Financial Times: Warren Buffett warns of tough times ahead for World Insurance Industry - by Dominic Rushe
Warren Buffett warns of tough times ahead for World Insurance Industry - by Dominique Rushe
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned of tough times ahead for the insurance industry in his annual letter sent to shareholders this weekend. Buffett’s Bekshire Hathaway investment company invests in 76 businesses including American Express, Coca Cola, Tesco and Wal-Mart. The company added $12.3bn (£6.2bn) to its net worth in 2007, an increase of 11%. But the company posted an 18% drop in fourth-quarter net income as investment gains fell and operating earnings declined at its core insurance business.
Buffett wrote: “We also were very lucky in 2007, the second year in a row free of major insured catastrophes. That party is over. It’s a certainty that insurance-industry profit margins, including ours, will fall significantly in 2008.”
Labels: US Economy
