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Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A ) large minority shareholder

with

major Japanese trading houses

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Japanese companies cautious on profit forecasts amid U.S.

tariff

uncertainty

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Promise healthy returns, dividends, buybacks

By Yuka Obayashi and Katya Golubkova

TOKYO, May 2 (Reuters) - Japanese trading houses from

Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) to Sumitomo Corp ( SSUMF ) promised healthy

shareholder returns this year amid cautious profit forecasts,

trying to keep investors, including Warren Buffett, happy amid

U.S. tariff uncertainty.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A ) is a large minority

shareholder in Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ), Mitsui ( MITSF ), Sumitomo ( SSUMF ), Itochu ( ITOCF )

and Marubeni ( MARUF ). It has been recently raising

stakes in the companies which trade everything from gas to food.

Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) expects net profit for the year ending next March

to fall 26% due to the absence of one-off gains from asset sales

it enjoyed last fiscal year. But it still plans to increase its

dividend by 10 yen to 110 yen ($0.76) per share and to continue

with its 1 trillion yen share repurchase programme, it said on

Friday.

Chief Executive Officer Katsuya Nakanishi told a briefing he

believes that his company has gained trust from Buffet, citing

the recent increase of Berkshire Hathaway's ( BRK/A ) stake in Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ).

"We understand that he (Buffet) has placed trust in our

strategy and management approach," Nakanishi said on Friday.

Itochu ( ITOCF ), which targets net profit to hit another record high

this year of 900 billion yen thanks to non-resource businesses,

plans to continue with a shareholder payout ratio of 50% and

will spend 150 billion yen to buy back up to 2% of its own

shares.

Both Marubeni ( MARUF ) and Sumitomo ( SSUMF ) set aside loss buffers of 30

billion yen and 40 billion yen, respectively, for the possible

negative impact from U.S. tariffs which Japan is trying to

avert.

Marubeni ( MARUF ) plans shareholder distributions of 210 billion yen

as it aims for a shareholder return ratio of around 40%, and

will buy back up to 4.2% of its shares worth 70 billion yen, it

said on Friday.

Sumitomo ( SSUMF ) plans to increase its annual dividend to 140 yen

for the year ending next March, from 130 yen now, and to buy

back up to 2.9% of its shares worth 80 billion yen, it said on

Thursday.

($1 = 145.1800 yen)