バークシャーハサウェイ2015決算バフェットからの手紙（４）

はじめに

バークシャーハサウェイ（Berkshire Hathaway BRK）の決算を一部引用して解説します。以下引用は全てこちらからです。

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2015ltr.pdf

Insurance（保険事業）とRegulated / Capital-Intensive Businesses（資本集約的な事業）については一部だけ紹介します。

Insuranceについて

property-casualty（P/C）ビジネス（損害保険）について触れられています。

P/Cビジネスには、財務的な特徴として良い点があります。P/Cでは前もって料金を受け取り、後で請求に対して支払いを行います。この先払い/後請求のモデルではfloatと呼ばれる資金を持っておくことができ、保険業者はこのfloatを投資します。保険の請求があっても、floatの量はだいたい一定に保たれます。

One reason we were attracted to the P/C business was its financial characteristics: P/C insurers receive premiums upfront and pay claims later. In extreme cases, such as those arising from certain workers’ compensation accidents, payments can stretch over many decades. This collect-now, pay-later model leaves P/C companies holding large sums – money we call “float” – that will eventually go to others. Meanwhile, insurers get to invest this float for their own benefit. Though individual policies and claims come and go, the amount of float an insurer holds usually remains fairly stable in relation to premium volume. Consequently, as our business grows, so does our float.

Regulated, Capital-Intensive Businessesについて

（BNSFとBHEの）特徴は、長期的で規制を受ける資産に大きな投資を行うということで、（銀行などから借り入れるので）バークシャーが保証するわけではない部分もあるということです。バークシャーの信用供与は実質的に不要です。というのも、最悪な経済環境でも両社は利子の支払い分を大きく超えて稼ぐことができるからです。昨年は鉄道にとって厳しい年でしたが、BNSFのInterest coverageは8:1を超えました。

A key characteristic of both companies is their huge investment in very long-lived, regulated assets, with these partially funded by large amounts of long-term debt that is not guaranteed by Berkshire. Our credit is in fact not needed because each company has earning power that even under terrible economic conditions would far exceed its interest requirements. Last year, for example, in a disappointing year for railroads, BNSF’s interest coverage was more than 8:1. (Our definition of coverage is the ratio of earnings before interest and taxes to interest, not EBITDA/ interest, a commonly used measure we view as seriously flawed.)

BHEについては、どういった状況でも債務を返済できる二つの要素があります。一つめは、すべての公益事業に当てはまることですが、必要不可欠で独占的であるため、不況に強いということです。二つめは、いくつかの公共事業にしか当てはまらないことで、利益の源泉が分散されているということです。これによって規制機関からの影響を小さくし、債務コストを大きく下げることができています。

At BHE, meanwhile, two factors ensure the company’s ability to service its debt under all circumstances. The first is common to all utilities: recession-resistant earnings, which result from these companies offering an essential service on an exclusive basis. The second is enjoyed by few other utilities: a great and ever-widening diversity of earnings streams, which shield BHE from being seriously harmed by any single regulatory body. These many sources of profit, supplemented by the inherent advantage of being owned by a strong parent, have allowed BHE and its utility subsidiaries to significantly lower their cost of debt.