Earnings Labs

Markel Corporation (MKL)

Q2 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Aug 6, 2015

$1,903.71

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Markel Corporation Second Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. During the call today, we may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They are based on current assumptions and opinions concerning a variety of known and unknown risk. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or suggested by such forward-looking statements. Additional information about the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements is included under the captions, Risk Factors and Safe Harbor and Cautionary Statement in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures in the call today. You may find the reconciliation to GAAP of these measures in Form 10-Q, which can be found on our website at www.markelcorp.com in the Investor Information section. The presenters today for Markel Corporation will be in the following order: Mr. Tom Gayner, President and Chief Investment Officer; Ms. Anne Waleski, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Mike Crowley, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer; and Mr. Richie Whitt, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer. I would now like to turn the conference call over to your host, Mr. Tom Gayner. Sir, the floor is yours. Thomas S. Gayner - President & Chief Investment Officer: Thanks so much. Good morning and welcome to the 2015 first half conference call for Markel. My name is Tom Gayner. And as our host indicated, I'm joined as usual by Anne Waleski; Mike Crowley; and Richie Whitt. Anne will brief you on the financial…

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. And the first question we have comes from Mark Dwelle of RBC. Please go ahead.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Yeah. Good morning. A couple of numbers questions to start off with. The expense ratio in the quarter was a little bit higher than where it had been running for the last several quarters, and I was wondering if there was anything unique or unusual in the quarter or any other factor that might explain it. Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Hi, Mark. It's Anne. Sort of to Tom's point about good news, facts, we did make an adjustment to the profit-sharing accrual during the quarter based on the results year-to-date. So that's what you're seeing push through the expense ratio. It's about two points in the quarter, I think.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Okay. Very good. The second question relates to amortization expense, which is normally pretty stable but it kind of popped up relative to the last several quarters' run rate. Was there some re-visitation of prior acquisitions or something in that? Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: We've been working on a – for lack of a better term, some simplification within the legal entity structure, and we closed off the legacy Europe operations of Alterra. Then we finalized that at the beginning of the year, so there was a write-off for some licenses that they held and you saw that in the quarter. That's what I think you're seeing there.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

I see. So sort of a one-off there on that. Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Correct.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Okay. The third question, Tom mentioned the earn-out related to Cottrell. Was that all in the second quarter results, or was there any in the first quarter? Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: There was nothing in the first quarter. You're seeing the change come through in the second quarter. To the extent that the forecast for Cottrell moves around, you could see some movement up or down in the third and fourth quarter. But we're not expecting it to be a material move.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Okay. And then the last question I had related to the tax rate. And I think I understand from last quarter how that was meant to be calculated and estimated. And I guess what confused me is that the tax rate that came down in the quarter relative to the first quarter, yet the earnings related to the related international entities were actually worse in the second quarter than the first quarter. So that seems counterintuitive, and I was hoping you could help me reconcile it. Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Yeah. I think the thing to remember there is that it's all about what portion of the foreign operations get taxed in the U.S. And during the quarter when we did the provision work, the amount of foreign income that we expect to be taxed in the U.S. declined.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Okay. Maybe I'm not sure I understand that last point. Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: I'm not exactly sure how to articulate it differently, but not all of our foreign operations get taxed in the U.S. So when we do the provision work, we have to do an allocation to determine how much of it we expect will be taxed in the U.S. And...

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

I see. It's not just what you earned; it's very specifically exactly where you earned it, which isn't something... Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That's correct.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Which isn't something that anybody with my level of financial statements is ever going to see; it'll be something at your internal level that you'll be able to track. Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That's right. And if it makes you feel any better, it's as challenging for us as it probably seems to you.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

I guess the last question on that point is, shall I think about the 16% year-to-date run rate as being the best estimate to think about for the balance of the year? Or should it be... Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That's right.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Okay. That's fine. Anne G. Waleski - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That's right. Although, just to make sure we're all sort of talking about the same thing. That would be our estimate for the year that we would expect for future years, our best estimate is what the historical run-rate has been. So low to mid-20s.

Mark A. Dwelle - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Yeah. Okay. That's all my questions. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Well at this time, we're showing no further questions and we'll go ahead and conclude the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks. Ms. Waleski, gentlemen? Thomas S. Gayner - President & Chief Investment Officer: Thank you very much. I was glad to be with you. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

Operator

Operator

And we thank you, sir, and to the rest of the management team for your time also today. The conference call is now concluded. At this time, you may disconnect your lines. Thank you and have a great day, everyone.