NEW YORK: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said fourth-quarter profit rose 32 percent, helped by improved results in its insurance operations and higher gains from investments and derivatives.
Net income rose to $5.48 billion, or $3,333 per Class A share, from $4.16 billion, or $2,529 per share, a year earlier.
Quarterly operating profit rose 18 percent to $4.67 billion, or $2,843 per share, from $3.96 billion, or $2,412 per share.
Analysts on average had forecast operating profit of $2,814 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose 7 percent to $51.82 billion.
Book value per share, which measures assets minus liabilities and which Buffett considers a good yardstick for Berkshire’s intrinsic worth, rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier to $155,501.
For all of 2015, profit rose 21 percent to $24.08 billion, or $14,656 per share. It would have edged lower but for a gain from the merger that created Kraft Heinz Co, Berkshire said. Operating profit rose 5 percent to $17.36 billion, or $10,564 per share.
Buffett, 85, has run Berkshire for nearly 51 years.
He has transformed it from a failing textile company into a conglomerate with roughly 90 businesses in such areas as insurance, railroads, energy, food, apparel and real estate.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also has well over $100 billion of equity investments, including American Express Co. , Coca-Cola Co, IBM Corp, Kraft Heinz and Wells Fargo & Co.
Berkshire ended the year with $71.73 billion in cash. It spent some of it last month when it acquired industrial parts maker Precision Castparts Corp, Buffett’s largest acquisition.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Q4 profit rises 32%
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Q4 profit rises 32%
Saudi Export-Import Bank signs reinsurance agreement with the German Export Credit Agency
RIYADH: The Saudi Export-Import Bank has signed a reinsurance agreement with Germany’s official Export Credit Agency, managed by Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft, with the aim of enhancing credit risk insurance coverage to meet the needs of local exporters of capital goods and production inputs from the Federal Republic of Germany.
This agreement is part of the bank’s efforts to strengthen partnerships with international export credit agencies, ensuring the safe and sustainable flow of essential raw materials and capital goods, and enhancing the efficiency of export activities by local enterprises, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The agreement was signed by Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalb, CEO of the Saudi Export-Import Bank, and Edna Schone, board member of Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft and head of its Export Credit Agency.
Al-Khalb stated that the reinsurance agreement with ECA represents an important step in expanding credit risk management tools and enabling local exporters to obtain the production inputs and capital goods necessary to grow their businesses with greater confidence.
He noted that cooperation with international export credit agencies reflects the bank’s commitment to developing advanced insurance solutions that contribute to the growth of the Kingdom’s foreign trade, as part of its pivotal role in strengthening the non-oil national economy.
Through this agreement, the Saudi Export-Import Bank continues to support the growth of Saudi non-oil exports and expand its network of international partnerships, in alignment with the goals of Vision 2030 to diversify the national economy and enhance the Kingdom’s position in global trade.
