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Berkshire Hathaway, of Warren Buffett, announced Saturday a rise in net profits in the second quarter and said that its liquidities reached a new high, while the US stock market expanded the value of its multi-billion dollar equity portfolio. of dollars.
The sprawling investment conglomerate said its second-quarter profits rose 17 percent from the previous year to $ 14.1 billion or $ 8,608 per clbad A share. slightly less than $ 8 billion of its earnings during the period to financial market fluctuations and the sale of some of its securities, which offset lower insurance subscriber earnings in the quarter ended June.
Berkshire's cash position also continued to climb, reaching a record $ 122 billion over the period, while the value of its equity portfolio exceeded $ 200 billion. Buffett struggled to win a major takeover in recent years. In a letter to shareholders in February, he warned that corporate prices were "exorbitant" and that it was likely that the group would invest in shares because it was hoping for a "size acquisition". an elephant".
Instead, the group spent approximately $ 442 million during the quarter to buy back its own shares, bringing clbad A and B redemptions in the first half to $ 2.1 billion. dollars. Investors and badysts are closely monitoring share buybacks, with some hoping Berkshire will speed up its buybacks.
James Shanahan, an badyst at Edward Jones, said investors had been disappointed by the "lack of activity" in Berkshire recently; it lasted one last major catch more than three years ago. Even after its $ 10 billion investment in Occidental Petroleum, intended to finance the purchase of rival Anadarko by the oil group, be completed later this year, Berkshire's cash could still be higher than that of the year in December, added Mr. Shanahan.
"The inability to identify attractive operating companies to acquire (…) has been a persistent problem for a long time," he said. "This cash balance reaching a new record level is frustrating for many investors, but we have been learning for decades to appreciate that the management team will be cautious and wait for opportunities."
The overall figures accompanied the operating results of dozens of Berkshire companies, which denote a weak US economy. Operating profit at Berkshire fell 11% to $ 6.14 billion in the first three months of June, partly as a result of higher expenses at its Geico Insurance unit and lower deliveries of agricultural and consumer products on its BNSF railway.
Rail operators across the United States have indicated that the long-standing expansion of the United States is slowing down and that the trade dispute between the country and China is drastically reducing their results. BNSF has drawn attention to the trade policy and competition of non-US suppliers for its drop in volumes of agricultural deliveries.
Within the group, there were other signs of economic weakness. Precision Castparts, the manufacturer of industrial products, attributed declining sales of gas turbines to US tariffs, while electronic components distributor TTI warned that sales were slowing because of "reduced customer demand". Sales by Duracell and Forest River, Forest River battery manufacturers both fell, while the unit including Fruit of the Loom also recorded lower revenues.
Quarterly figures did not include the results of consumer goods giant Kraft Heinz, of which Berkshire is the largest shareholder. Kraft Heinz has not yet announced its first half results, although it has set a date for the publication of next week's quarterly figures. Earlier this year, the company took a $ 15 billion write-down and said it had been subject to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its purchasing accounting policies.
Mr. Buffett acknowledged that the company had overpaid Kraft as part of its merger with Heinz. The operation, orchestrated in 2015 by Mr. Buffett and the private equity group 3G Capital, has proved problematic for Berkshire. The group itself was forced to cancel its stake in Kraft Heinz last year, and Berkshire said in a document filed on Saturday that it would "continue to monitor" the investment to detect potential losses. valuable.
Clbad A shares of Berkshire have remained unchanged since the beginning of the year at $ 306,000, 17% lower than the S & P 500 benchmark.
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