Invast Securities Co., Ltd. (TYO:8709) has managed to benefit from improved volatility in the Forex market in late 2014 and to return to profitability in the quarter to the end of December.
The online trading group, which has operations in Japan and Australia, posted ordinary income of JPY 272 million (USD 2.24m/EUR 2.11m) for the third quarter of its fiscal year – the period comprises the three months to December 31, 2014.
This positive results for the third quarter compensated to a certain degree the negative impact the low volatility has had on financials during the first two quarters of its fiscal year. The company posted a loss of JPY 495 million in the first quarter and a loss of JPY 57 million in the second quarter of the fiscal year. As a result, the cumulative ordinary income for the first nine months of the fiscal year amounted to a loss of JPY 284 million.
The group also achieved a rise in deposited margin, owing to the transfer of customer accounts from Rakuten Bank, Ltd. following the termination of its Click 365 service. The transfer amounted to approximately JPY 2.8 billion.
Operating revenue for the three quarters of the fiscal year ending March 2015 (from April 1 to December 31, 2014) stood at JPY 2.343 billion. A low volatility market in the first quarter resulted in operating revenue declining significantly to a level equivalent to 70.9% of that for the same period a year ago, a period of the Abenomics-driven market. However, yen weakness seen since the autumn of 2014 revived the FX market, and trading volume and operating revenue in the third quarter grew smoothly.
Trading profit and loss in the over-the-counter foreign exchange margin trading service business (ST24, FX24 and TriAuto FX) amounted to JPY 1.398 billion.
Commission received in the exchange-traded foreign exchange margin contract service business (Click 365) totaled JPY 532 million.
The group also provided some separate metrics for its overseas business Invast Financial Services (IFS):
◆Starting from April 2014, IFS began to offer ST24 trading service to overseas customers
◆IFS recorded an amount equivalent to JPY 182 million in net operating revenue for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2015
◆ The balance of deposited margin as of September 30, 2014 stood at an amount equivalent to JPY 1.146 billion
◆IFS conducted a capital increase of AUD 2.54 million in October 2014 to make its paid-in capital AUD 9 million in view of a further expansion of its business operations
◆IFS’s diverse current customer base in South East Asia consists of customers based in Singapore and China and that in the eurozone comprises those based in the U.K. and France while that in other regions is composed of those based in South Africa and British Virgin Islands.
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