Insurance Units Lift Berkshire To Record Profit
NU Online News Service, May 5, 12:27 pm. EDT?Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said the company is expected to record a first-quarter net profit of $1.7 billion, helped by strong growth from its insurance businesses.
Speaking at the company's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, Warren Buffett, Berkshire chairman and chief executive officer, said the company would report $1.7 billion for its first-quarter profit, which would be the highest quarterly earning the company has ever reported.
In the corresponding period one year ago, the company reported a net income of $916 million.
The company's strong first-quarter showing was largely a result of its insurance operations. In discussing the preliminary information for the company's first-quarter numbers, Mr. Buffett said Berkshire's insurance operations made a pre-tax underwriting profit of some $290 million. And premium volume at GEICO jumped more than 16 percent in the first quarter.
Mr. Buffett also said that the company's "float"–cash collected before claims are paid out that Berkshire uses to invest in a number of businesses–has increased to $42.5 billion, up from about $37 billion a year ago.
Berkshire's complete 2003 first-quarter interim shareholders' report is due to be posted Friday on the company's Web site, www.berkshirehathaway.com.
Headquartered in Omaha, Neb., Berkshire's subsidiaries include National Indemnity, GEICO Corporation and reinsurance giant GeneralCologne Re.
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