Share Investor: February 2010

It is time again for investors the world over to lap up the sage words from Warren Buffett and his letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

The 2009 letter should be a good pointer to where Warren is going and has been and is essential reading for all investors.

Warren Buffett's 2009 annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will be posted online about 8 a.m. EST Saturday (2.00am Sunday Feb 28 NZ time) on the company's Web site before being mailed around March 12 to shareholders as part of the company's 2009 annual financial report.

The annual letters (1977 -2008) of CEO and Chairman Buffett generate wide interest because of his comments about the economy and other topics, and the billionaire investor's easily understood explanations of financial matters.

In addition to the letter, EWB will have stories from a wide variety of sources about the letter's most captivating sections.

More About Warren Buffett

Everything Warren Buffett
Download the 2010 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Letter
Download the 2009 Warren Buffett Letter & 2009 Annual Report to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders
Download the 1977 - 2010 Warren Buffett Letter's to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

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	Buffett's Bites: The Essential Investor's Guide to Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letters by L.J. Rittenhouse Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours

c Share Investor 2010

In this series of posts I am going to be looking at stocks listed on the NZX in relation to their returns to shareholders over the life of their listing -what shareholders would now see in their back pockets if they had invested in the company IPO.

The calculation of returns includes dividends and tax credits.

Briscoe Group Ltd [BGR.NZ] has treated shareholders in a patchy way in terms of returns since its NZX listing in 2001. With 44 cents in net dividends (see chart above) paid and another 33% of that figure gained for those eligible for associated tax credits, an approx 21% return (see chart below for the share price percentage gain against the average of all NZX indexes) the 9 year listing gives an annual net return of 2.33.%.

This is approx 30 times worse than the return from the average of all NZX indexes.