Berkshire Hathaway has recorded an increase in earnings from its insurance business, with underwriting profit of $US657 million ($848 million) last year, about twice that of 2019 when it made $325 million ($419 million).

Investment income from the insurance subsidiaries reached $5.04 billion ($6.5 billion), a slight decline from $US5.53 billion ($7.14 billion).

The diversified US conglomerate controlled by billionaire Warren Buffet says the results reflect a number of key factors, including the effects of the pandemic, reduced claims frequencies for private passenger automobile insurance and increased loss estimates for certain commercial insurance and property and casualty reinsurance business.

The figures also take into account after-tax losses from significant catastrophe events of approximately $US750 million ($968.2 million) last year, $US800 million ($1.03 billion) in 2019 and $US1.3 billion ($1.68 billion) in 2018.

“Underwriting results in 2020 of certain of our commercial insurance and reinsurance businesses were negatively affected by estimated losses and costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including estimated provisions for claims and uncollectible premiums and incremental operating costs to maintain customer service levels,” Berkshire said.

“The effects of the pandemic in the future may be further affected by judicial rulings and regulatory and legislative actions pertaining to insurance coverage and claims and by its effects on general economic activity, which we cannot reasonably estimate at this time.”

Auto insurer Geico, one of the three main insurance entities, recorded pre-tax underwriting earnings of $US3.43 billion ($4.43 billion) last year. In 2019 the business made about $US1.51 billion ($1.95 billion) in pre-tax underwriting profit.

Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group, a provider of commercial insurance solutions, posted a decrease in pre-tax underwriting profit to $US110 million ($142 million) from $US383 million ($494.4 million).

For Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, its pre-tax underwriting loss deteriorated to $US2.7 billion ($3.49 billion) from $US1.47 billion ($1.9 billion).