Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has reported second-quarter net earnings increased 13 percent compared to the period last year, due in part to investment gains.
Second-quarter net income rose to $1.45 billion from $1.28 billion in the second quarter of 2004. Revenues rose 1 percent to $18.13 billion.
Despite a more favorable insurance loss number, pretax underwriting gains fell 11 percent.
Meanwhile, the dismissal of an executive provided evidence that the Omaha, Neb.-based company has yet to escape the effects of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General's Office into its finite reinsurance transactions.
The company on Friday announced the termination of Milan Vukelic, who had been chief executive of a British international finite reinsurance business and was currently head of the General Reinsurance subsidiary's Faraday Group.
Mr. Vukelic was placed on administrative leave in May and was fired this month, according to the company.
He was notified last December that he was under investigation by British financial service regulators in connection with certain finite reinsurance transactions, according to the Berkshire second-quarter 10K statement.
Berkshire issued a clarification statement today asserting that government inquiries referred to in the second-quarter 10K were those stemming from the Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena on Jan. 7 of this year and did not mean to imply there were new charges.
On the financial side, the company said that premiums fell 22 percent at the company's reinsurance unit, General Re, and rose 14 percent at its personal lines insurer Geico.
The company did suffer a pretax loss of $619 million from foreign currency contracts as Berkshire continues to bet against the dollar, which rose 6 percent in the quarter.
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