Berkshire Hathaway net dips

Warren Buffett’s conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, reported a small first quarter profit, as reinsurance losses from the March 11 earthquake in Japan dragged down results.

Berkshire net profit stood at $1.51 billion, or $917 per class A share, compared with a profit of $3.63 billion, or $2,272 per class A share, a year earlier.

The company took a provision of $1.7 billion in the first quarter for catastrophe losses, primarily for the Japan earthquake but also from a quake in New Zealand and flooding in Australia. Buffett last weekend said the first quarter was the second worst in the industry's history. Berkshire also recorded losses of $506 million in the first quarter for stocks, in which the company's investment saw losses.

RBS Posts Quarterly Loss

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, reported a wider- than-estimated first-quarter loss on charges for using a government insurance programme for its riskiest assets.

The net loss increased to £528 million ($866 million) for the three months to March 31 from 248 million pounds in the year-earlier period, the Edinburgh-based bank said in a statement today. That missed the £14.4-million median loss estimated by three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.