Q: What are your thoughts on the overall prospects on Fairfax. Its my understanding that it is a much different company than the one from 15 year ago. Thanks
FFH in the past focused on growing book value per share and paying minimal dividends. The company compounded book value per share at around 15% on average, used to be considered as a “Canadian version” of BRK.B. However, in the last ten years, performance has not been impressive, book value compounded around 8%, while most earnings are paid out as dividends. We think FFH will still do okay going forward, but it is quite hard to repeat the track record of its past. FFH also used to take large 'bets' on the market (both ways), and has seemed to have reduced this activity.