Japan's Buffett-backed trading houses hit by weaker commodity prices

TOKYO -- Japan's general trading houses -- Mitsubishi Corp., Itochu, Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo Corp., and Marubeni -- have become big names on the equities market since Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway disclosed its investment in them in 2020. They are set to announce their annual earnings results in the first weeks of May.

All of their profits except Itochu's are expected to fall from the previous year, according to a QUICK consensus of analysts, dragged down largely by normalized commodity prices, while investor attention will likely be fixed on their investor return policies, such as dividends and share buybacks.