One-off gains push Nomura back to profit
NOMURA revealed a surprise boost back into profit in its quarterly results yesterday, although analysts said that much of the improvement was down to one-off gains.
The bank swung back into the black to book earnings of ¥36.9bn (£306m) for the quarter, versus a ¥42.3bn loss the previous quarter.
That was on the back of what appeared to be a dramatic improvement in its wholesale bank, a division that is being partially dismantled as Nomura retreats from its international business.
Wholesale, which recently lost its chief Jesse Bhattal, formerly of Lehman Brothers, recorded a pre-tax profit of ¥37.8bn for the quarter to 31 December. That compares to a ¥73.1bn loss during the previous three months and a ¥10.8bn profit in the equivalent period of 2010.
But the headline figure was propped up by the one-off sale of the Nomura’s stake in Skylark, the Japanese restaurant chain, which analysts say brought in the lion’s share of the profits, and a paper accounting gain of ¥16bn due to the lower value of the bank’s debt. The lender did see some bounceback in trading volumes, however, boosting revenues in fixed income and equities trading.
Its retail and asset management divisions, the other main parts of the business, both suffered a plunge in revenues and profits. The retail bank brought in quarterly pre-tax profits of ¥10.1bn in the quarter, a fall of more than half, while asset management booked ¥4.2bn in profits, a fall of a third on the previous year.