Nomura Holdings Inc. (NYSE:NMR) (TYO:8604) said Tuesday that its net profit in the quarter ended in June dropped 68% from the previous quarter, when Nomura’s earnings were lifted by a gain of roughly Y18 billion from the sale of its stake in Fortress Investment Group as well as a one-time gain from the sale of a stake portion in Jafco Co., a venture capital enterprise.
Japan’s largest brokerage firm reported a net profit of Y19.9 billion for the three-month period, down from Y61.3 billion in the January-March quarter and also down 70% from Y65.9 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Not only affecting banks trading, the end of the massive stimulus program known as Abenomics has also seen volumes trim back at other retail and institutional brokerage firms alike. The mini boom in Japan’s stock market sparked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies helped Nomura turn in its best performance in more than a decade last year.
In the last quarter ended June, Nomura saw a decline in profits in its wholesale division in part due to accounting costs related to personnel expenses. While revenue in its trading business remained nearly flat from the previous quarter, its investment banking business showed a weak performance.
“Retail client assets climbed to Y95.3 trillion, the second highest level ever, highlighting progress in the transformation of our retail business model,” Koji Nagai, Nomura’s Group CEO said in a statement.
Nomura’s revenue on a net basis in the April-June quarter decreased to Y370.8 billion from Y389.9 billion in the previous quarter.
After making a profit abroad for the first time in five quarters earlier this year, Nomura said its overseas business operations swung back into the red in the just-ended quarter, posting a pretax loss of Y17.14 billion.
In Japanese trading Wednesday morning, Normura’s stock (TYO:8604) was trading at Y652.80 down Y13.30 roughly 2% at time of writing. 2014 YTD, the stock is off 19%, check out the chart below:
YTD stock chart of Nomura Holdings Inc. trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange