Business Description

Markel Group is a holding company that owns independently operated businesses across a range of industries. The cornerstone business, Markel Insurance, provides specialized insurance products that are not typically available through the standard insurance market. This insurance business sits at the center of the Company's strategy. It generates and holds capital used to support growth and investment across Markel Group. The other majority-owned businesses operate in diverse end markets, from industrial bakery equipment to ornamental plants to precast concrete. Markel Group also owns shares in publicly traded companies, primarily within its insurance operations. Markel Group supports each business by empowering leaders to make the best long-term decisions for their businesses. Customers, associates, and shareholders each benefit from this approach, given how it allows businesses to pursue opportunities that require time, stability, and trust. We believe this approach is difficult to replicate and makes Markel Group a distinctive home for businesses. An example of Markel Group's long-term mindset is the approach to reserving within the insurance operations. Customers rely on Markel Insurance to honor promises that may extend many years into the future. Through its long-standing practice of establishing reserves that are more likely to be redundant than deficient and investing the capital held to pay those reserves in high-quality investments, Markel Insurance ensures it can fulfill its commitments and uphold the trust placed in it by policyholders. The Company's architecture is intentionally designed to promote long-term decision making. Diverse cash flows across Markel Group provide financial strength. If one business faces headwinds, others can continue generating cash flow, enabling the Company to continuously pursue attractive opportunities. Low levels of debt reduce outside pressures that could otherwise force short-term actions. Decentralized leadership allows each business to adapt quickly to best serve its customers. This long-term orientation is rooted in, and guided by, the Company's culture, known as The Markel Style . The Markel Style is built on simple ideas: treat people fairly, act with integrity, and commit to winning over the long term. These principles guide decisions across the Company, serving as a shared set of values that foster excellence and consistency across independent businesses, all while allowing each business to retain its entrepreneurial spirit. Relentlessly Compounding Shareholder Capital A key principle of The Markel Style is building the value of the Company for shareholders. The design of Markel Group supports this goal by (i) owning businesses that generate positive cash flows and (ii) redeploying those cash flows for additional growth. Achieving this goal requires the ability to redeploy capital efficiently, with low friction and at attractive rates, across a large and diverse opportunity set. Markel Group has developed the skill and capability to do so in multiple ways: • Reinvesting in existing businesses • Acquiring majority-owned businesses • Investing in publicly traded companies • Repurchasing Markel Group shares In making new investments, Markel Group applies the same four-part test that has guided it for decades, regardless of where capital is deployed. The Company looks for businesses with: • Good returns on capital while using modest amounts of debt • Management teams with equal parts talent and integrity • Meaningful opportunities for reinvestment and/or disciplined capital management • A fair price This unique company design and set of shared values have enabled the Company to compound shareholder capital at attractive rates over many decades. We believe this compounding is best exhibited by the five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in our closing stock price and intrinsic value per share, which were 16% and 15%, respectively. 10K - 2 Key Financial Metrics We believe our system is uniquely equipped to relentlessly compound shareholder capital at attractive rates across decades. To better align with this long-term perspective, we use five-year time periods to measure our performance. The following table presents a summary of key financial metrics over the last five years.…