Good morning! And welcome back after the long weekend.

1pm: we are wrapping up today's report now, thank you.


The end of an era

(NB. I'm long BRK.B.)

This weekend we learned that Warren Buffet was retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, effective January 1st 2026.

Buffett was born in 1930, and has been CEO of Berkshire since 1970, so it is reasonable that he may wish to take a break at this time. However, he will remain Chairman of the Berkshire Board.

Buffett has had an immense, immeasurable influence on the investing community, through his many shareholder letters and interviews, but perhaps above all through his actions and decisions as CEO of America's most famous conglomerate.

Without him, both "value" and "quality" investing would be very different.

As for the future of his company, it will hopefully not be all that different from the past, at least for now. It has been known since 2021 that Greg Abel would be the next CEO.

Greg Abel has been part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies since 1999, and has been Vice-Chairman of non-insurance operations since 2018. Aged 67, I hope and expect that he will provide a steady pair of hands for the foreseeable future.

As for Warren Buffett, I very much hope that he enjoys his additional free time, even if he can't spend it with his greatest friend and colleague Charlie Munger. The discipline of investing will move on, but it is difficult to imagine that anyone will ever match their impact. 


Companies Reporting

Name (Mkt Cap)RNSSummaryOur view (Author)

Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) (£14.8bn)

Response to media speculation

ABF confirms talks are underway on a possible transaction involving Allied Bakeries.

AMBER (Roland) [no section below]
Sky News has reported that ABF is in “prolonged discussions” with private equity house Endless over a possible deal to combine the two companies’ bakery businesses. Competition issues could be a stumbling block, with Hovis and Allied Bakeries said to have 24% and 17% market shares respectively, against 34% for Warburtons. I’m going to leave our neutral view unchanged today following our 29 April review of ABF’s interim results.

Deliveroo (LON:ROO) (£2.6bn)

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