Nomura's Q1 profit rises 21% on strong retail business

This is the biggest jump in profit at its retail division since 2013

Nomura Holdings'  first-quarter net profit rose 21 per cent, as the biggest jump in profit at its domestic-oriented retail division since 2013 offset a decline in investment banking mandates and a drop in global bond and stock trading.

Japan's biggest brokerage and investment banking group said in a statement on Friday its April-June net profit rose to 56.9 billion yen ($512.75 million) from 46.8 billion a year earlier.

Pretax profit at the retail division was 24.9 billion yen for the quarter, up 187 per cent from a year earlier, buoyed by investor sentiment and sales of investment trusts, the company said.

Pretax profit at Nomura's wholesale division, which counts corporations and institutional investors as clients, fell 46 per cent from the same period last year to 25.4 billion yen.

Nomura's overseas business posted a pretax profit of 15.5 billion yen, down 8.3 per cent from last year. The results marked a continuation of the operations' recovery, which turned to profit for the first time in seven years in the year ended in March.

Nomura bought Lehman Brothers' equities and investment banking business in Europe and Asia in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis as part of a strategy to expand from its domestic stronghold.