TOKYO - Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group swung to a small net profit in the April-June quarter and unveiled plans to buy back up to $3.4 billion in shares, answering investor calls for better returns.

It logged 10.4 billion yen ($70.7 million) in net profit, better than a loss of 316.2 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

But it missed expectations of 109 billion yen ($748 million), according to an average of five analyst estimates compiled by LSEG and Reuters.

SoftBank announced it would buy back up to 6.8% of its own shares, worth as much as 500 billion yen. It plans to make the purchases over the next year.

($1 = 147.0100 yen)

(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by David Dolan and Edwina Gibbs)