巴菲特致股东的信（2010年）⑥制造业、服务业和零售业

Manufacturing, Service and Retailing Operations

制造业、服务业和零售业

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.

伯克希尔在该部分的业务涵盖广泛，让我看一看整个部门的资产负债表和利润表摘要：

This group of companies sells products ranging from lollipops to jet airplanes. Some of the businesses enjoy terrific economics, measured by earnings on unleveraged net tangible assets that run from 25% after-tax to more than 100%. Others produce good returns in the area of 12-20%. Unfortunately, a few have very poor returns, a result of some serious mistakes I have made in my job of capital allocation. These errors came about because I misjudged either the competitive strength of the business I was purchasing or the future economics of the industry in which it operated. I try to look out ten or twenty years when making an acquisition, but sometimes my eyesight has been poor.

这群企业销售的产品范围很广，从棒棒糖到喷气飞机。有些企业的经济效益特别好。用非杠杆净有形资产收益率来衡量，其税后收益率最低为 25%，高的甚至超过 100%。其他企业的收益率在 12-20%之间。不幸的是，少数企业的收益率特别低，这是我在资本配置的工作中所犯下的严重错误的结果。之所以发生这些错误，是因为我错误判断了我所收购的企业的竞争力，或者它在该行业的未来经济效益。我试图本着十年二十年的长期持有来进行收购，但有时候也难免老眼昏花。

Most of the companies in this section improved their earnings last year and four set records. Let’s look first at the record-breakers.

该组中的绝多大数企业在 2010 年收益有所提高，让我们先看看收益创造了新的记录的四家企业。

•TTI, our electronic components distributor, had sales 21% above its previous high (recorded in 2008) and pre-tax earnings that topped its earlier record by 58%. Its sales gains spanned three continents, with North America at 16%, Europe at 26%, and Asia at 50%. The thousands of items TTI distributes are pedestrian, many selling for less than a dollar. The magic of TTI’s exceptional performance is created by Paul Andrews, its CEO, and his associates.

1，TTI 是一家电器元器件分销商。2010 年销售收入同比增长了 21%，超过了 2008 年创下的最高记录，税前利润也比之前的最高记录提高了 58%。销售收入增长按区域分，北美 16%、欧洲 26%、亚洲 50%。TTI 分销的数千件产品为普通消费品，许多售价不足一美元。TTI 卓越的业绩是由公司的 CEO 保罗·安德鲁(Paul Andrews)及其同事创造的。

• Forest River, our RV and boat manufacturer, had record sales of nearly $2 billion and record earnings as well. Forest River has 82 plants, and I have yet to visit one (or the home office, for that matter). There’s no need; Pete Liegl, the company’s CEO, runs a terrific operation. Come view his products at the annual meeting. Better yet, buy one.

2，森林之河(Forest River)是一家房车及游艇制造商。2010 年的销售收入和利润再创新高，其销售收入接近20 亿美元。森林之河拥有 82 个工厂，我还没去拜访过其中一家(或总部)，根本没有必要。公司的 CEO 比特·利格尔(PiteLiegl)经营的非常好。来年会看看他们的产品，最好能买一个。

• CTB, our farm-equipment company, again set an earnings record. I told you in the 2008 Annual Report about Vic Mancinelli, the company’s CEO. He just keeps getting better. Berkshire paid $140 million for CTB in 2002. It has since paid us dividends of $160 million and eliminated $40 million of debt. Last year it earned $106 million pre-tax. Productivity gains have produced much of this increase. When we bought CTB, sales per employee were $189,365; now they are $405,878.

3，CTB 是一家农业设备公司。2010 年再次创造了新的盈利记录。在 2008 年的年报中，我曾告诉过你们关于公司的 CEO，VicMancinelli。他经营的越来越好了。伯克希尔 2002 年支付了 1.4 亿美元收购了 CTB，迄今为止，CTB 向我们支付了 1.6 亿美元股息，并且偿还了 4000 万美元的债务。2010 年 CTB 的税前利润为 1.06 亿美元。税前利润的增加主要应该归因于生产效率的提高。当我们收购 CTB 的时候，单位雇员的销售收入为 189365美元，现在则增加到 405878 美元。

• Would you believe shoes? H. H. Brown, run by Jim Issler and best known for its Born brand, set a new record for sales and earnings (helped by its selling 1,110 pairs of shoes at our annual meeting). Jim has brilliantly adapted to major industry changes. His work, I should mention, is overseen by Frank Rooney, 89, a superb businessman and still a dangerous fellow with whom to have a bet on the golf course.

4，你敢相信还有制鞋业务吗？吉姆·艾斯拉(JimIssler)经营的布朗鞋业(以"Born"品牌闻名)，在 2010 年创下收入和利润新的记录。吉姆出色的适应了重大的行业变化。我要提醒一下，吉姆的工作由 89 岁的弗兰克·鲁尼(Frank Rooney)负责。他是一名卓越的企业家，也是高尔夫球场的一个危险人物。

A huge story in this sector’s year-to-year improvement occurred at NetJets. I can’t overstate the breadth and importance of Dave Sokol’s achievements at this company, the leading provider of fractional ownership of jet airplanes. NetJets has long been an operational success, owning a 2010 market share five times that of its nearest competitor. Our overwhelming leadership stems from a wonderful team of pilots, mechanics and service personnel. This crew again did its job in 2010, with customer satisfaction, as delineated in our regular surveys, hitting new highs.

年度同比进步最快的企业是 NetJets 公司。在此，大卫·索科尔(DaveSokol)对于 NetJets 取得的成就发挥的重要性和广泛性怎么强调都不为过。NetJets 是喷气式飞机部分所有权的主要供应商。NetJets 长期以来在运营上取得成功，2010 年的市场占有率是第二名的五倍。我们卓越的领导能力源自于一个由飞行员、机械师以及乘务人员组成的团队。该团队 2010 年出色完成工作，客户满意度创下新高。

Even though NetJets was consistently a runaway winner with customers, our financial results, since its acquisition in 1998, were a failure. In the 11 years through 2009, the company reported an aggregate pre-tax loss of $157 million, a figure that was far understated since borrowing costs at NetJets were heavily subsidized by its free use of Berkshire’s credit. Had NetJets been operating on a stand-alone basis, its loss over the years would have been several hundreds of millions greater.

尽管 NetJets 一直在客户中大获全胜，但自从 1998 年收购以来，我们的财务结果一直处于亏损状态。2009年前的 11 年里，该公司报告的税前亏损累计 1.57 亿美元。这一数字远低于实际，因为 NetJets 的借款成本得到伯克希尔免费信用的大量补贴。如果 NetJets 独立经营的话，多年来的亏损将会再多出数亿美元。

We are now charging NetJets an appropriate fee for Berkshire’s guarantee. Despite this fee (which came to $38 million in 2010), NetJets earned $207 million pre-tax in 2010, a swing of $918 million from 2009. Dave’s quick restructuring of management and the company’s rationalization of its purchasing and spending policies has ended the hemorrhaging of cash and turned what was Berkshire’s only major business problem into a solidly profitable operation.

现在，对于伯克希尔的担保，我们向 NetJets 收取适当的费用。扣除这种费用之后(2010 年为 3800 万美元)，税前收益为 2.07亿美元，比 2009 年增加了 9.18 亿美元。大卫迅速对其管理层进行了重组，并对公司的采购和支出政策作了合理规划，结束了现金大量流失的状况。并将伯克希尔唯一的问题业务，转变为一个稳定盈利的业务。

Dave has meanwhile maintained NetJets’ industry-leading reputation for safety and service. In many important ways, our training and operational standards are considerably stronger than those required by the FAA. Maintaining top-of-the-line standards is the right thing to do, but I also have a selfish reason for championing this policy. My family and I have flown more than 5,000 hours on NetJets (that’s equal to being airborne 24 hours a day for seven months) and will fly thousands of hours more in the future. We receive no special treatment and have used a random mix of at least 100 planes and 300 crews. Whichever the plane or crew, we always know we are flying with the best-trained pilots in private aviation.

同时，大卫还保持了 NetJets 在安全性和服务方面的业内领先地位。在很多重要方面，我们的培训和操作标准都高出 FAA 的要求。保持最高标准是正确之举，但是，我还有一个私人原因希望 NetJets 公司能够一直保持这项原则。我和家人已经乘坐该公司的飞机飞行了 5000 小时(相当于 7 个月内每天飞行 24 小时)，将来还要再飞上数千小时。我们从来没要求什么特殊待遇，而是随机选择了至少 100 架飞机和 300 名机组人员。无论那一架飞机或机组人员，我们都是与私人航空领域中最优秀的机师们共同飞行。

The largest earner in our manufacturing, service and retailing sector is Marmon, a collection of 130 businesses. We will soon increase our ownership in this company to 80% by carrying out our scheduled purchase of 17% of its stock from the Pritzker family. The cost will be about $1.5 billion. We will then purchase the remaining Pritzker holdings in 2013 or 2014, whichever date is selected by the family. Frank Ptak runs Marmon wonderfully, and we look forward to 100% ownership.

马蒙控股集团(Marmon)是我们在制造业、服务业和零售业中最赚钱的公司，该公司共有 130 项业务。我们将按照计划从 Pritzker 家族收购该公司 17%的股份，那么我们在该公司的所有权将提高到 80%，收购成本约为15 亿美元。我们然后将在 2013 年或者 2014 年收购 Pritzker 家族所持有的该公司剩余的股权，具体日期由Pritzker 决定。弗兰克·普特克(FrankPtak)把马蒙控股集团经营的特别好，我们期望能够 100%收购该公司。

Next to Marmon, the two largest earners in this sector are Iscar and McLane. Both had excellent years. In 2010, Grady Rosier’s McLane entered the wine and spirits distribution business to supplement its $32 billion operation as a distributor of food products, cigarettes, candy and sundries. In purchasing Empire Distributors, an operator in Georgia and North Carolina, we teamed up with David Kahn, the company’s dynamic CEO. David is leading our efforts to expand geographically. By yearend he had already made his first acquisition, Horizon Wine and Spirits in Tennessee.

伊斯卡(Iscar)和麦克莱恩 (McLane)是另外两家最赚钱的公司。麦克莱恩是一家食品、香烟、糖果和杂物分销商，2010 年营业收入为 320 亿美元，在 GradyRosier 的领导下，于 2010 年进入葡萄酒和烈酒分销业务。在收购位于乔治亚州和北加州 Empire 分销商时，我们和公司 CEO 大卫卡恩(DavidKahn)合作。David 正领导我们扩大业务地域范围。年底 David 已经完成了首项收购，即收购位于田纳西州的 HorizonWine&Spirits 公司。

At Iscar, profits were up 159% in 2010, and we may well surpass pre-recession levels in 2011. Sales are improving throughout the world, particularly in Asia. Credit Eitan Wertheimer, Jacob Harpaz and Danny Goldman for an exceptional performance, one far superior to that of Iscar’s main competitors.

ISCAR 公司 2010 年的利润增加了 159%， 2011 年公司的利润将极有可能超过经济衰退前的水平。全球的销售收入正在改善，尤其是亚洲。这些都是好消息。Credit Eitan Wertheimer，Jacob Harpaz，DannyGoldman 的出色表现，远远超过了伊斯卡的主要竞争对手。

All that is good news. Our businesses related to home construction, however, continue to struggle. Johns Manville, MiTek, Shaw and Acme Brick have maintained their competitive positions, but their profits are far below the levels of a few years ago. Combined, these operations earned $362 million pre-tax in 2010 compared to $1.3 billion in 2006, and their employment has fallen by about 9,400.

所有这些都是好消息。然而，家具建材业务继续面临困境，JohnsManville、MiTek、Shaw 和 AcmeBrick继续保持其竞争地位，但是，利润远低于几年前水平。2010 年这些公司的税前利润为 3.62 亿美元，而 2006 年则为 13 亿美元，员工人数也削减了 9400 名。

A housing recovery will probably begin within a year or so. In any event, it is certain to occur at some point. Consequently: (1) At MiTek, we have made, or committed to, five bolt-on acquisitions during the past eleven months; (2) At Acme, we just recently acquired the leading manufacturer of brick in Alabama for $50 million; (3) Johns Manville is building a $55 million roofing membrane plant in Ohio, to be completed next year; and (4) Shaw will spend $200 million in 2011 on plant and equipment, all of it situated in America. These businesses entered the recession strong and will exit it stronger. At Berkshire, our time horizon is forever.

房地产市场可能会在一年左右开始复苏，无论如何，它肯定会在某个时刻发生。因此：(1)在过去 11 个月内，MiTek 进行了 5 次补强性收购；(2)最近 Acme 花费 5000 万美元收购了阿拉巴马州一家主要的造砖厂；(3)JohnsManville 在俄亥俄州花费 5500 万美元建造了一家屋顶薄膜厂，在明年竣工；(4) 2011 年 Shaw 将在工厂和设备上投资 2000 万美元，所有投资都位于美国境内。这些企业在进入衰退时表现强劲，在衰退结束时表现更为强劲。伯克希尔的经营期限是永久。