1971 年致股东信

To the Stockholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:

致伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司全体股东：

It is a pleasure to report that operating earnings in 1971, excluding capital gains, amounted to more than 14% of beginning shareholders’ equity. This result—considerably above the average of American industry—was achieved in the face of inadequate earnings in our textile operation, making clear the benefits of redeployment of capital inaugurated five years ago. It will continue to be the objective of management to improve return on total capitalization (long term debt plus equity), as well as the return on equity capital. However, it should be realized that merely maintaining the present relatively high rate of return may well prove more difficult than was improvement from the very low levels of return which prevailed throughout most of the 1960’s.

很高兴向各位报告，1971 年扣除资本利得后的营业利润达到了期初股东权益的 14% 以上。这一成绩——远高于美国工业平均水平——是在纺织业务盈利不足的情况下取得的，这充分说明了五年前启动的资本重新配置所带来的好处。管理层仍将以提升总资本回报率（长期债务加权益）以及净资产回报率为目标。不过需要认识到，在当前相对较高的回报率基础上仅仅维持这一水平，可能比从整个 1960 年代大部分时间所处的极低回报率水平上实现提升更为困难。

Textile Operations

纺织业务

We, in common with most of the textile industry, continued to struggle throughout 1971 with inadequate gross margins. Strong efforts to hammer down costs and a continuous search for less price-sensitive fabrics produced only marginal profits. However, without these efforts we would have operated substantially in the red.

与大多数纺织企业一样，我们在整个 1971 年继续面临微薄的毛利率。我们大力压缩成本，并持续寻找对价格不那么敏感的面料品种，但仅能获得微薄的利润。不过，如果没有这些努力，我们将会出现大幅亏损。

Employment was more stable throughout the year as our program to improve control of inventories achieved reasonable success.

由于我们改善库存控制的计划取得了合理的成效，全年就业情况更加稳定。

As mentioned last year, Ken Chace and his management group have been swimming against a strong industry tide. This negative environment has only caused them to intensify their efforts. Currently we are witnessing a mild industry pickup which we intend to maximize with our greatly strengthened sales force. With the improvement now seen in volume and mix of business, we would expect better profitability—although not of a dramatic nature—from our textile operation in 1972.

正如去年所提到的，肯·蔡斯及其管理团队一直在逆着强大的行业潮流艰难前行。这种不利的环境反而促使他们更加努力。目前我们正看到行业温和回暖的迹象，我们打算借助大幅增强的销售团队充分把握这一时机。随着目前业务量和业务结构的好转，我们预计纺织业务在 1972 年的盈利情况会有所改善——尽管不会是戏剧性的改善。

Insurance Operations

保险业务

An unusual combination of factors—reduced auto accident frequency, sharply higher effective rates in large volume lines, and the absence of major catastrophes—produced an extraordinarily good year for the property and casualty insurance industry. We shared in these benefits, although they are not without their negative connotations.

多种因素的异常组合——汽车事故频率下降、大批量业务险种的有效费率大幅提高以及没有发生重大灾难事故——使得财产与意外险行业在 1971 年业绩格外优异。我们也从中受益，尽管这些好处并非没有负面含义。

Our traditional business—and still our largest segment—is in the specialized policy or non-standard insured. When standard markets become tight because of unprofitable industry underwriting, we experience substantial volume increases as producers look to us. This was the condition several years ago, and largely accounts for the surge of direct volume experienced in 1970 and 1971. Now that underwriting has turned very profitable on an industry-wide basis, more companies are seeking the insureds they were rejecting a short while back and rates are being cut in some areas. We continue to have underwriting profitability as our primary goal and this may well mean a substantial decrease in National Indemnity’s direct volume during 1972. Jack Ringwalt and Phil Liesche continue to guide this operation in a manner matched by very few in the business.

我们的传统业务——也是我们目前最大的业务板块——是为特殊风险或非标准风险提供保险。当标准市场因行业承保无利可图而变得紧张时，代理人会转向我们，从而使得我们的业务量大幅增长。几年前的情形正是如此，这也是 1970 年和 1971 年直接业务量激增的主要原因。如今，整个行业的承保业务已变得非常有利可图，越来越多的保险公司开始争取他们不久前还在拒绝的投保人，一些地区的费率正在下调。我们始终将承保盈利能力作为首要目标，这很可能意味着国民赔偿公司 1972 年的直接业务量将大幅下降。杰克·林沃尔特和菲尔·利舍继续以其极少数同业能匹敌的方式管理着这项业务。

Our reinsurance business, which has been developed to a substantial operation in just two years by the outstanding efforts of George Young, faces much the same situation. We entered the reinsurance business late in 1969 at a time when rates had risen substantially and capacity was tight. The reinsurance industry was exceptionally profitable in 1971, and we are now seeing rate-cutting as well as the formation of well-capitalized aggressive new competitors. These lower rates are frequently accompanied by greater exposure. Against this background we expect to see our business curtailed somewhat in 1972. We set no volume goals in our insurance business generally—and certainly not in reinsurance—as virtually any volume can be achieved if profitability standards are ignored. When catastrophes occur and underwriting experience sours, we plan to have the resources available to handle the increasing volume which we will then expect to be available at proper prices.

我们的再保险业务在乔治·杨的出色努力下，短短两年内就发展成为一项颇具规模的业务，如今也面临着非常相似的处境。我们于 1969 年底进入再保险市场，当时费率已大幅上升，承保能力紧张。再保险行业在 1971 年利润异常丰厚，现在我们看到的是费率正在下降，同时资本充足的进取型新竞争对手纷纷涌现。较低的费率往往伴随着更大的风险敞口。在这种背景下，我们预计 1972 年的再保险业务量将出现一定程度的缩减。我们在保险业务中普遍不设定业务量目标——当然再保险业务更是如此——因为如果忽略盈利能力标准，几乎任何业务量都可以实现。当灾难发生、承保经验恶化时，我们计划拥有足够的资源来处理届时预计能以合理价格获得的新增业务。

We inaugurated our “home-state” insurance operation in 1970 by the formation of Cornhusker Casualty Company. To date, this has worked well from both a marketing and an underwriting standpoint. We have therefore further developed this approach by the formation of Lakeland Fire & Casualty Company in Minnesota during 1971, and Texas United Insurance in 1972. Each of these companies will devote its entire efforts to a single state seeking to bring the agents and insureds of its area a combination of large company capability and small company accessibility and sensitivity. John Ringwalt has been in overall charge of this operation since inception. Combining hard work with imagination and intelligence, he has transformed an idea into a well organized business. The “home-state” companies are still very small, accounting for a little over $1.5 million in premium volume during 1971. It looks as though this volume will more than double in 1972 and we will develop a more creditable base upon which to evaluate underwriting performance.

我们于 1970 年通过成立 Cornhusker 灾害保险公司启动了“本州”保险业务。到目前为止，无论从营销还是承保角度来看，这项业务都运作良好。因此，我们进一步推进了这一策略，于 1971 年在明尼苏达州成立了 Lakeland 消防与灾害保险公司，并于 1972 年成立了德克萨斯联合保险公司。这些公司每家都将专注于一个州，力图将大公司的实力与小公司的便利性和亲和力结合起来，带给当地的代理人和投保人。约翰·林沃尔特从一开始就全面负责这项业务。他结合勤奋工作、想象力和智慧，将一个构想转化为一项组织有序的业务。这些“本州”保险公司规模尚小，1971 年的保费收入仅略超过 150 万美元。看来 1972 年的保费收入将增长一倍以上，届时我们将建立起一个更可靠的评估承保业绩的基础。

A highlight of 1971 was the acquisition of Home & Automobile Insurance Company, located in Chicago. This company was built by Victor Raab from a small initial investment into a major auto insurer in Cook County, writing about $7.5 million in premium volume during 1971. Vic is cut from the same cloth as Jack Ringwalt and Gene Abegg, with a talent for operating profitably accompanied by enthusiasm for his business. These three men have built their companies from scratch and, after selling their ownership position for cash, retain every bit of the proprietary interest and pride that they have always had.

1971 年的一个亮点是收购了位于芝加哥的家庭与汽车保险公司。这家公司由维克多·拉布从一笔小投资起步，发展成为库克县一家主要的汽车保险公司，1971 年的保费收入约为 750 万美元。维克多与杰克·林沃尔特和吉恩·阿贝格属于同一类人，他们既具备经营盈利能力，又对业务充满热情。这三个人都是白手起家创建了各自的公司，在出售股权换取现金后，他们仍然保留着原有的所有者心态和自豪感。

While Vic has multiplied the original equity of Home & Auto many times since its founding, his ideas and talents have always been circumscribed by his capital base. We have added capital funds to the company, which will enable it to establish branch operations extending its highly-concentrated and on-the-spot marketing and claims approach to other densely populated areas.

尽管维克多自公司创立以来已使家庭与汽车保险公司的原始资本增值了许多倍，但他的想法和才能一直受制于资本规模。我们向该公司注入了资本，这将使其能够开设分支机构，将其高度集中的现场营销和理赔方式扩展到其他人烟稠密的地区。

All in all, it is questionable whether volume added by Home & Auto, plus the “home-state” business in 1972, will offset possible declines in direct and reinsurance business of National Indemnity Company. However, our large volume gains in 1970 and 1971 brought in additional funds for investment at a time of high interest rates, which will be of continuing benefit in future years. Thus, despite the unimpressive prospects regarding premium volume, the outlook for investment income and overall earnings from insurance in 1972 is reasonably good.

总体而言，1972 年家庭与汽车保险公司以及“本州”业务新增的业务量能否抵消国民赔偿公司直接业务和再保险业务可能出现的下滑，尚存疑问。然而，我们在 1970 年和 1971 年实现的大幅业务量增长，在高利率时期为我们带来了额外的投资资金，这将在未来多年持续带来好处。因此，尽管保费收入前景并不突出，但 1972 年保险业务的投资收益和总体盈利前景还是相当不错的。

Banking Operations

银行业务

Our banking subsidiary, The Illinois National Bank & Trust Company, continued to lead its industry as measured by earnings as a percentage of deposits. In 1971, Illinois National earned well over 2% after tax on average deposits while (1) not using borrowed funds except for very occasional reserve balancing transactions; (2) maintaining a liquidity position far above average; (3) recording loan losses far below average; and (4) utilizing a mix of over 50% time deposits with all consumer savings accounts receiving maximum permitted interest rates throughout the year. This reflects a superb management job by Gene Abegg and Bob Kline.

我们的银行子公司伊利诺伊国民银行与信托公司，以收益占存款的百分比衡量，继续在行业中保持领先地位。1971 年，伊利诺伊国民银行的税后存款收益远高于 2%，同时 (1) 除了极偶尔的准备金平衡交易外，没有使用借入资金；(2) 保持了远高于平均水平的流动性；(3) 贷款损失远低于平均水平；(4) 定期存款占比超过 50%，所有消费者储蓄账户全年均按最高允许利率计息。这充分体现了吉恩·阿贝格和鲍勃·克莱恩卓越的管理水平。

Interest rates received on loans and investments were down substantially throughout the banking industry during 1971. In the last few years, Illinois National’s mix of deposits has moved considerably more than the industry average away from demand money to much more expensive time money. For example, interest paid on deposits has gone from under $1.7 million in 1969 to over $2.7 million in 1971. Nevertheless, the unusual profitability of the Bank has been maintained. Marketing efforts were intensified during the year, with excellent results.

1971 年，整个银行业的贷款和投资收益率均大幅下降。在过去几年中，伊利诺伊国民银行的存款结构从活期存款转向成本更高的定期存款的幅度远大于行业平均水平。例如，支付的存款利息从 1969 年的不到 170 万美元增加到 1971 年的超过 270 万美元。尽管如此，该银行依然保持了非凡的盈利能力。这一年，市场营销力度加大，取得了出色的成果。

With interest rates even lower now than in 1971, the banking industry is going to have trouble achieving gains in earnings during 1972. Our deposit gains at Illinois National continue to come in the time money area, which produces only very marginal incremental income at present. It will take very close cost control to enable Illinois National to maintain its 1971 level of earnings during 1972.

由于当前利率甚至低于 1971 年，银行业在 1972 年要实现盈利增长将面临困难。伊利诺伊国民银行的存款增长仍主要来自定期存款，而目前这些存款只能带来极微薄的增量收入。要维持 1971 年的盈利水平，伊利诺伊国民银行需要实施非常严格的成本控制。

Financial

财务

Because of the volume gains being experienced by our insurance subsidiaries early in 1971, we re-cast Berkshire Hathaway’s bank loan so as to provide those companies with additional capital funds. This financing turned out to be particularly propitious when the opportunity to purchase Home & Auto occurred later in the year.

由于 1971 年初保险子公司业务量增长，我们重新安排了伯克希尔·哈撒韦的银行贷款，以便为这些公司提供额外的资本资金。这项融资安排后来被证明是极为及时的，因为我们在当年晚些时候得到了收购家庭与汽车保险公司的机会。

Our insurance and banking subsidiaries possess a fiduciary relationship with the public. We retain a fundamental belief in operating from a very strongly financed position so as to be in a position to unquestionably fulfill our responsibilities. Thus, we will continue to map our financial future for maximum financial strength in our subsidiaries as well as at the parent company level.

我们的保险和银行子公司对公众负有受托责任。我们深信，必须从非常稳健的财务状况出发进行经营，才能确保毫无疑问地履行我们的职责。因此，我们将继续规划我们的财务未来，以最大限度地增强子公司和母公司的财务实力。

Warren E. Buffett
Chairman of the Board
March 13, 1972

沃伦·E·巴菲特
董事会主席
1972 年 3 月 13 日