Berkshire has first loss since 2001

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) posted its first quarterly loss since 2001, hurt by losses on derivative contracts and a big investment in the oil company ConocoPhillips (COP.N).

The net loss for the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company was $1.53 billion (1 billion pounds), or $990 per Class A share, and compared with a profit of $940 million, or $607, a year earlier.

Excluding investments, operating profit fell 12 percent to $1.71 billion, or $1,100 per share, from $1.93 billion, or $1,247. That profit was in line with the $1.7 billion that Buffett estimated at Berkshire's annual meeting last Saturday.

Analysts on average expected operating profit of $1,087 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue fell 9.5 percent to $22.78 billion.

Results reflected $2.01 billion of writedowns on investments, including $1.9 billion tied to ConocoPhillips.

Buffett invested $7.01 billion in the company's stock, but in February admitted that the decision reflected "terrible timing," coming ahead of a plunge in oil prices from their record high near $150 a barrel. Berkshire said it sold 13.7 million shares in the first quarter and more thereafter, and is likely to sell additional shares at a loss.

Results also included $986 million of losses from derivatives contracts, including $675 million of payments tied to junk bond defaults as a result of several corporate bankruptcies. Berkshire said it has since made another $450 million of payments because of other defaults.

Berkshire has disclosed hundreds of derivatives contracts designed to make money if stock indexes rise and higher-risk bonds do not default. The losses exist on paper but accounting rules require Berkshire to report them with earnings.