Warren Buffett's Letters
To Berkshire Shareholders 1977
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC.

To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:

致Berkshire公司全體股東:

Operating earnings in 1977 of $21,904,000, or $22.54 per share, were
moderately better than anticipated a year ago. Of these earnings, $1.43 per
share resulted from substantial realized capital gains by Blue Chip Stamps
which, to the extent of our proportional interest in that company, are
included in our operating earnings figure. Capital gains or losses realized
directly by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. or its insurance subsidiaries are not
included in our calculation of operating earnings. While too much attention
should not be paid to the figure for any single year, over the longer term the
record regarding aggregate capital gains or losses obviously is of
significance.

1977年本公司的營業淨利為2,190萬美元，每股約當22.54美元，表現較年前的預期
稍微好一點，在這些盈餘中，每股有1.43美元的盈餘，係藍籌郵票大量實現的資本利
得，本公司依照投資比例認列投資收益所貢獻，至於Berkshire本身及其保險子公司
已實現的資本利得或損失，則不列入營業利益計算，建議大家不必太在意單一期間的
盈餘數字，因為長期累積的資本利得或損失才是真正的重點所在。

Textile operations came in well below forecast, while the results of the
Illinois National Bank as well as the operating earnings attributable to our 
equity interest in Blue Chip Stamps were about as anticipated. However, 
insurance operations, led again by the truly outstanding results of Phil Liesche’s 
managerial group at National Indemnity Company, were even better than 
our optimistic expectations.
紡織事業的表現遠低於預估，至於伊利諾國家銀行的成績以及藍籌郵票貢獻給
我們的投資利益則大致如預期，另外，由Phil Liesche領導的國家產險保險業務
的表現甚至比我們當初最樂觀的期望還要好。

Most companies define “record” earnings as a new high in earnings per
share. Since businesses customarily add from year to year to their equity
base, we find nothing particularly noteworthy in a management performance
combining, say, a 10% increase in equity capital and a 5% increase in earnings
per share. After all, even a totally dormant savings account will produce
steadily rising interest earnings each year because of compounding.

通常公司會宣稱每股盈餘又創下歷史新高，然而由於公司的資本會隨著盈餘的累積擴
增，所以我們並不認為這樣的經營表現有什麼大不了的，比如說每年股本擴充10%或
是每股盈餘成長5%等等，畢竟就算是靜止不動的定存帳戶，由於複利的關係每年都
可穩定地產生同樣的效果。