Nomura back in black with 11.42 bn yen Q1 profit

Swinging into the black for the first time in six quarters, Japanese financial services major Nomura Holdings has posted a profit of 11.42 billion yen for the three months ended June 30, 2009.

The entity, which has acquired many businesses of failed Lehman Brothers, incurred a loss of 76.59 billion yen in the same period a year ago.

The first quarter profit was primarily on the back of strong performance in the global markets and retail business.

"We had a strong start to the year, posting our profit in six quarters. Our retail and asset management businesses continued to generate stable revenues and global markets made a significant contribution to earnings," Nomura President and CEO Kenichi Watanabe said.

Revenues for the June quarter soared to 363.59 billion yen as compared to 257.88 billion yen in the year-ago period.

Earlier this month, Nomura Asset Management agreed to invest in LIC Mutual Fund, a subsidiary of India's largest life insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India and also to form a joint venture.

According to Nomura, global markets revenue skyrocketed 17 times to 187.1 billion yen in the first quarter as compared to the same period a year ago.

Growth was particularly strong in Europe and Asia, it added.

In the retail segment, revenues jumped 11.2 per cent to 95.4 billion yen. "Retail client assets increased by 7.9 trillion yen from the end of March to 67.2 trillion yen as of the end of June.

"Net asset inflow for the three months was 1.6 trillion yen," the statement said.

However, revenues from investment banking business fell more than 11 per cent as compared to the year-ago period.

"While market conditions remain uncertain, we are making steady progress towards our objective of achieving a full-year profit," Watanabe noted.