原文信息：
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
March 15, 1971
1971 年 3 月 15 日
To the Stockholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:
致伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司全体股东：
The past year witnessed dramatically diverse earnings results among our various operating units. The Illinois National Bank & Trust reported record earnings and continued to rank right at the top, nationally, among banks in terms of earnings as a percentage of average resources. Our insurance operations had some deterioration in underwriting results, but increased investment income produced a continued excellent return. The textile business became progressively more difficult throughout the year and the final break-even result is understandable, considering the industry environment.
过去一年，我们各营运单位的经营业绩差异显著。伊利诺伊州国民银行信托公司公布了创纪录的收益，按经营收益占平均资本的百分比计算，该公司在全美银行中继续名列前茅。我们的保险业务在承保业绩方面有所恶化，但投资收益增加带来持续的良好回报。纺织业务于年内逐渐变得更为困难，而考虑到行业环境，最终盈亏平衡结果是可以理解的。
The combination of these factors produced a return of approximately 10% on average shareholder’s investment. While this figure is only about average for American industry, it is considerably in excess of what would have been achieved had resources continued to be devoted exclusively to the textile business, as was the pattern until five years ago.
综合上述因素，平均股东资本回报率约为 10% 。虽然这一数字仅约为美国工业企业的平均水平，但这一数字大大超过了像五年前那样继续将资本投向纺织行业所能实现的回报水平。
Textile Operations 纺织业务
Sales in both menswear linings and home fabrics declined significantly during the year.Thus we were continuously forced to modify production plans to prevent inventories from mounting. Such production curtailments were costly to the Company and disruptive to the lives of our employees.
年内，男装衬里及家居布料的销售均大幅下跌。因此，我们不断被迫调整生产计划，以防止库存增加。减产措施令本公司付出沉重代价，而且给我们员工的生活带来负担。
Prices continue at poor levels and demand has not strengthened. Inventory levels, while reduced from a year ago through great effort, continue high in relation to current sales levels. We continue to work at making the changes required in manufacturing and marketing areas that will result in profitable operations with more stable employment.
价格继续处于低水平，需求没有走强。存货水平虽然经过一番努力已较一年前有所下降，但相对于当前销售水平而言仍属偏高。我们继续努力在制造和营销领域进行必要的变革，以实现盈利经营和更稳定的就业。
Led by Ken Chace, the effort, attitude and enterprise manifested by management and labor in this operation have been every bit the equal of their counterparts in our much more profitable businesses. But in the past year they have been swimming against a strong tide and, at this writing, that situation still prevails.
在肯·蔡斯 (Ken Chace) 的带领下，管理层和工人在这项业务中表现出的努力、态度和进取精神与我们利润更高的业务中的同行完全相同。但在过去的一年里，他们一直在逆势而行，在撰写本文时，这种情况仍无改善。
Insurance Operations 保险业务
We enjoyed an outstanding year for growth in our insurance business, accompanied by a some- what poorer underwriting picture. Our traditional operation experienced a surge in volume as conventional auto insurance markets became more restricted. This is in line with our history as a non- conventional carrier which receives volume gains on a “wave” basis when standard markets are experiencing capacity or underwriting problems. Although our combined loss and expense ratio on the traditional business rose to approximately 100% during the year, our management, led by Jack Ringwalt and Phil Liesche, has the ability and determination to return it to an underwriting profit.
我们的保险业务在这一年增长出色，但承保表现较差。随着传统汽车保险市场受到更多限制，我们的传统业务量激增。这与我们非常规的承保历史相一致，当标准市场出现产能或承保亏损问题时，我们会以”波动”形式获得保费量增长。尽管我们传统业务的综合赔付及费用比率于年内上升至约 100%，但我们的管理层在杰克·林沃尔特 (Jack Ringwalt) 及菲尔·列舍 (Phil Liesche) 的领导下，有能力及决心令其恢复承保盈利。
Our new reinsurance division, managed by George Young, made substantial progress during the year. While an evaluation of this division’s underwriting will take some years, initial signs are encouraging. We are producing significant volume in diverse areas of reinsurance and developing a more complete staff in order to handle a much larger volume of business in the future.
年内，由乔治·扬 (George Young) 管理的新设再保险部门取得重大进展。虽然对该部门承销业务的评估需要几年的时间，但初步迹象令人鼓舞。我们正在再保险的不同领域创造大量业务，并培养更完美的员工，以便将来处理更大的业务。
The surety business, referred to in last year’s report, operated at a significant underwriting loss during 1970. The contractor’s bond field was a disappointment and we are restricting our writings to the miscellaneous bond area. This will mean much less volume but, hopefully, under- writing profits.
去年的报告中提到的担保业务在 1970 年的承保亏损很大。合同工保证金业务令人失望，我们将我们的承保限制在兜底保证金领域。这将意味着成交量大幅下降，但有望带来承销利润。
Our “home-state” operation — Cornhusker Casualty Company, formed in early 1970 as a 100% owned subsidiary of National Indemnity, writing standard business through Nebraska agents only — is off to a strong start. The combination of big-company capability and small-company accessibility is proving to be a strong marketing tool with first class agents. John Ringwalt deserves credit for translating the concept into reality.Our present plans envision extension of the home-state approach and we plan to have another company in operation later this year.
我们的 Home-State 住宅保险业务——内布拉斯加意外险公司 (Cornhusker account affairs) 有着良好的开端。该公司成立于 1970 年初，是国民保险公司旗下一家 100% 控股的子公司，只通过内布拉斯加州的代理商承接标准业务。大公司的财务能力和小公司便利的渠道网络相结合，将为一流的代理商提供强大的营销工具。杰克·林沃尔特将这一概念转化为现实值得赞扬。我们目前的计划为住宅保险业务 (Home-State) 的扩张打下了基础，我们预计在今年下半年增设另一家公司。
Banking Operations 银行业务
Eugene Abegg had the problem in 1970 of topping a banner year in 1969-and in the face of an unchanged level of deposits, managed to do it. While maintaining a position of above average liquidity, net operating earnings before security gains came to well over 2% of average deposits.This record reflects an exceptionally well-managed banking business.
1969 年的银行业务业绩就相当不错，而 1970 年尤金·阿贝格在存款规模不变的情况下仍然实现了上佳业绩。在维持高于平均水平的流动性的同时，不考虑有价证券的增值，其净经营收益与平均存款额之比高于2%。这一业绩记录表明银行业务得到了特别妥善的管理。
Bob Kline became President of the Illinois National Bank in January, 1971, with Mr. Abegg continuing as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Illinois is a unit banking state, and deposit growth is hard to come by. In the year he has been with the bank, Mr. Kline has demonstrated effort and initiative in generating new deposits. Such deposit growth, in line with national trends, will largely be in the consumer savings area with attendant high costs. With generally lower interest rates prevailing on loans throughout the country, it will be a challenge to management to maintain earnings while utilizing a higher cost deposit mix.
鲍勃·克莱恩 (Bob Kline) 于 1971 年 1 月成为伊利诺伊州国民银行行长，阿贝格先生继续担任董事长兼首席执行官。伊利诺伊州是一个单一银行制的州(注： unit banking 不允许银行有多家分行或其它分支机构)，存款增长很难。在为该行工作的这一年里，克莱恩在筹集新存款方面非常努力和主动。这种符合国家趋势的存款增长将主要在消费储蓄领域，伴随而来的是高成本。由于全国各地的贷款利率普遍较低，管理层在利用较高成本存款组合的同时保持盈利将面临挑战。
In the closing days of 1970, new bank holding company legislation was passed which affects Berkshire Hathaway because of its controlling ownership of The Illinois National Bank. In effect, we have about ten years to dispose of stock in the bank (which could involve a spin-off of bank stock to our shareholders) and it will probably be some time before we decide on a course of action. In the meantime, certain activities of all entities in the Berkshire Hathaway group — including acquisitions — are subject to the provisions of the Act and Regulations of the Federal Reserve Board.
1970 年底，美国通过了一项有关银行控股公司的新法案，该法案对伯克希尔哈撒韦公司将产生影响，因为伯克希尔拥有伊利诺伊州国民银行的控股权。实际上，我们有大约 10 年的时间来处置该银行的股份(这可能涉及到将银行股票分拆给股东)，我们可能需要一段时间才能决定采取什么行动。与此同时，伯克希尔哈撒韦集团所有实体的某些活动——包括收购——均须遵守该法案的规定和联邦储备委员会的规定。
Warren E.Buffett
Chairman of the Board
董事长