Nomuras net jumps 21 percent on biggest retail profit jump since 2013

Nomura Holdings` first-quarter net profit rose 21 percent, 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 percent 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 percent 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 percent 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.

($1 = 110.9700 yen)

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)