Nomura Holdings back into the black for its first quarter of 2017 financial year
Nomura Holdings has today surely sparked a little glee into the Japanese market by announcing a return to profit in its most recent quarter.
The figures
The Japanese brokerage firm reported that net income attributable to shareholders had grown to ¥46.8bn (£339.4m), swinging back into profit from the loss of ¥19.2bn in the quarter before but still down 32 per cent on ¥68.7bn the previous year.
Income before taxes for the most recent quarter increased to ¥62.8bn. This was again back into profit, from a ¥12.3bn loss the quarter before, but down 41 per cent on a profit of ¥106bn year-on-year.
Meanwhile, net revenues grew on a quarter-by-quarter basis to ¥338.5bn, up 21 per cent from ¥280.1bn but down 20 per cent on a year-on-year basis from the prior year's ¥424bn.
Why it's important
The message is pretty clear at the moment; if you fancy a quiet life, don't work in financial services.
The referendum has left the sector in something of a sorry state as of late, with uncertainty in the lead up causing investors to think twice before making any big decisions and wild currency swings after the vote leaving many feeling like they don't know where to turn next.
What Nomura said
Echoing the sentiments of many in the industry, the company said in a statement:
The market remained volatile during the first quarter due to the impact from monetary policy around the world and the Brexit vote in the UK. Retail investor sentiment was subdued on the back of yen appreciation and weaker equity markets.
The fixed income market started to stabilise and client activity increased.
In short
A fairly stable set of figures, given the current market.