Manufacturing segment, which includes Fruit of the Loom, Russell, Bike Athletic, Spalding and Brooks Sports, slid 12.9% to $3.24 billion from $3.72 billion in the year-ago period. Pre-tax earnings for the segment  were $293 million, a decrease of $185 million, or 39% versus the 2008 quarter.


In its 10-Q filing, Berkshire Hathaway said “Nearly all of the businesses in the manufacturing group are experiencing the adverse effects of the global economic recession as consumers and customers dramatically cut purchases.” The earnings decline for the segment was attributed to the lower revenues as well as relatively higher costs resulting from lower manufacturing efficiencies.


The company also noted that while revenues and earnings for the third quarter were lower than the comparable 2008 period, both increased versus the second quarter of 2009.


Revenues for the first nine months of 2009 were $8.85 billion, a decrease of $2.35 billion (21%) from the 2008 YTD period. During the first nine months of 2009, revenues were lower for apparel (13%), building products (23%) and other businesses (25%) as compared to the first nine months of 2008. Earnings for the first nine months of 2009 were $640 million, which were $818 million (56%) lower than the comparable 2008 period.