Japan's Mitsui lifts full-year profit forecast by 6%

TOKYO :Japanese trading house Mitsui said on Wednesday it was raising its annual profit forecast by 6 per cent due to an improved performance from its liquefied natural gas and mineral and metal resources businesses.

It now expects a net profit of 820 billion yen ($5.4 billion) for the year ending in March, though that still represents a decline of 8.9 per cent from the previous year.

For the half year, net profit climbed 2.9 per cent from the same period a year ago to 423.7 billion yen.

Mitsui, in which Berkshire Hathaway owns a 10 per cent stake, also said it plans to spend 200 billion yen on share buybacks and to cancel treasury stock equivalent to 2.77 per cent of outstanding stock by the end of March.

The trading house's business interests span fossil fuel production and trading, renewable energy and food.