巴菲特致股东的信（2014年）⑦金融和金融产品

Finance and Financial Products

金融和金融产品

This year we include in this section Marmon’s very sizable leasing operations, whose wares are railcars, containers and cranes. We have also restated the previous two years to reflect that change. Why have we made it? At one time there was a large minority ownership at Marmon, and I felt it was more understandable to include all of the company’s operations in one place. Today we own virtually 100% of Marmon, which makes me think you will gain more insight into our various businesses if we include Marmon’s leasing operations under this heading. (The figures for the many dozens of Marmon’s other businesses remain in the previous section.)

今年我们将Marmon 集团中规模很大的租赁业务纳入该板块之中，其业务包括有轨货车、集装箱和起重机租赁。我们还重述了过去两年的状况以反映该调整。我们为何这么做？我们一度拥有Marmon 大量少数股权，因此我认为把公司所有运营都放在一起更易理解。但如今我们几乎拥有Marmon 全部的股权，因此我认为，如果把Marmon 租赁业务包含在一板块，能让你对我们各种业务有更多了解。

Our other leasing and rental operations are conducted by CORT (furniture) and XTRA (semi-trailers). These companies are industry leaders and have substantially increased their earnings as the American economy has gained strength. Both companies have invested more money in new equipment than have many of their competitors, and that’s paying off.

我们的其他租赁业务是由CORT(家具)和XTRA(半挂车)进行的。这些公司都是行业领导者，随着美国经济的复苏，它们的收入已大幅增加。这两家公司在新设备上投资超过了许多竞争者对手，而这正带来回报。

Kevin Clayton has again delivered an industry-leading performance at Clayton Homes, the largest home builder in America. Last year, Clayton sold 30,871 homes, about 45% of the manufactured homes bought by Americans. When we purchased Clayton in 2003 for $1.7 billion, its share was 14%.

KevinClayton 再次带领全美最大的预制房建筑商ClaytonHomes 取得了行业领先的业绩。去年，Clayton售出了30871 套住宅，约占美国人购买预制房总数的45%。当我们在2003 年以17 亿美元价格收购Clayton时，其市场份额仅为14%。

Key to Clayton’s earnings is the company’s $13 billion mortgage portfolio. During the financial panic of 2008 and 2009, when funding for the industry dried up, Clayton was able to keep lending because of Berkshire’s backing. In fact, we continued during that period to finance our competitors’ retail sales as well as our own.

Clayton 盈利的关键在于该公司拥有的130 亿美元按揭贷款投资组合。在2008-2009 年金融危机时期，当房地产融资枯竭时，由于有伯克希尔的支持，Clayton 得以继续放贷。事实上，在金融危机时期，我们继续为自己的零售业务和竞争对手的零售业务提供资金。

Many of Clayton’s borrowers have low incomes and mediocre FICO scores. But thanks to the company’s sensible lending practices, its portfolio performed well during the recession, meaning a very high percentage of our borrowers kept their homes. Our blue-collar borrowers, in many cases, proved much better credit risks than their higher-income brethren.

Clayton 的许多借款人都是低收入者，FICO 信用分数一般。但因公司明智的放贷做法，其投资组合在经济衰退时期也表现良好，这也意味着我们有很高比例的借款人保住了自己的房子。事实证明在许多情况下，我们蓝领借款人比其高收入同胞拥有更好的信用风险。

At Marmon’s railroad-car operation, lease rates have improved substantially over the past few years. The nature of this business, however, is that only 20% or so of our leases expire annually. Consequently, improved pricing only gradually works its way into our revenue stream. The trend, though, is strong. Our 105,000-car fleet consists largely of tank cars, but only 8% of those transport crude oil.

在Marmon 的铁路车辆租赁业务中，租赁率在过去几年里显著改善。但该业务的性质是，我们每年仅有20%左右的租赁合同到期。因此，定价上涨只会逐步在我们的收益中反映出来。不过这个趋势非常强劲。我们拥有的10.5 万辆的"舰队"中主要由大量的油罐车组成，但只有8%是用于原油运输。

One further fact about our rail operation is important for you to know: Unlike many other lessors, we manufacture our own tank cars, about 6,000 of them in a good year. We do not book any profit when we transfer cars from our manufacturing division to our leasing division. Our fleet is consequently placed on our books at a “bargain” price. The difference between that figure and a “retail” price is only slowly reflected in our earnings through smaller annual depreciation charges that we enjoy over the 30-year life of the car. Because of that fact as well as others, Marmon’s rail fleet is worth considerably more than the $5 billion figure at which it is carried on our books.

关于我们的铁路运营，还有一件重要的事情需要你们知道：与许多其他租赁商不同，我们自己生产油罐车，每年约生产6000 辆。我们把油罐车从制造部门转移至租赁部门，不会记录任何利润。因此，我们的"舰队"以非常低的价格计入报表。该个数字与"零售"价格的差额，只是通过我们罐车在30 年寿命周期内，享受较少的折旧费用慢慢反映在我们的收益中。因为上述及其他原因，Marmon 车队的价值远远超过财报上的50 亿美元。

Here’s the earnings recap for this sector:

以下是该板块的税前收益数据：