Fairfax Financial chairman's letter to shareholders, 2025 annual report

About this letter

Prem Watsa, chairman and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, wrote this letter to shareholders for the company's 2025 annual report, published in March 2026. It marked Fairfax's fortieth year since it began in 1985, and Watsa reports a record net income of $4.8 billion despite about $1.2 billion of catastrophe losses, mainly from the California wildfires. He notes that the hard insurance market which began in 2019 was starting to soften.

The letter is long and detailed. It reviews each of the main insurance and reinsurance companies, internal leadership successions and new senior hires, the growth of float to $40.8 billion and the investment portfolio. Watsa also describes transactions such as helping take Kennedy Wilson private and buying a group of Indian restaurants in the United Kingdom, devotes a section to Fairfax's investments in India, and sets the company's size among the top 20 property and casualty insurers globally.

What to notice

1. 1

   Watsa reports a record year and book value per share compounding at 18.7% a year since 1985, crediting decentralisation and disciplined underwriting.