John Hjorth

Greg, Jurgis & cameronfen, Have you dived into the information on the websites of any of those Russian stocks recently? I sure understand your position [by principle] regard "lack of respect to capital" with regard to Russia, ref. the phrasing used by i.e. Mr. Flatt, Brookfield Asset Management.

gregmal & cameronfen, What's your basis for your posts?

I'm bumping this topic up, in case there is just some traction to the SBRCY topic in the investment ideas forum going forward. [Which there right now not seems to be.] Especially for Lance [, if you read this]: Are you still invested in this space?

Added a bit more to INDU C.STO during the day today.

Jurgis, I think your link is very well placed both here and there. I actually skipped your post in the SBRCY topic, but did not ignore it. It was about if we started with that, in the SBRCY topic it would just be "Hello SBRCY! - ... and goodbye." I realize now that was quite rude behavior for my part, and I apologize for that. I never ignore your posts, actually. Please remember I constitute a material part of your audience. I would also say, that I appreciate being valued, furthermore I'm also a very loyal and devoted crowd. When you update your blog late after each month end, I get symptoms. It starts with cold sweat, then I start to shake, I get depressed, and end up almost suicidal to get rid of the symtoms, untill the monthly blog post finally is up! [ : - ) ] - - - o 0 o - - - Now back to European banks.

Bloomberg [July 3rd 2018]: Danske Bank's Money Laudering Tops $8 Billion, Browder Says. There is now an enormours pressure on the bank and the Danish FSA, and it reaches all the way up to the government. This is not ordinary daily cooking here in tiny Denmark.

Hi John, I've only just spotted your recommendation, but thanks a lot! That looks great. Thank you, The Investor, But the credit for what's being shared on that particular Twitter account actually has to go to Joel, our fellow CoBF member racemize. So, H/T to Joel!

Nice to meet you again here on CoBF, SharperDingaan [ : - ) ], To me, this is the right way as an investor to handle a situation with auditors leaving a company for some publicly undisclosed reason. It is what it is: A red flag. Pack your stuff and leave, if you're not up to short it, before it's getting worse.

Here we go : The [Danish] agriculture asks for help to handle the drought. Extreme drought within the last two months here. National prohibition of all kinds of fire in the open as of today. [You are allowed to use ie. your coal based Weber grill, if you have it on ground, that cannot burn, with good distance to your yellow lawn etc.] I have never experienced drought like this before in my whole life. - So, now all those crazy guys, operating with a lot of leverage, no earnings, no real cash flow from operations, and no liquidity margin of safety "for a rainy day" [<- Sorry, I coulden't help it!] think it's all other Danish persons' problem, that they have gone all in with perhaps DKK 100 M in leverage in a highly cyclical business, that is now also to some extent hit by what could be considered a Black Swan event. [Pork prices has been on a downward trend recently, too.] Owners of Danish wine yards [yes, there are some], on the other hand, can't get their arms down. Today I'm so happy that I passed some time ago on DAB.CPH. This will get really messy. The total debt in Danish agriculture [banks and mortgage institutions] is ~DKK 350 B.

Industrieländern looks good to me -~20% discount to NAV and beats the index over the long run. I'll try to do it short, not to clog up this topic. It's Fredrik Lundberg's second layer Pinocchio. [First layer Pinocchio is L E Lundbergföretagen AB.] In short, Industrivärden is a large chunk of to me the best bank in Scandinavia : Svenska Handelsbanken AB, combined with being major/anchor investor in basket of - on overall basis - fairly good Swedish industrial companies with an international footprint and a total turnover in this basket of about SEK 1,000 B, by the use of now quite moderate leverage. Study the taxes in note 8 and on p. 51 i the 2017 financials! This one has no built in money printing machines [wholly owned subs], while L E Lundbergföretagen AB has two: Two enormous real estate portfolios [with no debt] in respective Fastighets AB Lundberg [100% owned] and Huvudstaden AB [controlled sub], where the dividends don't get taxed, like in Industrivärden AB. The shareholder structure is worth to study, too. I would argue, that Fredrik Lundberg in reality controls the company, in cooperation with pension funds and foundations around Svenska Handelsbanken and other investees etc.

compoundvalue, Here you go, and enjoy! [You'll most likely be occupied a few hours, if your're interested ... [ : - ) ]

Added to INDU C.STO [industrivärden AB, ser. C] today. [Company Website] At about 1 year lows, relatively weak SEK compared to DKK [sEK has no peg to EUR], most likely the stock is down on the global tariff stuff going on.

Here, I've edited the post by Joel quite heavily, not to mention all Joel's quotes, them all basically gone here [naturally they are all above]. Here, I'm doing it with sincere intentions, to focus on what's on my mind here. - - - o 0 o - - - Where are we headed? - And don't even think to ask me that question! [<- And it is totally neutral meant!] - Naturally, I don't know the answer. It's about some pretty hard core [please don't confuse "hard core" here with "deep"] value investors catching interest in the FANGs and doing work on them, and at the same time growth investors showing interest in value cases here on CoBF. I started noticing it in the beginning of this year, I think. - - - o 0 o - - - I think I'll try to branch it out in a separate topic here on CoBF later this Sunday. I think it could become an awesome discussion topic.

+1 I came to that conclusion as well between 2009 and 11. After messing around with lesser names and ideas. Downside protection for the really long term is rare. My conclusion is that they simply don’t exist elsewhere. Not just that I cannot find them. The secret is to have lower expectations while taking the downside protection. You have a huge leg up on me in that you’re doing this as a student. Mine happened in my middle years and the messing around cost me. No big regrets, pleased that I learned that then, not now or later. Good luck to us. Students come in all ages. DooDiligence is in his mid 50's or something like that Yes, that was actually funny! The difference between young and more mature students: Young students: Strugling very hard, and result-oriented to get IN to the hamster wheel chosen as preference. More mature students: Working more balanced, but still result-oriented [still hell bent] to get OUT of the hamster wheel chosen ealier in life. If such a student has some guts, that person is actually designing and building the future job for him/her self! -Right, Jeff?

longinvestor, So you mean rinse and repeat yearly for all those A-shares earmarked for the Gates Foundation to be converted to B, donated to Gates Foundation and then sold back to Berkshire for Berkshire cash?

longinvestor, The donation to the Gates Foundation July last year was 14,220,001 B shares, equivalent to 9,480 A shares. I don't think Mr. Gates would engage in such a transaction though. Edit: So, for this year, it would be about ~ [14,220,001 * 0,95 * ~USD190] ~ USD 2.6 billion. [it doesen't really move the needle! [ : - D] - Absolutely crazy to think about ...]

Repowering order from PacifiCorp to Vestas Wind Systems. Quite amazing that it's optimal to scrap nacelles and blades after only approx. 11 years of operation, to get better performance. It says a lot about how the technology in this industry is advancing over time. [Mentioned by Uccmal before here on CoBF.]

I recall that interview with Mr. Buffett that Dynamic in referring to, too. To my best recollection without trying to look up the video I consider Dynamic's description here accurate. - - - o 0 o - - - In Jeff's book [book by fellow board member rainforesthiker] there is a chapter 8 called "Investment Case studies - The Variant perception and the Inefficient Rationale". Investment case #6 is Berkshire Hathaway, and is called "Mispriced due to Indexation". [start p. 149.] In short, it's about when the US financials go out of favour from time to time in the market, Berkshire does too, because of indexing and because Berkshire is a material component of S&P Financial Select Sector, while the properties of Berkshire as an investment are materially different than the properties of the other financials in that category/index. Personally, I feel and think, that this is exactly where we are now.

Those are good points, backed by historical Berkshire facts, Cardboard, I would add Munich Re to your list.

alwaysdrawing, Off topic here: I have actually been looking at AXP within the last few days, and honestly, I have quite a few questions about the company, and what it's doing, from my local perspective. I will post about it in the AXP topic in the Investment Ideas forum soon, and I hope you'll chim in. Small position for me during many years. Peace.

alwaysdrawing, I'll be pleased to read your suggestions to reallocations of these positions, including tax consequenses, to make things better for Berkshire. Don't you think Mr. Buffett has been through this mental excersise?

Thanks. As for AXP, KO, WFC, KHC....obviously they are part of the float, however they are priced for perfection. All are slow growth companies with earnings that are tiny relative to their share value. It's tough to see a world where any of those companies can grow a dollar invested today at even 10%, and I would guess most will grow at half that rate, with a risk that the market value reprices the equity as interest rates rise. ... The point here is, that you don't even need growth to make good money, because of the Berkshire float financing these Berkshire positions. [so far, you have got growth, on the mentioned basket, as a whole. I think it'll still grow at a decent clip going forward.] Personally, I disposed of all WFC shares recently, held directly by family members and myself, but that was just another [more or less short term] consideration [i saw better possible outcomes elsewhere with US banks], not including leverage.

alwaysdrawing, To me, your post here is refreshing, because it's providing Berkshire pushback [, of which there isen't much in this forum here on CoBF]. Personally, I think differently about the investments in KHC, WFC, AXP & KO. I'm considering them financed by Berkshire insurance float [not to be confused with any other insurance float], making them basically nobrainers, longterm. [berkshire has the ability to hold on to these positions.] [1] Also, personally, I consider BAC an investment with really good potential [also financed by Berkshire float], even from recent price levels [please see the BAC topic here on CoBF in the Investment Ideas forum]. - - - o 0 o - - - Edit - added note: [1] You also have to take into consideration deferred taxes on unrealized gains in your investment calculations of proceeds eventually available for reinvestment anywhere else.

Nasdaq [June 26th 2018]: Lee Enterprises will manage Berkshire Hathaway Newspaper and Digital Operations in 30 Markets. Edit: CNBC Warren Buffett Archive [April 5th 2018]: Buffett's complicated relationship with the newspaper business.

Just a friendly reminder here to all CoBF members investing in banks at the moment: Please remember your auto reply, when we start backsliding into the next turmoil/crisis!