巴菲特致股东的信（1999年）
⑨报告收益来源

Sources of Reported Earnings

     The table that follows shows the main sources of Berkshire's reported earnings. In this presentation, purchase-accounting adjustments are not assigned to 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. For the reasons discussed on page 61, 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-premiums to be charged off business-by-business. The total earnings we show in the table are, of course, identical to the GAAP total in our audited financial statements.

报告收益来源

下表显示伯克希尔报告收益的主要来源，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收益状况，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审计的数字一致。

(1) Includes Executive Jet from August 7, 1998.
(2) Includes Jordan's Furniture from November 13, 1999.
(3) Excludes interest expense of Finance Businesses.
(4) Includes General Re operations for ten days in 1998.

(1)包含 EJA 自 1998 年 8 月 7 号之后的收益
(2)包含 Jordan's 家居自 1999 年 11 月 13 号之后的收益
(3)利息费用扣除金融业务利息费用
(4)包含通用再保险 1998 年内的 10 天

     Almost all of our manufacturing, retailing and service businesses had excellent results in 1999. The exception was Dexter Shoe, and there the shortfall did not occur because of managerial problems: In skills, energy and devotion to their work, the Dexter executives are every bit the equal of our other managers. But we manufacture shoes primarily in the U.S., and it has become extremely difficult for domestic producers to compete effectively. In 1999, approximately 93% of the 1.3 billion pairs of shoes purchased in this country came from abroad, where extremely low-cost labor is the rule.

回顾 1999 年，我们旗下的制造、零售与服务业的表现几乎接近完美，Dexter 鞋业除外，不过该公司的问题不在于经营管理，就工作上的经验、活力与认真而言，Dexter 与其它子公司优秀的经理人毫无二致，主要的原因还在于我们的制造工厂位于美国本土，缺乏成本竞争优势，总计 1999 年，在美国 13 亿双的鞋子消耗量中，93%来自于进口，廉价的劳工成本是主要的关键因素。

     Counting both Dexter and H. H. Brown, we are currently the leading domestic manufacturer of shoes, and we are likely to continue to be. We have loyal, highly-skilled workers in our U.S. plants, and we want to retain every job here that we can. Nevertheless, in order to remain viable, we are sourcing more of our output internationally. In doing that, we have incurred significant severance and relocation costs that are included in the earnings we show in the table.

若再加上布朗鞋业，我们是美国本土最大的鞋类生产商，我们仍将尽力维持这样的局面，我们的美国工厂拥有最忠诚，且最有经验的工人，我们希望能够保留每一个职位，但尽管如此，为了保持弹性，我们不得不开始从海外寻找潜在的代工来源，也因此在下表年度帐上提列减值调整的损失。

     A few years back, Helzberg's, our 200-store jewelry operation, needed to make operating adjustments to restore margins to appropriate levels. Under Jeff Comment's leadership, the job was done and profits have dramatically rebounded. In the shoe business, where we have Harold Alfond, Peter Lunder, Frank Rooney and Jim Issler in charge, I believe we will see a similar improvement over the next few years.

几年前，在全美拥有 200 家分店的 Helzberg 钻石，为了恢复原有高毛利而在营运上做了许多调整，在 JeffComment 的领导下，目标顺利达成，利润率快速的回升，同样的在鞋业，我们拥有 Harold、Peter、Frank 以及Jim 担纲，我相信在未来几年内也能有相同的成果。

     See's Candies deserves a special comment, given that it achieved a record operating margin of 24% last year. Since we bought See's for $25 million in 1972, it has earned $857 million pre-tax. And, despite its growth, the business has required very little additional capital. Give the credit for this performance to Chuck Huggins. Charlie and I put him in charge the day of our purchase, and his fanatical insistence on both product quality and friendly service has rewarded customers, employees and owners.

此外在这里要特别提到喜诗糖果，因为它去年的经营利润率高达 24%，自从我们在 1972 年以 2,500 万美元买下该公司以来，它已为我们贡献了 8.57 亿美元的税前净利，而尽管公司营运维持高成长，本身却不需要额外的资金加以支应，有鉴于 Chuck Huggins 过去优异的表现，我们在买下该公司的第一天起就把公司交给他负责，而他对产品品质与亲切服务的坚持，让顾客、员工与股东都受益良多。

     Chuck gets better every year. When he took charge of See's at age 46, the company's pre-tax profit, expressed in millions, was about 10% of his age. Today he's 74, and the ratio has increased to 100%. Having discovered this mathematical relationship -- let's call it Huggins' Law -- Charlie and I now become giddy at the mere thought of Chuck's birthday.

Chuck 的表现一天比一天好，记得他接手喜诗时的年纪是 46 岁，公司的税前收益(单位百万美元)大概是他年纪的 10%，如今他高龄 74 岁，但这个比率却提高到 100%，在发现这个有趣的数字之后，我们把它称之为Huggins 定律，现在查理跟我只要想到 Chuck 的生日快到时，就暗自窃喜不已。

     * * * * * * * * * * * *

     Additional information about our various businesses is given on pages 39 - 54, where you will also find our segment earnings reported on a GAAP basis. In addition, on pages 63 - 69, we have rearranged Berkshire's financial data into four segments on a non-GAAP basis, a presentation that corresponds to the way Charlie and I think about the company.

     * * * * * * * * * * * *

有关其它关联企业的信息大家可以在年报后文找到，包含依照一般公认会计准则编制的各部门信息，此外你还可以找到经过重编，依照伯克希尔四大部门编排的信息(非按一般公认会计准则编制)，这是查理跟我认为最能够完整呈现伯克希尔现况的模式。

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