Berkshire’s Earnings Up

Omaha, NE, Nov. 7–Berkshire Hathaway’s third-quarter earnings rose 58% including investment gains, and climbed 38% without the gains.

Berkshire said Friday that net income came to $1.81 billion, or $1,176 a share, compared with $1.14 billion, or $744 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding realized investment gains, earnings rose 38% to $1.35 billion from $977 million.

Revenue rose 72% to $18.23 billion from $10.6 billion, reflecting about $6.1 billion of revenue from McLane Co., a wholesale distributor of grocery goods acquired in May.
Berkshire, billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment holding company, said insurance revenue rose 7.8% to $5.96 billion. GEICO premium revenue rose 18% to $2 billion, while General Re premium revenue fell 3.2% to $2.05 billion.

Berkshire said building-products revenue rose 6.5% to $1.05 billion, Shaw Industries revenue rose 5.1% to $1.22 billion and finance and financial products revenue rose 62% to $746 million.

As of Sept. 30, cash and cash equivalents totaled $26.95 billion.