Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner & AGM

[Parsad]

Hi Folks,

 

I would just like to thank all the people who attended our fifth annual "Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner".  First of all, we raised $3,820 for the "Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in honor of Jo Ann Butler, with a few more contributions still coming in.  We hope to have raised close to $5K when all is said and done.  We could not have done it without all your support! 

 

The generosity was overwhelming...attendees were just handing over $20 bills instead of $5...a few people wrote checks, handed over hundreds of dollars or bought handfuls of raffle tickets!  We would like to thank Prem, Pat Hios and the rest of Fairfax Financial for the raffle prizes, as well as our director Andrew Cooke for the See's Candies he donated, and Alnesh and his accounting partner, Paul Robertson, for the wine they donated as prizes.  We'd also like to thank Joe Badali's Restaurant for allowing us to hold our dinner there, and to their staff for patiently catering to our needs well past closing!

 

Once again, Fairfax was very supportive of the dinner and were well-represented.  Our guests from Hamblin-Watsa were Sam Mitchell, Brian Bradstreet and Peter Furlan, and of course our honorary chairman for the panel - Francis Chou of the Chou Funds!  They answered question after question for about an hour and a half.  Brian ended up staying till about 11pm and I had to actually intervene because the group of shareholders around him had lots and lots of questions.

 

The AGM was well-attended and everyone was in a jovial mode.  I won't expound too much on the meeting, as I'm sure there are plenty of other boardmembers who will be posting their notes.  Prem was one of the last people to leave and was working the room as I've never seen before.  It was actually quite funny because Pat and Vinod had to try and get him to the Presidents meeting, but Prem was absolutely engaging all the shareholders and answering every question they had, so it was an almost impossible task to drag him away.  Needless to say, anyone who attended could not walk away from the event without completely grasping the culture of the company from the top down.  Like any first rate organization, Prem sets the tone and the humility, ethics, and shareholder-friendly culture trickles down every layer of the company.  I cannot emphasize how important it is for any long-term shareholder to come to the annual general meeting at least once.  You do that and you won't ever sell a share!

 

Finally, I'd like to thank all of the attendees at the MPIC Funds AGM, especially our partners!  We hold the event for you guys and want to celebrate your trust and support.  On behalf of Alnesh and myself, we look forward to seeing you all again next year!  Cheers!   

 

 

[Uccmal]

Sanjeev, Thanks for holding the dinner!  My haven't we grown.  A.

[Parsad]

Al,

 

Kilroy, Alnesh and I were talking about that this afternoon, when there were only the three of us left at the MPIC AGM.  Your name came up as one of the nine that were there on that first dinner five years ago.  Cheers!

[biaggio]

"Prem sets the tone and the humility, ethics, and shareholder-friendly culture trickles down every layer of the company.  I cannot emphasize how important it is for any long-term shareholder to come to the annual general meeting at least once.  You do that and you won't ever sell a share!

 

 

I attended my first AGM. You re absolutely spot on.

 

Prem's humility + shareholder  friendly culture is what impressed me the most.

 

I was quite surprised to see him mingling with all us commoners. 

 

By the way, I thought of you Sanj when they were serving those mini burgers. Quite tasty. What did you think.(I was quite hungry after missing breakfast)

[Sea Island]

Thank you to all those who made the AGM and annual dinner a terrific event. The sense of community amongst my fellow investors and open exchange of ideas with shareholders and management was especially rewarding. Thank You to Mr. Parsad for his efforts, it was great to be able to do good by doing well.

 

Note to future attendees: The Canadian BackPackers Inn was conveniently located to all the events and at $25 per night for the dorm room accomadations, it was quite a value. It is a short walk, 15 minutes, from Greyhound bus station for those of you travelling from the states. They were so nice I felt a little guilty not paying more but they were offering an internet discount.

 

 

[Partner24]

It would be really interesting to have some notes about the AGM.

[Parsad]

By the way, I thought of you Sanj when they were serving those mini burgers. Quite tasty. What did you think.(I was quite hungry after missing breakfast)

 

I didn't get to eat one!  You only get a certain amount of time to see everyone each year, so I was saying hi to everyone and didn't eat anything.  I just had a Coke just before our own AGM started.

 

The day before, I did go to my usual haunt when in Toronto for what I consider the best mini-burgers I've ever had.  It's at a place called Trevor's Kitchen & Bar.  A little funky restaurant in the lower level of a heritage building...38 Wellington Street East.  They make these little Kobe beef mini-burgers...by far the best mini-burgers I've ever eaten.  I make a trip there every year when I go to Toronto and make sure I get to taste them.  If you go before 6pm (they open at 4pm), they are half price at the bar.  Cheers!

[T-bone1]

Thanks again for setting up the dinner Sanjeev! I think everyone had a great time and learned a fair amount. You have really put together a great group here and you deserve all of our thanks.

 

A few notes from the AGM: 

 

When asked about buybacks Prem mentioned that they all "keep (Henry) Singleton in the back of our minds"

 

No one gave a specific estimate, but I think the best guess at the subs is that the soft market will last at least one more year and probably two.  The guys running the insurance businesses were very impressive

 

As usual, Prem said they talk about hedging a lot and might hedge more at any point, but haven't yet. He said they also might sell stocks, but suggested that he planned on holding the core 4 (JNJ, USB, K, WFC) for ten years of more

 

There is now $40/share in pretax income from interest and dividends alone, not sure if this includes common stock divs or not

 

The future growth of FFH will come from abroad, Poland/Eastern Europe, Asia and especially India, where Prem mentioned that only 1% of households are insured. He wants to take ownership of ICICI Lombard up to 49% as soon as the Indian government allows it

 

There was a slide showing that the expense ratio is up at least 5% purely from writing less premiums, so when we get a hard market and write more insurance, we can expect significant improvements in both the expense ratio and the loss ratio (90-95% CR's anyone?)

 

more to come, but I wanted to get the ball rolling . .

[ok22]

AGM 2010 Presentation?  I see the link for 2009 on www.fairfax.ca but not one for 2010.  Would appreciate if someone can point me to the 2010 presentation.

Thanks.

[Zorrofan]

Sanj,

 

Next time you speak to Prem, perhaps you could suggest that FFH add a section on the website for downloads? Just a humble suggestion......

 

cheers

Zorro

[Zorrofan]

I should have been more specific - I am refering to the presentations, as in the one given at the AGM. Everything else is well laid out. If however the presentation is there but i am just not seeing it, a point in the right direction would be appreciated!

 

cheers

Zorro

[ERICOPOLY]

I should have been more specific - I am refering to the presentations, as in the one given at the AGM. Everything else is well laid out. If however the presentation is there but i am just not seeing it, a point in the right direction would be appreciated!

 

cheers

Zorro

 

They keep the old ones well hidden, but they can still be accessed.  I can't find the 2010 one yet:

 

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2006_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2007_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2008_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2009_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

[Grenville]

I should have been more specific - I am refering to the presentations, as in the one given at the AGM. Everything else is well laid out. If however the presentation is there but i am just not seeing it, a point in the right direction would be appreciated!

 

cheers

Zorro

 

They keep the old ones well hidden, but they can still be accessed.  I can't find the 2010 one yet:

 

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2006_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2007_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2008_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

http://www.fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2009_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf

 

Ericopoly,

 

Thanks for the links to the old slides!

[ok22]

Curious:  Does Canadian/US securities law-reg FD etc.  not require them to make a filing/disclose the 2010 presentation at the same time as or before the annual meeting so that all shareholders can see it?

Ericopoly - thanks for the old presentations.  Agree that they "keep them well hidden." 

 

Not sure why the AGM presentations cannot be widely available and as easy to access and archived via their website like the other documents?

[DynamicPerception]

If you go to the FAIRFAX "Corporate" page, at the bottom you will find the link to the last (2009) AGM presentation.

[Parsad]

Does Canadian/US securities law-reg FD etc.  not require them to make a filing/disclose the 2010 presentation at the same time as or before the annual meeting so that all shareholders can see it?

 

The law applies only if there is material information that wasn't previously available.  Nothing discussed at the AGM was previously undisclosed in quarterly reports, annual reports, or individual filings.  I'm sure they will put up the slides soon enough.  Cheers!

[Guest FFHfan]

2010 Annual Meeting Slide Presentation

 

http://fairfax.ca/Assets/Downloads/2010_AGM_Slide_Presentation.pdf