Warren Buffett’s company said Saturday that fourth-quarter earnings rose 10% to nearly $5bn (£3bn) as its insurance, rail and energy businesses generated major gains in the improving economy.

Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance companies, which include Geico and General Reinsurance, reported a $394m underwriting profit for the final three months of 2013, compared with a $19m loss a year earlier. The Omaha, Nebraska, company also benefited from the strong performance of its non-insurance companies, including BNSF railroad and the electric utility MidAmerican Energy.

Berkshire Hathaway owns roughly 80 subsidiaries, including railroad, clothing, furniture and jewellery firms. Its insurance and utility businesses typically account for more than half of the company’s net income. The company also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola, IBM and Wells Fargo, and last year bought NV Energy and a major stake in HJ Heinz.

Berkshire’s fourth-quarter report and Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders released on Saturday show the company does not face any significant business issues in the coming year, said author and investor Jeff Matthews, who wrote Warren Buffett’s Successor: Who It Is and Why It Matters.

“Life is good at Berkshire Hathaway,” Matthews said on Saturday.

Quarterly net income rose to $4.99bn on revenue of $47.05bn from $4.55bn on revenue of $44.72bn in 2012. Buffett has said he thinks operating earnings are a better measure of how Berkshire is performing because they are not affected by swings in the paper value of investments and derivatives. Operating earnings, which exclude investments and derivatives, grew to $3.78bn, or $2,297 per Class A share.

Berkshire earned $19.48bn for 2013 on total revenue of $182.15bn. That is up from $14.82bn in profit and revenue of $162.46bn in 2012. Strong gains in the value of its investments and derivative contracts added $4.3bn to the results, up from $2.2bn the previous year. That included gains Berkshire recorded last fall as it redeemed warrants for General Electric and Goldman Sachs stock and Mars and Wrigley repaid Berkshire for an investment made during the financial crisis.