Net Income Leaps 70% at Buffett’s Conglomerate

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the insurance and investment company run by billionaire Warren E. Buffett, said Friday that its first-quarter profit rose 70%, helped by increasing auto insurance revenue and gains from a bet the U.S. dollar would fall.

Net income for the Omaha-based conglomerate rose to $2.31 billion, or $1,501 a share, from $1.36 billion, or $886, a year earlier. Revenue rose 29% to $22.76 billion.

Per-share figures are high because Berkshire has relatively few shares outstanding. Berkshire released results a day before the company’s annual meeting in downtown Omaha, which is expected to attract more than 20,000 people.

Berkshire also said it agreed to buy 80% of Iscar Metalworking Cos., a producer of metal-cutting tools, in a transaction that values the Israeli firm at $5 billion.

In insurance, the biggest contributor to results, revenue rose 12% to $18.99 billion. Auto insurer Geico Corp. posted a 10% increase in earned premiums, while reinsurer General Re Corp. posted a 14% decline, hurt by North American cancellations.

Berkshire’s stake in foreign currency contracts declined to $5.4 billion from $13.8 billion at year-end and $21.4 billion a year earlier. The currency stake produced a $151-million gain in the quarter. Berkshire lost $955 million on currencies in 2005.

Among Berkshire’s many business units are Benjamin Moore & Co., Fruit of the Loom and International Dairy Queen Inc. Berkshire’s Class A shares closed Friday at $88,710, up $710. They are little changed this year.