and rating agencies, regulators and analysts will
state that the industry is becoming riskier and less
capital adequate as it charges higher prices to assume
the same risks.

In short, this is idiotic.

This is a very interesting.  I always thought that in the soft market, an insurance company should write less.  However, from the above, I can't be more wrong. An insurance company could be taking on more risk, same risk or less risk even though the premium written is lower.

What would be a practical way to tell whether a company is intentionally writing less to take less risk or just writing for less, when the written premium is down?

[Bronco]

Anyone have an IV on MKL?

[jeffmori7]

Once again an interesting read. This letter, with the discussion about the way they evaluate their IV, the discussion about Markel Venture, is quite similar to the last Buffett letter. They are really trying to build a mini-Berkshire here and let's hope they are successful.

[stahleyp]

anyone know why steven markel is always unloading a ton of his shares?

[Liberty]

Gurufocus has an overview of MKL:

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=124999

No big insights. Most people here probably know all this. But if you are new to MKL, this might give you an idea of what they're doing.

[Liberty]

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104364&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1541682&highlight=

Markel Announces Ellicott Acquisition of Rohr
RICHMOND, Va., March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Markel Corporation (NYSE: MKL) announced today that Ellicott Dredge Enterprises, LLC, a Markel Ventures company, has acquired the European and U.S. operations of Rohr Bagger GmbH and its affiliates. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Rohr companies are leading manufacturers of automated floating clamshell and bucket ladder dredge systems for the sand and gravel and aggregates industries.

Ellicott is a world leader in the portable dredge design and manufacturing industry with customers in over 80 countries.

Markel Corporation is a diverse financial holding company serving a variety of niche markets. In each of these markets, Markel seeks to provide quality products and excellent customer service so that it can be a market leader. The financial goals of the Company are to earn consistent underwriting and operating profits and superior investment returns to build shareholder value.