原文信息：
致伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司全体股东：
It is a pleasure to report that operating earnings in 1971, excluding capital gains, amounted to more than 14% of beginning shareholders’ equity. This result —considerably above the average of American industry — was achieved in the face of inadequate earnings in our textile operation, making clear the benefits of redeployment of capital inaugurated five years ago. It will continue to be the objective of management to improve return on total capitalization (long term debt plus equity), as well as the return on equity capital. However, it should be realized that merely maintaining the present relatively high rate of return may well prove more difficult than was improvement from the very low levels of return which prevailed throughout most of the 1960’s.
今天很高兴报告我们 1971 年的经营收益，扣除资本利得，我们的股东权益比年初增加了 14%。这个结果大大高于美国工业平均值，而且是在我们纺织业务对利润贡献不大的情况下，这些都归功于我们五年前开始的业务重组。管理层的目标依然是提高总资本（长期债务加上净资产）的回报率和股本回报率。然而，应该认识到，仅仅维持目前相对较高的回报率，很可能比从 1960 年代大部分时间普遍存在的极低回报率中改善要困难得多。1
Textile Operations 纺织业务
We, in common with most of the textile industry, continued to struggle throughout 1971 with inadequate gross margins. Strong efforts to hammer down costs and a continuous search for less price‐sensitive fabrics produced only marginal profits. However, without these efforts we would have operated substantially in the red. Employment was more stable throughout the year as our program to improve control of inventories achieved reasonable success.
和大多数纺织企业一样，我们整个 1971 年一直在毛利率不足的状况中挣扎。管理层努力降低成本，生产一些价格不敏感产品，却只能产生微薄的利润。然而，如果没有这些努力我们可能会陷入亏损的状态。年内就业情况较为稳定，原因是我们改善存货控制的计划取得合理成效。
As mentioned last year, Ken Chace and his management group have been swimming against a strong industry tide. This negative environment has only caused them to intensify their efforts. Currently we are witnessing a mild industry pickup which we intend to maximize with our greatly strengthened sales force. With the improvement now seen in volume and mix of business, we would expect better profitability—although not of a dramatic nature—from our textile operation in 1972.
正如去年说的，肯·蔡斯 (Ken Chace) 和他的管理层在这样一个不景气的行业中苦苦抗争。大环境不好他们付出了更多的努力。最近行业温和回暖，我们努力加强的销售力量产生了一些正面作用。随着我们纺织业务的改善，我们期望在明年纺织业务会有更好的利润率(尽管不会太高)。
Insurance Operations 保险业务
An unusual combination of factors — reduced auto accident frequency, sharply higher effective rates in large volume lines, and the absence of major catastrophes — produced an extraordinarily good year for the property and casualty insurance industry. We shared in these benefits, although they are not without their negative connotations.
交通事故的降低，大额保单实际费率的大幅上升以及今年没有发生特大灾难，这些因素加在一起使我们的财产和意外险业务今年表现异常的好1。虽然还存在一些不足，我们还是因此受惠。
Our traditional business — and still our largest segment — is in the specialized policy or non‐standard insured. When standard markets become tight because of unprofitable industry underwriting, we experience substantial volume increases as producers look to us. This was the condition several years ago, and largely accounts for the surge of direct volume experienced in 1970 and 1971. Now that underwriting has turned very profitable on an industry‐wide basis, more companies are seeking the insureds they were rejecting a short while back and rates are being cut in some areas. We continue to have underwriting profitability as our primary goal and this may well mean a substantial decrease in National Indemnity’s direct volume during 1972. Jack Ringwalt and Phil Liesche continue to guide this operation in a manner matched by very few in the business.
我们的传统业务(仍然是最大的业务)是专业保单和非标准保险业务，当标准保险市场由于无利可图的承保竞争而变得供应趋紧时，生产商主动找我们投保，因此我们的业务增长了很多，最近几年的行业情况都是如此。现在保险业在整个行业里已经变得非常有利可图，更多的公司在这一领域寻找曾被拒绝的投保人，一些地区投保费用也正在下降。但是我们继续保持承保盈利为我们的主要目标，这意味着在 1972 年国民保险公司的业务量将发生重大下降。杰克·林沃尔特和菲尔·列谢继续以业内无与匹敌的方式推进这些业务。
Our reinsurance business, which has been developed to a substantial operation in just two years by the outstanding efforts of George Young, faces much the same situation. We entered the reinsurance business late in 1969 at a time when rates had risen substantially and capacity was tight. The reinsurance industry was exceptionally profitable in 1971, and we are now seeing rate‐cutting as well as the formation of well‐capitalized aggressive new competitors. These lower rates are frequently accompanied by greater exposure. Against this background we expect to see our business curtailed somewhat in 1972. We set no volume goals in our insurance business generally — and certainly not in reinsurance — as virtually any volume can be achieved if profitability standards are ignored. When catastrophes occur and underwriting experience sours, we plan to have the resources available to handle the increasing volume which we will then expect to be available at proper prices.
再保险业务也是相同的状况，在两年中实现了很快的发展，这都要归功于 George Young 的杰出努力。我们在 1969 年末进入再保险领域，那时保费费率上升很快，承保能力紧张1。再保险业务 1971 年利润非常可观。如今保费费率下降，又出现了很多资本充足的强大竞争对手。较低的保费费率往往伴随着较大的风险敞口。在这种背景下，我们预计 1972 年我们的业务会有所缩减。我们不会为我们的保险业务设置目标(再保险业务也是如此)，因为如果忽略盈利，任何虚幻的目标都可以实现。当大灾难出现和承保业务恶化索赔上升时，我们希望我们有能力调集足够的资金来处理这些问题。
We inaugurated our “home‐state” insurance operation in 1970 by the formation of Cornhusker Casualty Company. To date, this has worked well from both a marketing and an underwriting standpoint. We have therefore further developed this approach by the formation of Lakeland Fire & Casualty Company in Minnesota during 1971, and Texas United Insurance in 1972. Each of these companies will devote its entire efforts to a single state seeking to bring the agents and insureds of its area a combination of large company capability and small company accessibility and sensitivity. John Ringwalt has been in overall charge of this operation since inception. Combining hard work with imagination and intelligence, he has transformed an idea into a well‐organized business. The “home‐state” companies are still very small, accounting for a little over $1.5 million in premium volume during 1971. It looks as though this volume will more than double in 1972 and we will develop a more creditable base upon which to evaluate underwriting performance.
我们的住宅保险业务 (Home-State) 开始于 1970 年成立的内布拉斯加州居民意外险公司 (Cornhusker Casualty)。迄今为止，公司在市场销售或是保费水平上都发展的很好。因此我们 1971 年在明尼苏达州成立莱克兰火灾事故保险公司 (Lakeland Fire&Casualty)，1972 年在德克萨斯州成立得州联合保险公司 (Texas United Insurance)。每一家公司都将把全部精力投入到各自单独的州，为本地区的代理商和投保人提供大公司的水准，和小公司一样的方便、灵活的服务。John Ringwalt 一直全面负责这项业务，他工作勤奋又很有天分，把自己的想法付诸实践。这些”本土化”业务现在仍然比较小，1971 年只有 150 万的保费收入。我们估计 1972 年保费收入会翻倍。我们将建立更好的考核标准，对绩效进行评估。
A highlight of 1971 was the acquisition of Home & Automobile Insurance Company, located in Chicago. This company was built by Victor Raab from a small initial investment into a major auto insurer in Cook County, writing about $7.5 million in premium volume during 1971. Vic is cut from the same cloth as Jack Ringwalt and Gene Abegg, with a talent for operating profitably accompanied by enthusiasm for his business. These three men have built their companies from scratch and, after selling their ownership position for cash, retain every bit of the proprietary interest and pride that they have always had.
1971 年的亮点是收购了位于芝加哥的家庭和汽车保险公司 (Home & Automobile Insurance)。这家公司是由维克多·拉布 (Victor Raab) 通过对库克县一家大型汽车保险公司的少量初始投资起家的，1971 年保费收入为 750 万。 Victor Raab 和 Jack Ringwalt，Gene Abegg 一样很有商业天赋，而且对工作充满激情。这三个人白手起家把公司不断发展壮大，在把公司卖给了伯克希尔得到了现金之后，现在仍然痴迷于自己的工作，并因此感到自豪。
While Vic has multiplied the original equity of Home & Auto many times since its founding, his ideas and talents have always been circumscribed by his capital base. We have added capital funds to the company, which will enable it to establish branch operations extending its highly‐ concentrated and on‐the‐spot marketing and claims approach to other densely populated areas.
Vic 创立公司后公司实现了快速发展，但是他的才能受制于缺乏资本。我们为公司注入了大量的资本金，这将使公司能够建立分支机构拓展业务，并将高度集中的现场营销和理赔方法拓展到其他人口稠密地区。
All in all, it is questionable whether volume added by Home & Auto, plus the “home‐state” business in 1972, will offset possible declines in direct and reinsurance business of National Indemnity Company. However, our large volume gains in 1970 and 1971 brought in additional funds for investment at a time of high interest rates, which will be of continuing benefit in future years. Thus, despite the unimpressive prospects regarding premium volume, the outlook for investment income and overall earnings from insurance in 1972 is reasonably good.
总之，增加的 Home & Auto 汽车保险业务，加上 Home-State 住宅保险业务，能否抵消国民保险公司再保险业务的下降，是值得商榷的。然而，我们在 1970 年和 1971 年获得的大量保费收入，在高利率时期将为投资业务带来了额外的资金，这将在未来几年持续受益。因此，尽管保费收入的前景不尽人意，我们保险业务的投资收益和整体前景还是相当好的。
Banking Operations 银行业务
Our banking subsidiary, The Illinois National Bank & Trust Company, continued to lead its industry as measured by earnings as a percentage of deposits. In 1971, Illinois National earned well over 2% after tax on average deposits while (1) not using borrowed funds except for very occasional reserve balancing transactions; (2) maintaining a liquidity position far above average; (3) recording loan losses far below average; and (4) utilizing a mix of over 50% time deposits with all consumer savings accounts receiving maximum permitted interest rates throughout the year. This reflects a superb management job by Gene Abegg and Bob Kline.
我们的银行子公司伊利诺伊国民银行和信托公司，以收益占存款的百分比衡量，继续引领行业，1971 年我们的平均存款的税后利润超过了 2%，这些都是在我们 (1) 没有借款(除了偶然性的准备金平衡交易外)，(2) 保持远高于平均水平的流动性头寸，(3) 贷款损失率远低于平均水平，(4) 超过 50% 的定期存款，所有消费者储蓄账户支付了法定允许的最高利率。这些成就都要归功于吉恩·阿贝格 (Gene Abegg) 和鲍勃·克莱恩 (Bob Kline) 卓越的管理。
Interest rates received on loans and investments were down substantially throughout the banking industry during 1971. In the last few years, Illinois National’s mix of deposits has moved considerably more than the industry average away from demand money to much more expensive time money. For example, interest paid on deposits has gone from under $1.7 million in 1969 to over $2.7 million in 1971. Nevertheless, the unusual profitability of the Bank has been maintained. Marketing efforts were intensified during the year, with excellent results.
在 1971 年，整个银行业的贷款和投资利率大幅下降。最近几年，伊利诺斯国民银行从活期资金转向更昂贵的定期资金，存款结构已经大大高于行业平均水平。例如，存款所付利息已经从 1969 年的 170 万增加到了 1971 年的 270 万。尽管如此，银行仍然保持着不同寻常的盈利能力。年内市场推广力度加大，成效显著。
With interest rates even lower now than in 1971, the banking industry is going to have trouble achieving gains in earnings during 1972. Our deposit gains at Illinois National continue to come in the time money area, which produces only very marginal incremental income at present. It will take very close cost control to enable Illinois National to maintain its 1971 level of earnings during 1972.
现在的利率比 1971 年还低，银行业将难以在 1972 年实现收益增长。伊利诺斯国民银行的存款收入主要来自于定期存款，但现在仅产生非常微不足道的增量收入。要想使我们 1972 年的利润达到 1971 年的水平，需要非常严格的成本控制。
Financial 融资
Because of the volume gains being experienced by our insurance subsidiaries early in 1971, we re‐cast Berkshire Hathaway’s bank loan so as to provide those companies with additional capital funds. This financing turned out to be particularly propitious when the opportunity to purchase Home & Auto occurred later in the year.
Our insurance and banking subsidiaries possess a fiduciary relationship with the public. We retain a fundamental belief in operating from a very strongly financed position so as to be in a position to unquestionably fulfill our responsibilities. Thus, we will continue to map our financial future for maximum financial strength in our subsidiaries as well as at the parent company level.
我们的保险和银行子公司受托于公众，我们的基本理念是，要以雄厚的资本金为基础来运营，以便能够不折不扣地履行我们的责任。因此，我们将会继续规划好我们的融资计划，以在我们的子公司和母公司层面实现最强大的财务实力。
Warren E. Buffett
Chairman of the Board
董事长
March 13, 1972
1972 年 3 月 13 日