Company expects £86m claims bill from event

Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 43% drop in insurance underwriting profit after paying out $130m (£86m) for the explosion at the port of Tianjin in China.

The company made an insurance underwriting profit of $856m, in the first nine months of 2015, compared with a $1.5bn profit for the same period last year.

Berkshire subsidiary General Re picked up $44m of the Tianjin bill, while Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group paid the remaining $86m.

The lower underwriting profit did not slow the progress of the Berkshire Hathaway group as a whole.

The conglomerate made a profit before tax of $27.6bn in the first nine months of 2015, up 24% on the $22.3bn it made in the same period last year.

Berkshire Hathaway is run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett (pictured).