time to head off, so, my closing thoughts..., page-2

Rhys, All good points and all worth considering. I'll throw out a couple of other points, that I think are worth considering too.

1. Company is in a good position for further acquisitions at a time when the Aussie dollar is strong and there are plenty of buying opportunities overseas. The company also has a solid record of making successful acquisitions and I'm pretty sure that management would be doing the numbers on a couple of options right at the moment.

2. Dividends are about 5.5% partly franked unless I'm wrong (which I could be). That's a pretty good dividend for a well run company that is seen as a defensive and which has good prospects for growth through acquisitions.

3. It is far from certain that the $500m lawsuit will be successful (everything I've read makes it sound like an outside chance at best). The claim may be successful, but I think it would be a mistake to assume prior to judgment that it will certainly succeed. Even if it does, $500m is not going to ruin the company.

4. Gross short sales yesterday was about 7% of turnover. For comparison, ANZ was about 10%, BHP 42%, CBA 14%, IAG 7%....... Looks pretty normal to me. And correct me if I'm wrong, but short sales have to be covered at some point in the future. Don't high short sales point to a higher buy side in future?

Just a couple of thoughts about QBE. I reckon that it is a buy, but my timeframe is probably a bit different. I'll be happy to hold for several years minimum. And if the SP falls, I'll be happy to buy more.