OMAHA, Neb.—Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s property/casualty and reinsurance units posted a combined underwriting profit of $1.01 billion in 2004, the company reported last week.

That represented a slight decline from the $1.11 billion recorded during 2003. Earned written premiums also declined to $21.09 billion in 2004 from $21.49 billion for Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance operations, which include General Re, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, GEICO and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group.

The company said in its annual report that the premium volume drop reflected “reductions in the amounts of business accepted over the past two years, offset in part by higher rates.” It added “management expects written premiums to continue to decline during 2005, primarily due to maintaining underwriting discipline in an increasingly price-competitive property/casualty market.”

Overall, Berkshire Hathaway’s profit dropped 10.3% to $7.31 billion in 2004 from $8.15 billion in 2003. In his annual letter to shareholders, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett blamed the company’s performance on his own mistakes, saying that he hoped to make “several multi-billion acquisitions” in 2004, “but I struck out.”