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Central Securities Corporation


OracleofCarolina

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http://www.centralsecurities.com/AnnualReport2013.pdf

 

I usually don't pay much attention to closed end funds, but this one is different.

 

It has been around since 1929, it has beat the S&P 500 over the past 30 years with steady performance and minimal turnover in holdings.

 

It's largest holding is Plymouth Rock, a non-public insurance company. With a 900k investment in 1982, the position is now valued at $110 million, about a 17% annual return not even counting dividends...not too shabby

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  • 4 years later...

http://www.centralsecurities.com/AnnualReport2013.pdf

 

I usually don't pay much attention to closed end funds, but this one is different.

 

It has been around since 1929, it has beat the S&P 500 over the past 30 years with steady performance and minimal turnover in holdings.

 

It's largest holding is Plymouth Rock, a non-public insurance company. With a 900k investment in 1982, the position is now valued at $110 million, about a 17% annual return not even counting dividends...not too shabby

 

Are you a shareholder? Are you familiar with the company?

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own fair amount in retirement plans.  like it.  plymouth rock stake may eventually be sold. plymouth kind of acts as buffer to NAV % as not publicly listed, but it valued pretty conservatively. wilmot and his trusts own I think around 80%.

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mjm: has Central Securities publicly-stated anything suggesting a possible sale of Plymouth stake? Or were you just saying it's a hypothetical?

 

bookie71: Looking at 12/31/17 data for both Plymouth I see the following:

per share shareholder equity = $4,210 (page 14 of 2017 Plymouth AR)

per share independent appraisal = $7,990 (1.9x book)

with 20% discount = $6,390

 

Looks like Central Securities valued their Plymouth stake on 12/31/17 @ $5,100/share ($144 million/28,424 shares), a 35-40% discount to undiscounted Plymouth independent appraisal. In other words, Central Securities values it's Plymouth stake at roughly a 1.2x premium to Plymouth reported book at 12/31/17.

That doesn't seem a stretch given book-value growth at Plymouth of late.

 

Interesting idea...glad DanielGMask resurrected it. Has anyone come across language from Central Securities breaking out the impact on long-term returns from the non-Plymouth portfolio?

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But in a scenario where a shareholder holds the position in a tax-deferred account, any realized capital gain distributed to shareholders from, say, the sale of the Plymouth stake would not ding the shareholder tax-wise, correct? My understanding is that as a closed-end investment corporation, Central Securities does not have that tax liability assuming the realized gain is distributed.

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williams406, believe CET sold 20% or so back to PROC few years ago and believe they/CET or PROC stated would like to sell back more or all ( believe wilmot on PROC board).

 

believe PROC would like to buy back , but they also have their eye on SAFT( see their portfolio https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1496228/000156761918005956/xslForm13F_X01/form13fInfoTable.xml ) which is big in same state(MASS) that PROC started in.

 

as Spekulatius stated they have a lot of deferred taxes therefore that is why i like it in my retirement plans. 

 

Also how does on reply to another with the pretty little bold print. know  I am looking a little obtuse here.

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