巴菲特致股东的信（2004年）③受管制的公用事业

Regulated Utility Businesses

受管制的公用事业

We have an 80.5% (fully diluted) interest in MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which owns a wide variety of utility operations. The largest of these are (1) Yorkshire Electricity and Northern Electric, whose 3.7 million electric customers make it the third largest distributor of electricity in the U.K.; (2) MidAmerican Energy, which serves 698,000 electric customers, primarily in Iowa; and (3) Kern River and Northern Natural pipelines, which carry 7.9% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.

我们持有中美能源控股公司 80.5%股权(完全稀释)，该公司拥有众多公用事业业务，其中主要的项目包括：(1)约克郡电力与北方电力公司(Yorkshire Electricity,Northern Electric)，拥有 370 万电力用户，为英国第三大的电力分销商；(2)中美能源(MidAmerican Energy)，在爱荷华州拥有 69.8 万电力用户；(3)科恩河与北方天然管道公司(Kern River,Northern Natural pipelines)，两条天然气输送管道运输全美 7.9%的天然气。

The remaining 19.5% of MidAmerican is owned by three partners of ours: Dave Sokol and Greg Abel, the brilliant managers of these businesses, and Walter Scott, a long-time friend of mine who introduced me to the company. Because MidAmerican is subject to the Public Utility Holding Company Act (“PUHCA”), Berkshire’s voting interest is limited to 9.9%. Voting control rests with Walter.

剩下的 19.5%权益则由伯克希尔三位合作伙伴所持有，他们分别是 DaveSokol 及 GregAbel，他们是中美能源优秀的经理人，另外一位则是 WalterScott，他是我个人长期的好友，也是他引荐我投资这家公司的，由于中美能源公司受限于公用事业控股公司法(PUHCA)的规定，限制伯克希尔的投票权最高只能达到 9.9%，所以 Walter他拥有绝对的控制权。

Our limited voting interest forces us to account for MidAmerican in an abbreviated manner. Instead of our fully incorporating the company’s assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses into Berkshire’s statements, we make one-line entries only in both our balance sheet and income account. It’s likely, though, that PUHCA will someday – perhaps soon – be repealed or that accounting rules will change. Berkshire’s consolidated figures would then incorporate all of MidAmerican, including the substantial debt it utilizes (though this debt is not now, nor will it ever be, an obligation of Berkshire).

受限制的投票权使得我们仅能以相当简略的方式将中美能源的财务数字列入财务报表中，而无法将该公司所有的资产负债以及营收损益列入伯克希尔报表，依照现行会计原则，我们只能按投资比例认列该公司的投资金额及损益，或许在不久的将来，PUHCA 会被取消或是会计原则有重大变革，那么届时中美能源所有的财务数字就会被列入伯克希尔的合并报表之中，当然也包含其大量的融资负债在内。不管现在还是将来，这些债务都不会是伯克希尔的债务。

At yearend, $1.478 billion of MidAmerican’s junior debt was payable to Berkshire. This debt has allowed acquisitions to be financed without our partners needing to increase their already substantial investments in MidAmerican. By charging 11% interest, Berkshire is compensated fairly for putting up the funds needed for purchases, while our partners are spared dilution of their equity interests. Because MidAmerican made no large acquisitions last year, it paid down $100 million of what it owes us.

截至年底，伯克希尔对于中美能源尚有 14.78 亿美元的次级债务(junior debt)，这笔借款将可使得中美能源在进行并购时，其它大股东不用再掏钱出来。此外通过收取 11%的利息，一方面伯克希尔可获得合理的回报，另一方面我们的合伙人则可避免持股权益遭到稀释，但由于中美能源去年未进行任何重大的并购案，所以偿还了欠我们的 1 亿美元借款。

MidAmerican also owns a significant non-utility business, HomeServices of America, the second largest real estate broker in the country. Unlike our utility operations, this business is highly cyclical, but nevertheless one we view enthusiastically. We have an exceptional manager, Ron Peltier, who through both his acquisition and operational skills is building a brokerage powerhouse.

中美能源另外还拥有一项重要的非公用事业，全美第二大不动产经纪商美国家庭服务公司 HomeServices，不同于公用事业，这行业的周期波动相当的大，但我们仍然对其抱予热烈的期待，我们拥有一位优异的经理人RonPeltier，通过其经营及并购能力，正逐渐建立起一个房屋中介王国。

HomeServices participated in $59.8 billion of transactions in 2004, a gain of $11.2 billion from 2003. About 24% of the increase came from six acquisitions made during the year. Through our 17 brokerage firms – all of which retain their local identities – we employ more than 18,000 brokers in 18 states. HomeServices is almost certain to grow substantially in the next decade as we continue to acquire leading localized operations.

去年 HomeServices 公司总计搓合了 598 亿美元的交易案，较 2003 年又大大地成长了 112 亿，其中 24%的成长来自于六件新的并购案，经由全美各地 17 个中介分支，他们全都保留原有中介公司名称，我们在 18 个州聘雇了 18,000 位业务人员，在往后的十年内，中介业务仍将通过并购的方式继续大幅成长。

Last year MidAmerican wrote off a major investment in a zinc recovery project that was initiated in 1998 and became operational in 2002. Large quantities of zinc are present in the brine produced by our California geothermal operations, and we believed we could profitably extract the metal. For many months, it appeared that commercially-viable recoveries were imminent. But in mining, just as in oil exploration, prospects have a way of “teasing” their developers, and every time one problem was solved, another popped up. In September, we threw in the towel.

去年中美能源关闭了一项锌金属回收项目的重大投资，该计划在 1998 年开始，并于 2002 年正式营运，由于地热发电产生的卤水含有大量的锌，而我们相信回收这些金属应该有利可图，近几个月来，回收运用在商业上似乎可行，但冶矿这行，就像是石油探勘一样，希望往往一再戏弄开发商，每当一个问题解决了，另一个问题马上又冒出来，就这样一直拖到九月，我们终于举白旗投降。

Our failure here illustrates the importance of a guideline – stay with simple propositions – that we usually apply in investments as well as operations. If only one variable is key to a decision, and the variable has a 90% chance of going your way, the chance for a successful outcome is obviously 90%. But if ten independent variables need to break favorably for a successful result, and each has a 90% probability of success, the likelihood of having a winner is only 35%. In our zinc venture, we solved most of the problems. But one proved intractable, and that was one too many. Since a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, it makes sense to look for – if you’ll excuse an oxymoron – mono-linked chains.

我们的失败再度突显了一项原则的重要性，那就是别把事情搞得太复杂，尽量让事情简单化，这项原则广泛运用于我们的投资以及事业经营之上，如果某项决策只有一个关键变量，而这变量有九成的成功机率，那么很显然你就会有九成的胜算，但如果你必须克服十项变量才能达到目标，那么最后成功的机率将只有 35%，在锌金属回收的这项业务中，我们几乎克服了所有的问题，但有一项无法解决的难题非常棘手。由于一根链条并不比它最薄弱的一环更牢固，所以最有意义的是去寻找单环链条——如果你不介意自相矛盾的说法的话。

A breakdown of MidAmerican’s results follows. In 2004, the “other” category includes a $72.2 million profit from sale of an Enron receivable that was thrown in when we purchased Northern Natural two years earlier. Walter, Dave and I, as natives of Omaha, view this unanticipated gain as war reparations – partial compensation for the loss our city suffered in 1986 when Ken Lay moved Northern to Houston, after promising to leave the company here. (For details, see Berkshire’s 2002 annual report.)

下表系中美能源营运成绩的明细表，2004 年在"其它"项下含有一笔 7,220 万美元的出售安然应收帐款的收益，这是两年前我们买下北方天然时连带进来的款项。Walter、Dave 及我本人身为奥马哈地区的子弟，把这笔意外之财视为战争赔款，以弥补当年 KenLay 违背承诺，硬将北方天然从奥马哈迁到休斯顿的部分损失(相关细节请参阅伯克希尔 2002 年的年报)。

Here are some key figures on MidAmerican’s operations:

以下是中美能源的几项重要数据：