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...The gains were fuelled by strong results from Berkshire’s insurance unit, including at Geico, as well as higher interest rates....
...The company’s Geico auto-insurer, which had struggled to cope with payouts on claims for much of the past two years, showed improvement....
...The Omaha native helped transform the company, once a struggling textile maker, into an industrials and insurance behemoth....
...The company, which uses the premiums it receives on insurance policies to fund its investments, has benefited from the Federal Reserve’s move to increase interest rates....
...The company spent billions of dollars acquiring truck-stop operator Pilot Flying J and insurance conglomerate Alleghany in recent years, adding them to a portfolio that includes ice cream purveyor Dairy...
...Investors were buoyed by the fact that Geico, the company’s auto insurance unit, posted a second consecutive quarterly profit after more than a year of losses....
...’s businesses outside insurance....
...And one of Berkshire’s crown jewels — the Geico auto insurance unit — suffered its sixth consecutive quarterly underwriting loss....
...’s businesses outside of insurance....
...It is also the latest shift by the conglomerate, which spans the Geico insurer, BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream purveyor, into blue-chip technology companies....
...Berkshire’s insurance unit suffered an operating loss of $962mn during the quarter, with Geico warning that higher used auto parts prices and an increase in accidents were weighing on its results....
...It works with dozens of insurers worldwide including the UK’s Aviva, Geico in the US and Japan’s Tokio Marine....
...Insurance unit Geico recorded a $487mn pre-tax underwriting loss in the quarter, up from the three months before....
...Profits at its insurance businesses — which includes Geico — were nearly wiped out, falling to just $47mn from $764mn a year earlier....
...In his most recent letter to shareholders, Buffett again extolled the virtues of insurance “float” or the premiums that policyholders pay to Berkshire insurance companies such as Geico....
...Among the insurance companies in Berkshire’s portfolio are Geico, one of the largest car insurers in the US, and reinsurer Gen Re, which provides cover to primary insurers across life, health, property and...
...Alleghany, a property and casualty insurance and reinsurer, has long been described as a mini-Berkshire Hathaway....
...Geico, the insurer that is among Berkshire’s crown jewels, was among the few weak points....
...Its core operating businesses, which include the insurer Geico, BNSF railroad and the Dairy Queen ice cream chain, also improved....
...It is one of the company’s worst years compared to the benchmark index since the financial crisis, although Berkshire is well ahead of the broader insurance industry....
...well as 4.3m shares of insurance broker Marsh & McLennan valued at $499.3m....
...In the UK, Direct Line said on Wednesday that it was expecting a reduction in claims on motor insurance policies....
..., the Berkshire vice-chair who runs its valuable insurance operations....
...The company plans to return £25 per vehicle insured to customers....
...Warren Buffett’s investment protégé Todd Combs was named on Monday as chief executive of Geico, the US car insurance company which is one of the most important businesses inside Mr Buffett’s conglomerate...
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