1976年的巴菲特致股东的信.pdf

1976 年巴菲特致股东的信 翻译：Rick /s/blog_a3453d2201015yh2.html To the Stockholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, After two dismal years, operating results in 1976 improved significantly. Last year we said the degree of progress in insurance underwriting would determine whether our gain in earnings would be moderate or major. As it turned out, earnings exceeded even the high end of our expectations. In large part, this was due to the outstanding efforts of Phil Liesches managerial group at National Indemnity Company. 致伯克希尔股东： 两年的糟糕业绩之后，1976 年的经营业绩大幅改善。在去年的年报里，我们曾 提到承保业务的进展将决定我们今年的业绩是“还行”，亦或是“很不错”。最 后的事实表明，业绩远超我们的预期。在很大程度上，这归功于Phil 所领导的 国民赔偿公司优秀的运营业绩。 In dollar terms, operating earnings came to $16,073,000, or $16.47 per share. While this is a record figure, we consider return on shareholders equity to be a much more significant yardstick of economic performance. Here our result was 17.3%, moderately above our long-term average and even further above the average of American industry, but well below our record level of 19.8% achieved in 1972. Our present estimate, subject to all the caveats implicit in forecasting, is that dollar operating earnings are likely to improve somewhat in 1977, but that return on equity may decline a bit from the 1976 figure. 以绝对值衡量，1976 年的营业利润为1607 万美元，合每股约16.47 美元。这是 一个创历史新高的数字，但是我们认为ROE 是个更好的衡量业绩的指标。1976 年，我们的ROE 是17.3%，比我们长期平均水平要好，更高于美国产业的平均 水平，但是比我们1972 年取得的最高业绩记录19.8%要低。综合目前的情况， 1977 的营业利润在绝对值上会比1976 年要高，但是从ROE 的角度看，可能要 下降一些。 Textile Operations Our textile division was a significant disappointment during 1976. Earnings, measured either by return on sales or by return on capital employed, were inadequate. In part, this was due to industry conditions which did not measure up to expectations of a year ago. But equally important were our own shortcomings. 纺织业务 1976 年我们的纺织业务表现令人失望。无论是净利润率，还是投入资本收益率 （ROCE ），都处于较低水平。造成这个状况的部分原因是纺织行业的景气度未 达到我们的预期，但是同样重要的原因是我们自身也存在一些问题。 Marketing efforts and mill capabilities were no