Markel reported very good Q3 2012 results!
Markel Corporation (NYSE: MKL) reported its Q3 2012 results.
Net income per share came in at $5.32 slightly lower than the $5.48 a year ago.
The combined ratio was 101% due to the loss development on their asbestos and environmental reserves. One additional point is due to an accounting standard change.
The important insurance metric book value/share was $395.48, up 12% from $352.10 at December 31, 2011.
A transcript of their conference call you’ll find on Seeking Alpha.
So what happened at Markel lastly?
Operating revenue rose 13% to $2.2 bil in the first 9 months. The increase was due to an 8% increase in revenue from their insurance operations and an astonishing 51% increase in revenue from their non-insurance operations under the name of Markel Ventures.
If you already didn’t know it, the importance and earnings power of Markel Ventures is rising rapidly!
But there are other good news:
- The combined ratio for the 9 months came down to 95% from 105% in 2011.
- Throughout North America and in the entire company, they continue to work aggressively to reduce cost.
- Within the investment portfolio equities enjoyed a return of 15.5% and now represent roughly 52% of total shareholder equity. Fixed income produced a positive overall return of 4.5%.
Markel Ventures continued on its acquisition path and it seems that the market finally realizes the value creation which happens here: the share price yesterday rose above $500, a share price not seen for about 5 years!
This translates into a price/book value of 1.3, not too expensive for this great insurance company.
As their former secret weapon “Markel Ventures” slowly becomes a much more known weapon and the market reacts accordingly – are you prepared?