Nomura falls into red for 1st time in 10 years

TOKYO - Nomura Holdings Inc. said Thursday it incurred a group net loss of 100.44 billion yen ($897 million) in the year ended March, its first red ink in 10 years, dragged down by sluggish retail and wholesale revenues.
To take responsibility for the dismal earnings, which compare with a profit of 219.34 billion the previous year, CEO Koji Nagai and other executives will in principle not receive performance bonuses for fiscal 2018, the company said.

Nomura's revenues also tumbled 25.4 percent from the preceding year to 1.12 trillion yen.

In the wholesale division, the brokerage booked a loss totaling 81.4 billion yen as a goodwill impairment charge after reviewing the value of assets it had acquired in the past, including part of the business of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

In the retail division, it also saw slower sales of investment trusts and stock brokerage services amid market uncertainty, contributing to the net loss, it said.

"It is an extremely severe earnings result. The uncertain market outlook caused by the U.S.-China trade frictions and other factors also cast a shadow" on profitability, said Chief Financial Officer Takumi Kitamura at a press conference in Tokyo.

Nomura rivals Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. also reported Thursday declines in net profit and revenues for the just-ended fiscal year amid a chill in investor sentiment due to global stock losses at the end of last year.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190426/p2g/00m/0bu/005000c