Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that its group net profit plunged 43.4 percent in fiscal 2001 due mainly to a fall in both brokerage commissions and revenue from stock and bond trading on its own accounts.
As a result, consolidated net profit at Nomura Holdings, which groups companies such as Nomura Securities Co. and Nomura Holding America Inc., shrank to 102.76 billion yen for fiscal 2001.
Consolidated pretax profit dived 36.4 percent to 192.26 billion yen, on operating revenue of 1.12 trillion yen, down 13.7 percent.
However, the company managed to offset a sizable part of the slump with gains from the sale of a London-based pub chain and other companies. As a result, profit at its merchant banking trading division shot up 181.9 percent to 146.1 billion yen.
Per-share net profit skidded to 52.32 yen from 92.54 yen the previous fiscal year.
Nomura was hit hard by the slumping stock market but will still pay a per-share dividend of 15 yen, down from 17.5 yen in fiscal 2000.
Commission revenue alone sank 27 percent to 97.5 billion yen.
Commissions from underwriting fell 15.1 percent to 60.6 billion yen as more companies put off stock-market listings and recapitalization plans involving new stock flotations.
Nomura also suffered a major beating from Enron Corp., whose collapse prompted Japanese investors to exit money management funds.
Another drag on its asset management business was the almost complete redemption by last September of its asset holdings for "chukoku" fund management featuring investments in midterm government bonds, a Nomura official said.
The balance of mutual fund assets entrusted to Nomura's management dived to 13 trillion yen by the fiscal yearend, down 2.6 trillion yen from March 31, 2001.
On the extraordinary profit and loss horizon, Nomura posted a combined 47.4 billion yen profit while incurring a combined 77.5 billion yen loss, including 52.3 billion yen in appraisal losses on holdings in affiliate JAFCO Co., a venture capital firm specializing in unlisted companies.