Another of our more recent Fund investments is Rubis (XPAR:RUI, Financial), a French-listed business that distributes petroleum based products (gasoline and liquid petroleum gas "LPG") in the Caribbean and East Africa. We engaged with the company in the 4th quarter to get a clearer understanding of how Rubis was addressing its business’s environmental impact, and the possible negative implications that impact may have on Rubis’s stock price and value compound. We had questions about what appeared to be, according to Bloomberg, a weak track record relative to its peers, with respect to disclosing environmental information. Rubis representatives responded that they believed Bloomberg’s information was incomplete and some of it incorrect. They emphasized the company’s AA rating at MSCI and asked us to complete a survey to inform them of the ESG issues that are important to us. We completed and submitted the survey, and appreciate the company’s willingness to engage with us on this issue. We acknowledge that the company faces unusual environmental challenges from their operations in Africa and other emerging markets. For example, Rubis supplies LPG to consumers in East Africa for home heating and cooking. These consumers do not have access to renewable sources of power, natural gas pipelines or reliable electricity networks. The main alternatives to LPG for home cooking and heating include burning wood, dung or cardboard, which arguably produce more toxic emissions than that produced by cleaner gas-based fossil fuels. It is estimated that these non-fossil fuel based alternatives kill about 700,000 people per year in sub-Saharan Africa from indoor air pollution. Economic development can help Africa out of this unenviable position, but it also means Africans may require low cost fossil fuel in the nearer term to help pay for a more sustainable future. In addition, around quarter-end, Rubis announced a significant investment in a French solar power generation business whose efficacy we are currently studying. We will continue to monitor Rubis’s behavior with respect to these complex environmental impact issues, but for now feel they do not compromise the company’s ability to compound its intrinsic value over time. Furthermore, in our view the company’s discounted stock price more than compensates for these issues.
From Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio)'s fourth-quarter 2021 commentary.
