Berkshire Hathaway’s annual assembly, earnings, inventory worth information and extra

Berkshire Hathaway buyers who wanted a sugar rush at Saturday’s annual assembly had been in luck. Berkshire-owned See’s Candies and Dairy Queen each had common cubicles on the exhibit ground.

“Individuals want their sweet,” stated See’s Candies president and CEO Pat Egan. However inflation is a priority.

Egan famous that See’s has raised costs for some merchandise because of larger prices for components and packaging. However he added that a number of what the corporate wants to supply its sweet is sourced from America, which signifies that there are fewer worries about larger abroad transport prices.

Egan stated final yr was the corporate’s finest yr for gross sales ever, with income up 26% from pre-Covid ranges of 2019. He added that e-commerce gross sales had been particularly sturdy.

Dairy Queen CEO Troy Bader stated the ice cream chain can also be doing effectively, particularly because it has added rooster strips, burgers and different lunch objects to the menu.

Nonetheless, inflation is an enormous problem for its shoppers.

“Inflation is scorching. Shoppers are spending extra on housing, gasoline for our automobiles, utilities. heath care, on and on and on. The discretionary earnings now we have is smaller,” Bader stated.

He added that larger labor and tools prices are a problem for Dairy Queen franchisees too. That is why many have chosen to lift costs for some menu objects.

However Bader stated Dairy Queen franchise operators need to “thread the needle” as a result of the chain does not wish to lose clients. Worth hikes are needed to guard revenue margins. The danger although is that buyers could get turned off, which might harm gross sales.