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Acquisitions Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty Texas Acquires CEDA Realty

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty Texas today announced the acquisition of CEDA Realty, a 90-agent brokerage serving the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex from Plano. The transaction gives PenFed Realty Texas broader coverage of the region, a skilled agent team and a powerful training division.

CEDA’s Managing Broker and owner Steve Goff will remain with PenFed Realty Texas as vice president of Career Development, overseeing professional advancement for the entire enterprise. Goff, with 46 years of real estate experience, is one of the region’s foremost real estate trainers and a productive agent recruiter.

“We are delighted to welcome Steve Goff and the CEDA Realty team to PenFed Realty Texas,” said Russell Rhodes, president of the brokerage. “Steve is so well respected in our industry and his agents are talented and prepared. They are an ideal fit for our company and will help us grow in the Metroplex.”

Goff is eager to start the next chapter in his storied real estate career. “My team couldn’t be in a better place than with PenFed Realty Texas,” he explained. “As for me, the greatest joy in my professional career is to share the experience, knowledge and skills that I developed over 46 years with younger agents, so they can be their best in a short period of time. I get to train professionals and I couldn’t be happier about it.”

Rhodes is a world-class production leader and founder of The Russell Rhodes Team, which set sales standards for years through relentless client service and abundant referral business. As head of PenFed Realty Texas, Rhodes is an agent-centric leader with a simple goal: “We want to help our agents grow their business by 20% per year,” he said. “To do so you have to have really good training and the right procedures and mindset.”

The combination of Rhodes and his sales managers, with Goff and his training vision, spells more growth for PenFed Realty Texas. Beyond training, the brokerage added a group in its marketing department to oversee new media, including video production and social media outreach. The overall objective is to provide agents with the support they need, which allows them to focus on what they do best: serve home buyers and sellers.

“We are fully invested in the success of our agents,” Rhodes said. “Our management mindset is roll up your sleeves and help the sales team be their best for their clients.”

PenFed Realty Texas is currently home to 430 agents working from eight offices. Rhodes said his goal is to add as many as 100 agents over the next year. “We are proud and excited for the future,” he explained. “We have a growing team that loves the real estate business and is passionate about helping people reach their homeownership dreams. As important, we have the resources and systems in place to help our agents continually develop and achieve.”

Gino Blefari, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, congratulated Rhodes and Goff on the union. “These fine companies are well suited, and their merger brings many benefits for PenFed Realty Texas and real estate consumers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex,” he said. “We’re excited to continue supporting the brokerage and its growth for years to come.”

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway Powers Ahead with Rising Profits, Stock Buy-Back

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s operating profits soared in the third quarter of 2018, as quarterly operating profit was almost double from 2017.

For the 9 months of 2018 the net earnings attributable to Berkshire shareholders reached $29.413 as compared to $12.389 billion for the first 9 months of 2017.

Insurance underwriting income was one of the drivers of the growth, generating $441 million in the third quarter, versus a loss of $1.4 billion in the year-ago period.

The company also posted strong revenues in its railroad, utilities and energy, and its other businesses.

Berkshire’s enormous minority positions in a slew of leading corporations, including Apple, Southwest Airlines, General Motors, Bank of America, American Express, and Wells Fargo, grew by almost $12 billion.

Berkshire also reported that its insurance float had grown to $118 billion, an increase of $2 billion over the end of the second quarter.

The conglomerate also revealed that Warren Buffett had Berkshire repurchase over $928 Million in Berkshire Stock.

The move was the first buy-back since 2012 and confirms Buffett’s position that the shares are undervalued.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Richline Group

Richline Group Brings its Lab-Grown Diamond to JCPenney

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Richline Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, today announced its new jewelry brand, Grown with Love, is now available inside select JCPenney fine jewelry departments and at JCPenney.com.

Richline Group is touting the product as conflict-free lab-grown diamonds, Grown with Love is aimed at ethically-minded shoppers that still want diamond jewelry or an engagement ring.

“By partnering with JCPenney, a leading retailer with one of the most renowned fine jewelry departments in the industry, we’ll be able to introduce Grown with Love to shoppers across the country,” said Michael Milgrom, Senior Vice President, Product of Richline Group. “By choosing a lab-grown diamond, future bridal and fashion customers now have a new, conscious choice, and can get a larger or higher quality stone for the same price. And with the most popular season for proposals – and shopping – just around the corner, this partnership is destined to shine.”

As the name implies, these diamonds are grown in a lab and are chemically, physically and optically identical to mined diamonds. The stones are, by nature, conflict-free and made with clean technology. Lab-grown diamonds follow the same grading standards as mined diamonds and are evaluated based on cut, color, carat and clarity. Now, customers have a fifth “c” to consider when purchasing a diamond – choice.

Grown with Love features a curated collection of bridal jewelry including solitaire and halo engagement rings, wedding bands and bridal sets as well as a small selection of non-bridal items including diamond earrings and necklaces. All diamonds in the Grown with Love line are certified by the International Gemological Institute, which uses a scientific system to evaluate a diamond’s cut and then issues a certificate documenting the characteristics of the stone. The fine jewelry professionals at JCPenney will receive dedicated diamond training on the integrity, grading and analysis of these precious lab-grown stones. Sale prices for this collection range from $500 to $10,000.

“By bringing Grown with Love into the JCPenney fine jewelry department, we are filling a void in our assortment for lab-grown diamonds. These unique diamonds are growing in popularity and by offering her this option for bridal jewelry, we are appealing to a new customer base,” said Pam Mortensen, senior vice president of merchandising for JCPenney. “Grown with Love fits nicely within our larger Modern Bride concept that offers today’s bridal customer an expansive assortment of engagement jewelry for any budget.”

Shoppers will find Grown with Love displayed in all-new vignettes within the JCPenney fine jewelry department along with new signage and graphics to educate customers about the difference between lab-grown and mined diamonds. Grown with Love will be promoted via JCPenney direct mail, email, social and digital marketing channels.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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BNSF

Lithium-Ion Battery-Electric Locomotives in Development in BNSF/GE partnership

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

GE and BNSF Railway Company are hoping to demonstrate a battery-powered locomotive paired with diesel locomotives in a “consist” (railroad jargon for a sequence of connected locomotives) to power a freight train along a stretch of rail in California’s Central Valley between Stockton and Barstow.

If successful, the fuel savings could have a big impact on BNSF and other railroads. And the environmental benefits could also help BNSF advance one of its major capacity-building projects.

BNSF will run the pilot program with help from GE Transportation, which is developing the locomotive. The railroad hopes to have the first locomotive running within two years.

GE notes that adding even one battery-powered locomotive to the train could reduce the consist’s total fuel consumption by up to 15 percent, according to Alan Hamilton, general manager of systems engineering at GE Transportation.

“It’s a big deal,” Hamilton says. “Fuel costs are typically the largest component in a rail operator’s costs.”

The leap to battery power is not as big of one as it may at first seem. Diesel-electric locomotives like the machines GE builds are already essentially power plants on wheels. They use a powerful diesel engine to generate the electricity that drives the electric motors that spin the wheels.

GE believes that a battery-powered locomotive is the perfect complement to its diesel-electric brethren. The battery will hold 2,400 kilowatt-hours of energy, meaning it’s able to maintain full horsepower for roughly 30 minutes on a given charge. Then the operator can decide how to use that power.

For example, the operator could slash emissions from the diesel-powered locomotives by drawing heavily on the battery to start up the train. This would be especially desirable if the train were pulling out of a city rail yard, close to populated areas. Using the battery power also cuts down on noise. The train operator may also choose to “graze” on battery power — or even recharge the battery — when the train is cruising through open landscape, saving hundreds of gallons of diesel.

Each battery locomotive also has a brain, in the form of an onboard supervisory control system. The rail operator can input data about the train’s journey into the system — such as how much weight it’s hauling, the types of locomotives in the consist, and its rout — to allow the computer to make decisions about the best way to use the battery before the train even pulls away. “The trip-optimizing software can look ahead and predict the most efficient way to generate and use that energy,” Hamilton says.

Imagine a battery-enhanced train making a 500-mile trip across sparsely populated terrain — meaning fuel economy is the name of the game. The software will calculate the optimum ratio of battery power to diesel usage for such a journey and decide on the most favorable balance for the hybrid locomotive consist. The software can then pinpoint the exact moments to draw on the battery, thus sparing diesel. GE’s flexible solution will give rail operators several new options for optimizing their network, says Dennis Peters, executive product manager at GE Transportation.

The new locomotive will use a battery cell similar to what you might find under the hood of an electric car. It is a lithium-ion energy storage unit with cells that contain a combination of nickel, manganese and cobalt. In terms of scale and packaging, however, “this train battery is a different animal,” Peters says.

A standard electric-car battery usually holds a few hundred storage cells — each around the size of a mini tablet computer. But the prototype of the new locomotive will have a battery with approximately 20,000 cells, and future versions may have as many as 50,000 cells. The cells also must be able to weather the heavy-going environment of a locomotive, with all its jolts and shocks.

To build the demonstration model, workers will strip out the engine and cooling systems from a diesel locomotive to make way for the battery under the hood. But from the outside, the battery-powered locomotive won’t look much different from its diesel counterparts.

The impact on BNSF could be huge, not only in fuel cost-savings, but if it could use battery-powered locomotives in urban areas, such as the Port of Long Beach, it might be able to overcome the opposition to its long-stalled Southern California International Gateway plan, which has been held up due to environmental concerns tied to diesel emissions.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway Energy

Western Energy Imbalance Market Brings Berkshire Hathaway’s Utilities $30 Million in Benefits in Q3

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s utilities, PacifiCorp and NV Energy, received almost $30 million in benefits in the 3rd quarter due to their participation in the Western Energy Imbalance Market.

To date, the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) has surpassed $500 million in gross benefits, as reflected by the wholesale electricity market since its launch in November 2014.

The Western EIM third quarter 2018 benefits are the highest total for any quarter, and were driven by periods of high demand and fuel prices.

During this quarter, the market generated $100.58 million in savings, pushing the total EIM benefits to $502.31 million.

“We are very pleased that the Western EIM benefits have now surpassed half a billion dollars,” said Steve Berberich, ISO President and CEO. “This clearly illustrates the value of markets to the customers in California and the region.”

NV Energy achieved benefits of $11.09 million and PacifiCorp’s benefits were $17.82 million.

“The EIM demonstrates the value participants’ gain being able to trade in real-time during high and low price periods,” said Mark Rothleder, the ISO’s Vice President, Market Quality and Renewable Integration. “The opportunity to buy and sell lower cost energy available from the regional EIM footprint during high load, high energy price periods really showed this last quarter.”

The EIM in the third quarter also resulted in total avoided renewable curtailment of 19,032 megawatt-hours, reducing carbon emissions in the region by 8,146 metric tons.

Since the end of 2014, the Western EIM’s state-of-the-art technology has found and delivered 734,437 megawatt-hours of renewable energy that otherwise would have been curtailed without the real-time, multi-state market.

The effective use of carbon free generation from the market has amounted to reducing a gross of 314,258 metric tons of CO2 from 2015 to date.

Looking forward, the market will continue to grow with the planned addition of five entities.

The Balancing Authority of Northern California/Sacramento Municipal Utility District is set to begin participation in April 2019. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Salt River Project, and Seattle City Light will follow in April 2020. In addition, the Public Service Company of New Mexico is seeking regulatory approval to participate in the EIM.

The western EIM platform automatically finds and delivers low-cost energy to serve consumers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Optimizing diverse resources from a large geographic area enables more effective use of carbon-free generation besides reducing costs.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Lubrizol

Lubrizol to Invest $25 Million in Calvert City, Kentucky, Facility

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s Lubrizol Corporation will invest more than $25 million in its Calvert City, Kentucky manufacturing facility.

The investment will enable the company to meet increasing customer demand, and comes after a recent $10 million expansion at the site to further improve the company’s safety management standards and create a world class quality laboratory.

The facility specializes in the production of Carbopol® polymers and Pemulen(TM) polymeric emulsifiers. These polymers are used in consumer goods for the personal care, home care, and pharmaceutical markets. This expansion will include advanced, proprietary process technology that will allow the Calvert City facility to continue to provide Lubrizol’s partners with high quality products.

“In response to increasing market demand, this investment will enable us to expand production capacity and update our infrastructure at our Calvert City facility while continuously improving safety and quality,” states Deb Langer, senior vice president and general manager of Lubrizol Personal, Home and Healthcare. “The expansion is critical in allowing our team to continue to provide dedicated service and support to our global partners.”

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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NetJets

NetJets to Add 325 Cessna Jets to Fleet

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway’s fractional jet ownership company, NetJets, has signed a deal with Textron, the maker of the Cessna brand, to add as many as 325 of the company’s jets to its fleet.

The deal, announced on the eve of the National Business Aviation Association’s annual corporate jet show, has a value of roughly $10 billion.

The new agreement will give NetJets the ability to add up to 175 super-midsize Citation Longitude aircraft, as well as up to 150 of the new large cabin Citation Hemisphere aircraft to their fleet.

Textron Aviation began their relationship with NetJets more than 30 years ago when with the Citation SII. Since then, NetJets has owned and operated nearly 500 Citations including the Citation Latitude, Citation Sovereign, and Citation XLS.

NetJets recently ordered their 100th Citation Latitude, and are forecasting delivery of the first Citation Longitude in the second half of 2019.

The Longitude is a new super-midsize, 8-passenger jet that has a top-speed of 554-MPH and an endurance aloft of 7:45 hours.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Categories
See's Candies

See’s Candies Extends Partnership with Yes Lifecycle Marketing

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Yes Lifecycle Marketing has announced that Berkshire Hathaway’s See’s Candies, one of the most trusted and timeless candy makers in the world, has extended its partnership with the vendor through 2021 and will continue to use its expert strategy, email creative and analytics services as well as its robust multichannel execution capabilities supported by best-of-breed database marketing solution Marketzone and multichannel marketing communications platform Yesmail360.

See’s Candies first partnered with Yes Lifecycle Marketing more than 10 years ago for data processing before expanding the scope of the relationship and transitioning its database to Yes Lifecycle Marketing’s Marketzone product. Along the way See’s Candies adopted Yesmail360 for its cross-channel orchestration and deployment capabilities and enlisted the vendor’s strategy, email creative and analytics services to help develop an end-to-end lifecycle marketing program that delights and engages subscribers. Since transitioning and implementing a cohesive lifecycle program, See’s Candies has seen 117 percent overall database growth.

“Yes Lifecycle Marketing is one of our longest serving and most trusted marketing partners,” said Jensen DeWees, Marketing Director, See’s Candies. “From direct mail campaigns to audience profiles and email marketing, our team at Yes Lifecycle Marketing has enhanced our direct marketing program and has played a pivotal role in the evolution of our customer engagement strategies while never losing sight of the values that define our historic brand.”

As the partnership expanded, Yes Lifecycle Marketing’s creative and strategic teams enhanced the email program to better segment, target, and engage subscribers with updated creative and relevant content consistent with the See’s Candies iconic brand.

Relying on Yes Lifecycle Marketing’s advanced targeting, segmentation and dynamic content capabilities, See’s Candies plans to deliver even more personalized messaging to its audience going forward.

“We are honored that See’s Candies has chosen to extend our partnership as it continues to cultivate a sophisticated, multichannel marketing program that engages their audience along each step of their lifecycle,” said Sumit Bhalla, Senior Vice President of client services at Yes Lifecycle Marketing. “With the help of our agency services teams, See’s Candies has developed a data-driven strategy for identifying, targeting and engaging its core customer segments across channels.”

“To build and maintain a powerful brand, savvy marketers know that they need to build and maintain a strong relationship with a technology partner that can scale in order to meet their evolving needs and goals,” said Jim Sturm, President at Yes Lifecycle Marketing. “Our robust technology solutions and experienced services teams enable marketers to meet the ever-changing consumer expectations and deliver meaningful experiences across channels.”

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Categories
Dairy Queen

Worcester, Massachusetts to Get First Dairy Queen this Winter

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Worcester, Massachusetts, the second largest city in the state, will get its first Dairy Queen sometime this winter.

The Dairy Queen Grill and Chill will be a 2,800-square-foot, restaurant with 70 or more seats, and offer an outdoor patio and a drive-through. The cost of construction is approximately $1.3 million.

Franchisee Thebe Enterprises LLC of Northboro, Massachusetts, has signed a 20-year lease for the site.

In 2016, Dairy Queen announced plans to rollout 60 new stores with potential locations including the towns of Taughton, Peabody, Burlington, Plymouth, and Worcester.

One thing is for sure, Massachusetts does love ice cream. The Bay State ranks in the top ten of most ice cream consuming states.

© 2018 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.