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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....
...Geico reported a second consecutive quarter of underwriting profits, following more than a year of losses....
...The Omaha native helped transform the company, once a struggling textile maker, into an industrials and insurance behemoth....
...There were, he said, few deals that offered the kind of transformative impact past takeovers have had, such as its purchases of insurers Geico and National Indemnity or the BNSF railroad....
...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....
...But this year, Abel — heir apparent to lead the $710bn conglomerate that includes the BNSF railroad, private jet operator NetJets and insurer Geico, as well as the other public and private groups Berkshire...
...But this year the heir apparent to the $710bn business that includes the BNSF railroad, private jet operator NetJets and insurer Geico, as well as the other public and private groups Berkshire has invested...
...And one of Berkshire’s crown jewels — the Geico auto insurance unit — suffered its sixth consecutive quarterly underwriting loss....
...The relatively small adjustments follow a busy spurt of dealmaking by Berkshire this year, including the $11.6bn takeover of insurance rival Alleghany....
...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....
...“Geico’s results are lagging some of their top-tier peers,” Ms Seifert said....
...Berkshire, which owns the BNSF railroad and Geico insurer, did not say why it had asked US securities regulators for permission to keep the stock purchases confidential in its third-quarter filings....
...In the UK, Direct Line said on Wednesday that it was expecting a reduction in claims on motor insurance policies....
...It owns a vast collection of businesses that span insurers such as Geico, the Burlington Northern railroad, furniture stores, car dealerships and electric utilities....
...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...
...Groups including Geico, Allstate and State Farm have between them pledged to return billions of dollars to customers....
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