巴菲特致股东的信（2007年）⑦制造、服务和零售业务

Manufacturing, Service and Retailing Operations

制造、服务和零售业务

Our activities in this part of Berkshire cover the waterfront. Let’s look, though, at a summary balance sheet and earnings statement for the entire group.

伯克希尔在这个事业群的业务可说是包罗万象。不过，让我们先看看整体的资产负债表和利润表的概要。

This motley group, which sells products ranging from lollipops to motor homes, earned a pleasing 23% on average tangible net worth last year. It’s noteworthy also that these operations used only minor financial leverage in achieving that return. Clearly we own some terrific businesses. We purchased many of them, however, at large premiums to net worth – a point reflected in the goodwill item shown on the balance sheet – and that fact reduces the earnings on our average carrying value to 9.8%.

这是一个包罗万象的集团，从销售棒棒糖到旅行房车，去年赚到了令人高兴的 23％的平均净有形资产收益率。值得关注的是，达到这样的收益回报，仅用了极小的财务杠杆。显而易见的，我们拥有的是一些非常棒的企业。我们在收购它们中的很多家时，支付了高出净资产相当多的溢价，这反映在资产负债表的商誉科目。事实上也缩小了平均账面价值的收益率，到 9.8%。

Here are a few newsworthy items about companies in this sector:

以下是有关这个组合中公司的值得报告的情况：

•Shaw, Acme Brick, Johns Manville and MiTek were all hurt in 2007 by the sharp housing downturn, with their pre-tax earnings declining 27%, 41%, 38%, and 9% respectively. Overall, these companies earned $941 million pre-tax compared to $1.296 billion in 2006.

• Shaw 地毯，AcmeBrick 砖料，Johns Manville 隔热材料，MiTek 连接件全部受挫于 2007 年低迷的房地产市场，他们的税前收益分别下降 27％，41％，38％和 9％。总共这些公司赚到了 9.41 亿美元的税前收益，而2006 年这个数字是 12.96 亿美元。

Last year, Shaw,MiTek and Acme contracted for tuck-in acquisitions that will help future earnings. You canbe sure they will be looking for more of these.

去年，Shaw，AcmeBrick 以及 MiTek 签下多个收购合约，这些并购将有助于未来的收益。你可以确信他们还会寻找更多这样的收购。

•In a tough year forretailing, our standouts were See’s, Borsheims and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

• 在一个零售业的困难年份里，我们的杰出代表是喜诗糖果，波仙珠宝以及内布拉斯加家具卖场。

Two years ago Brad Kinstler was made CEO of See’s. We very seldom move managers from one industry to another at Berkshire. But we made an exception with Brad, who had previously run our uniform company, Fechheimer, and Cypress Insurance. The move could not have worked out better. In his two years, profits at See’s have increased more than 50%.

两年前 Brad Kinstler 成为喜诗糖果的 CEO。在伯克希尔，我们很少将经理们从一个行业调到另一个。但是Brad 是一个例外，他以前负责管理费区海默制服公司和 Cypress 工伤赔偿保险公司。这项调动的效果好得不要再好，在他负责的两年，喜诗糖果的利润增长了超过 50％。

At Borsheims, sales increased 15.1%, helped by a 27% gain during Shareholder Weekend. Two years ago, Susan Jacques suggested that we remodel and expand the store. I was skeptical, but Susan was right.

波仙珠宝的销售额增加了 15.1％，27％的收益得益于在股东周期间。两年前 SusanJacques 建议我们重新装修并扩大经营面积。我曾表示怀疑，但事实证明 Susan 是对的。

Susan came to Borsheims 25 years ago as a $4-an-hour saleswoman. Though she lacked a managerial background, I did not hesitate to make her CEO in 1994. She’s smart, she loves the business, and she loves her associates. That beats having an MBA degree any time.

Susan 在 25 年前加入波仙珠宝，担任时薪 4 美元的女售货员。尽管她缺乏管理背景，但我在 1994 年毫不犹豫的让她担任 CEO。她聪明、热爱这项事业，也热爱她的员工。这些在任何时候，都足可以超过拥有一个 MBA 学位。

(An aside: Charlie and I are not big fans of resumes. Instead, we focus on brains, passion and integrity. Another of our great managers is Cathy Baron Tamraz, who has significantly increased Business Wire’s earnings since we purchased it early in 2006. She is an owner’s dream. It is positively dangerous to stand between Cathy and a business prospect. Cathy, it should be noted, began her career as a cab driver.)

题外话：查理和我都不是"简历迷"。相反，我们关注的是智力、激情和诚实正直。我们另一个超级经理人是Cathy Baron Tamraz。自 2006 年初收购的美国商业资讯公司(BusinessWire)以来，Cathy 显著提高了公司的利润。她是所有企业梦寐以求的那种经理人。鉴于 Cathy 会不顾一切地冲向目标，因此站在 Cathy 和她的生意目标之间绝对是危险的。值得注意的是，她职业生涯始于出租车司机。

Finally, at Nebraska Furniture Mart, earnings hit a record as our Omaha and Kansas City stores each had sales of about $400 million. These, by some margin, are the two top home furnishings stores in the country. In a disastrous year for many furniture retailers, sales at Kansas City increased 8%, while in Omaha the gain was 6%.

最后，内布拉斯加家具卖场的收益创了记录，它在奥马哈和堪萨斯城卖场的销售额双双达到大约 4 亿美元。需要注明的是，这是国内最顶尖的两家家具店。在一个对家具零售商来说，在一个灾难性的年度里，堪萨斯卖场的销售额增长了 8％，而奥马哈卖场增长了 6％。

Credit the remarkable Blumkin brothers, Ron and Irv, for this performance. Both are close personal friends of mine and great businessmen.

多亏有非凡的 Blumkin 兄弟 Ron 和 Irv 才会有这样的表现。他们都是我亲密的私人朋友和出色的生意人。

•Iscar continues its wondrous ways. Its products are small carbide cutting tools that make large and very expensive machine tools more productive. The raw material for carbide is tungsten, mined in China. For many decades, Iscar moved tungsten to Israel, where brains turned it into something far more valuable. Late in 2007, Iscar opened a large plant in Dalian, China. In effect, we’ve now moved the brains to the tungsten. Major opportunities for growth await Iscar. Its management team, led by Eitan Wertheimer, Jacob Harpaz, and Danny Goldman, is certain to make the most of them.

• 伊斯卡公司(Iscar)继续着它的辉煌。它的产品是小型硬质合金切削刀具，可以让巨大而昂贵的机床有更高的生产效率。它的碳化物原料钨是在中国开采的。数十年来，ISCAR 公司将钨运到以色列，在那里靠聪明的大脑把它们变成非常有价值的东西。2007 年末，ISCAR 在中国大连建立了一家大型工厂。实际上，我们现在把聪明的大脑搬到有钨的地方。众多成长的机会正等着 ISCAR 公司。在 Eitan Wertheimer，Jacob Harpaz 和 DannyGoldman 领导的管理团队一定会抓住其中的很多。

•Flight services set a record in 2007 with pre-tax earnings increasing 49% to $547 million. Corporate aviation had an extraordinary year worldwide, and both of our companies – as runaway leaders in their fields – fully participated.

• 航空服务业在 2007 年创下记录，税前收益增长 49％，达到 5.47 亿美元。公务飞行业务的发展在全球范围内都是异乎寻常的一年。我们的两家公司作为各自领域里领先的龙头企业，充分分享到增长。

FlightSafety, our pilot training business, gained 14% in revenues and 20% in pre-tax earnings. We estimate that we train about 58% of U.S. corporate pilots. Bruce Whitman, the company’s CEO, inherited this leadership position in 2003 from Al Ueltschi, the father of advanced flight training, and has proved to be a worthy successor.

• 我们的飞行员培训业务飞安公司，收入增长 14％，税前收益增长 20％。我们培训了大约 58％的美国企业的飞行员。2003 年 BruceWhitman 从"高级飞行训练之父"AlUeltschi 手中接过公司的 CEO 一职，事实证明，他是一个称职的继任者。

At NetJets, the inventor of fractional-ownership of jets, we also remain the unchallenged leader. We now operate 487 planes in the U.S. and 135 in Europe, a fleet more than twice the size of that operated by our three major competitors combined. Because our share of the large-cabin market is near 90%, our lead in value terms is far greater.

• 共享飞机所有权发明者利捷航空(NetJets)，仍然是业内无可挑战的领导者，我们目前在美国运营着 487 架飞机，在欧洲运营着 135 架飞机，其规模是我们三大竞争对手运营的飞机总和的两倍多。由于我们在大型机市场的份额接近 90% ，我们在价值方面的领先优势要大得多。

The NetJets brand – with its promise of safety, service and security – grows stronger every year. Behind this is the passion of one man, Richard Santulli. If you were to pick someone to join you in a foxhole, you couldn’t do better than Rich. No matter what the obstacles, he just doesn’t stop.

NetJets 品牌凭借其对飞行安全、机上服务和安保方面的承诺，业务每年都有很强劲的增长。它的背后是一个充满激情的人 Richard Santulli。如果你需要挑选一个人，和你待在一个散兵坑里，没有比 Rich 更好的了。不管前面有什么障碍，都不能让他停止。

Europe is the best example of how Rich’s tenacity leads to success. For the first ten years we made little financial progress there, actually running up cumulative losses of $212 million. After Rich brought Mark Booth on board to run Europe, however, we began to gain traction. Now we have real momentum, and last year earnings tripled.

欧洲业务的成功就是证明 Rich 坚持不懈的一个很好的例子。最初十年里，在欧洲我们在财务方面几乎没有取得任何进展，实际上累计亏损了 2.12 亿美元。自从 Rich 让 MarkBooth 负责欧洲的业务以后，我们才有了真正的增长动力，现在我们的发展真是势不可挡，去年的收益增长 3 倍。

In November, our directors met at NetJets headquarters in Columbus and got a look at the sophisticated operation there. It is responsible for 1,000 or so flights a day in all kinds of weather, with customers expecting top-notch service. Our directors came away impressed by the facility and its capabilities – but even more impressed by Rich and his associates.

11 月，在 NetJet 位于哥伦布市的总部，我们的董事在会面后顺便参观了他们那里复杂的运营部门。它担负着每天大约 1000 架次全天候的飞行任务，客户总是期待着一流的服务。我们的董事们离开时，对他们的设施和运营能力印象深刻，不过 Rich 和他的员工给大家留下更为深刻的印象。