e8东的信 _作者: 美 沃伦·巴菲特-第66章
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Given the managerial stars we have at our operating units; Berkshire's performance is not affected if Charlie or I slip away from time to time。 You should note; however; the 〃interim〃 in my Salomon title。 Berkshire is my first love and one that will never fade: At the Harvard Business School last year; a student asked me when I planned to retire and I replied; 〃About five to ten years after I die。〃
以我们现有的梦幻明星级的经营团队阵容来说,Berkshire的表现绝不会因为查理或是我偶尔跷班而有所影响,大家必须知道,我在所罗门的名衔只是暂时的, Berkshire才是我的最爱,而且是至死不渝的爱,去年在哈佛商学院,有学生问我何时会退休,我的回答是:「大概要等到我死后五到十年吧!」。
Sources of Reported Earnings帐列盈余的来源
The table below shows the major sources of Berkshire's reported earnings。 In this presentation; amortization of Goodwill and other major purchase…price accounting adjustments are notcharged against the specific businesses to which they apply; but are instead aggregated and shown separately。 This procedure lets you view the earnings of our businesses as they would have been reported had we not purchased them。 I've explained in past reports why this form of presentation seems to us to be more useful to investors and managers than one utilizing generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); which require purchase…price adjustments to be made on a business…by…business basis。 The total net earnings we show in the table are; of course; identical to the GAAP total in our audited financial statements。
下表显示Berkshire帐列盈余的主要来源,在这张表中商誉的摊销数与购买法会计调整数会从个别被投资公司分离出来,单独加总列示,之所以这样做是为了让旗下各事业的盈余状况,不因我们的投资而有所影响,过去我一再地强调我们认为这样的表达方式,较之一般公认会计原则要求以个别企业基础做调整,不管是
对投资者或是管理者来说,更有帮助,当然最后损益加总的数字仍然会与经会计师查核的数字一致。
A large amount of additional information about these businesses is given on pages 33…47; where you also will find our segment earnings reported on a GAAP basis。 However; we will not in this letter discuss each of our non…insurance operations; as we have in the past。 Our businesses have grown in number … and will continue to grow … so it now makes sense to rotate coverage; discussing one or two in detail each year。
年报中还有企业个别部门的信息,依照一般公认会计原则所编写的格式,另外从今年开始我们将不再像过去那样详细叙述非保险业的营运,因为我们旗下事业组织日益庞大,且以后还会继续成长,所以实在是没有必要每年都重复讨论相同的事情。
(000s omitted) Berkshire's Share of Net Earnings (after taxes and Pre…Tax Earnings minority interests)
1991 1990 1991 1990
Operating Earnings: Insurance Group:
Underwriting Net Investment Ine H。 H。 Brown (acquired 7/1/91) Buffalo News Fechheimer Kirby 。
1991 (119;593) 331;846 13;616 37;113 12;947 35;726
1990 (26;647) 327;047 … 43;954 12;450 27;445
1991 (77;229) 285;173 8;611 21;841 6;843 22;555
1990 (14;936) 282;613 … 25;981 6;605 17;613
Nebraska Furniture Mart Scott Fetzer Manufacturing Group See's Candies Wesco … other than Insurance World Book Amortization of Goodwill
1991 14;384 26;123 42;390 12;230 22;483 (4;113)
1990 17;248 30;378 39;580 12;441 31;896 (3;476)
1991 6;993 15;901 25;575 8;777 15;487 (4;098)
1990 8;485 18;458 23;892 9;676 20;420 (3;461)
Other Purchase…Price
Shareholder…Designated
Accounting Charges Interest Expense* Contributions Other
1991 (6;021) (89;250) (6;772) 77;399
1990 (5;951) (76;374) (5;824) 58;310
1991 (7;019) (57;165) (4;388) 47;896
1990 (6;856) (49;726) (3;801) 35;782
Operating Earnings Sales of Securities Total Earnings … All Entities
1991 400;508 192;478 592;986
1990 482;477 33;989 516;466
1991 315;753 124;155 439;908
1990 370;745 23;348 394;093
*Excludes interest expense of Scott Fetzer Financial Group and
Mutual Savings & Loan。
*不包含史考特飞兹与联合储贷的利息费用
〃Look…Through〃 Earnings透视盈余
We've previously discussed look…through earnings; which consist of: (1) the operating earnings reported in the previous section; plus; (2) the retained operating earnings of major investees that; under GAAP accounting; are not reflected in our profits; less; (3) an allowance for the tax that would be paid by Berkshire if these retained earnings of investees had instead been distributed to us。
之前我们曾经讨论过透视盈余,其主要的组成份子有(1)前段所提到的帐列盈余,加上(2)主要被投资公司的保留盈余,按一般公认会计原则未反应在我们公司帐上的盈余,扣除(3)若这些未反应的盈余分配给我们时,估计可能要缴的所得税。
I've told you that over time look…through earnings must increase at about 15% annually if our intrinsic business value is to grow at that rate。 Indeed; since present management took over in 1965; our look…through earnings have grown at almost the identical 23% rate of gain recorded for book value。
我曾经告诉各位,长期而言,如果我们的实质价值也期望以这个幅度来成长的话,透视盈余每年也必须增加15%,而的确过自从现有经营阶层于1965年接手后,公司的透视盈余几乎与帐面价值一样,以23%的年复合成长率增加。
Last year; however; our look…through earnings did not grow at all but rather declined by 14%。 To an extent; the decline was precipitated by two forces that I discussed in last year's report and that I warned you would have a negative effect on look…through earnings。
然而去年我们的透视盈余不但没有增加,反而减少了14%,这样的下滑主要导源于去年年报就曾经向各位提过的两项因素,那时我就曾经警告各位那对我们的透视盈余将会有负面的影响。
First; I told you that our media earnings … both direct and look…through … were 〃sure to decline〃 and they in fact did。 The second force came into play on April 1; when the call of our Gillette preferred stock required us to convert it into mon。 The after…tax earnings in 1990 from our preferred had been about 45 million; an amount somewhat higher than the bination in 1991 of three months of dividends on our preferred plus nine months of look…through earnings on the mon。
首先我告诉各位旗下媒体事业的盈余,不管是帐面直接或是间接透视一定会减少,而事实证明确是如此,第二个因素发生在4月1号我们吉列特别股被要求转为普通股,1990年来自特别股的税后盈余是4;500万美元,大概比1991年一季的股利总和加上三季的普通股透视盈余还多一点。
Two other outes that I did not foresee also hurt look…through earnings in 1991。 First; we had a break…even result from our interest in Wells Fargo (dividends we received from the pany were offset by negative retained earnings)。 Last year I said that such a result at Wells was 〃a low…level possibility … not a likelihood。〃 Second; we recorded significantly lower … though still excellent … insurance profits。
另外有二项我没有意料到的结果,也影响到我们1991年的透视盈余,首先我们在Well…Fargo的利益大概仅维持损益两平(所收到的股利收入被其累积亏损所抵消),去年我说这样的可能性很低的说法,其可信度存疑,第二我们的保险业盈余虽然算是不错,但还是比往年低。
The following table shows you how we calculate look…through earnings; although I warn you that the figures are necessarily very rough。 (The dividends paid to us by these investees have been included in the operating earnings itemized on page 6; mostly under 〃Insurance Group: Net Investment Ine。〃)
各位可以从下表看出我们是如何计算透视盈余的,不过我还是要提醒各位这些数字有点粗糙,(被投资公司所分配的股利收入已经包含在保险事业的净投资收益项下)
Berkshire's Share of Undistributed Berkshire's Approximate Operating Earnings Berkshire's Major Investees Ownership at Yearend (in millions)
Capital Cities/ABC Inc The Coca…Cola pany Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp。 The Gillette pany GEICO Corp。 The Washington Post pany Wells Fargo & pany
1991 18。1% 7。0% 3。4%(1) 11。0% 48。2% 14。6% 9。6%
1990 17。9% 7。0% 3。2%(1) … 46。1% 14。6% 9。7%
1991 61 69 15 23(2) 69 10 (17)
1990 85 58 10 … 76 18 19(3)
Berkshire's share of
undistributed earnings of major investees 230 266
Hypothetical tax on these undistributed investee earnings (30) (35)
Reported operating earnings of Berkshire 316 371
Total look…through earnings of Berkshire 516 602
1。 Net of minority interest at Wesco已扣除Wesco的少数股权
2。 For the nine months after Berkshire converted its preferred on April 1仅含Berkshire于4月1日申请转换为普通股后的九个月
3。 Calculated on average ownership for the year以年平均持有股权比例计算
We also believe that investors can benefit by focusing on their own look…through earnings。 To calculate these; they should determine the underlying earnings attributable to the shares they hold in their portfolio and total these。 The goal of each investor should be to create a portfolio (in effect; a 〃pany〃) that will deliver him or her the highest possible look…through earnings a decade or so from now。
我们也相信投资人可以透过研究自己的透视盈余而受益,在算这个东西时,他们就会了解到其个别投资组合所应分配到的真正盈余的合计数,所有投资人的目标,应该是要建立一项投资组合可以让其透视盈余在从现在开始的十年内极大化。
An approach of this kind will force the investor to think about long…term business prospects rather than short…term stock market prospects; a perspective likely to improve results。 It's true; of course; that; in the long run; the scoreboard for investment decisions is market price。 But prices will be determined by future earnings。 In investing; just as in baseball; to put runs on the scoreboard one must watch the playing field; not the scoreboard。
这样的方式将会迫使投资人思考企业真正的长期远景而不是短期的股价表现,从而藉此改善其投资绩效,当然无可否认就长期而言,投资决策的绩效还是要建立在股价表现之上,但价格将取决于未来的获利能力,投资就像是打棒球一样,想要得分大家必须将注意力集中到场上,而不是紧盯着计分板。
A Change in Media Economics and Some Valuation Math媒体产业的变化与其评价的算式
In last year's report; I stated my opinion that the decline in the profitability of media panies reflected secular as well as cyclical factors。 The events of 1991 have fortified that case: The economic strength of once…mighty media enterprises continues to erode as retailing patterns change and advertising and entertainment choices proliferate。 In the business world; unfortunately; the rear…view mirror is always clearer than the windshield: A few years back no one linked to the media business … neither lenders; owners nor financial analysts … saw the economic deterioration that was in store for the industry。 (But give me a few years and I'll probably convince myself that I did。)
在去年的报告中,我曾经表示媒体事业获利能力衰退主要是反应景气的循环因素,但在1991年发生的情况则不是那么一回事,由于零售业形态的转变加上广告与娱乐事业的多元化,以往曾经一度风光的媒体事业,其竞争力已受到严重的侵蚀,然而不幸的是在商业世界中,从后照镜所看到的景象永远比挡风玻璃的还清楚,几年前几乎没有人,包含银行、股东与证券分析师在内,会不看好媒体事业的发展,(若是再多给我几年,我可能就能正确判断出这个产业正在走下坡)。
The fact is that newspaper; television; and magazine properties have begun to resemble businesses more than franchises in their economic behavior。 Let's take a quick look at the characteristics separating these two classes of enterprise; keeping in mind; however; that many operations fall in some middle ground and can best be described as weak franchises or strong businesses。
事实是报纸、电视与杂志等媒体的行为,越来越超越身为特许行业所应该做的事,让我们很快地看一下特许事业与一般事业在特性上的不同,不过请记住,很多公司事实上是介于这两者之间