Nomura (NMR.US) and Wall Street giants join hands to create record high revenues! Q4 stock trading revenue surged 27%, and profits hit a new high in the 2025 fiscal year.

Nomura, Japan's largest securities firm and investment bank, announced its performance data for the fourth quarter of the 2025 fiscal year on Friday. The overall financial report showed that Nomura's profit indicators exceeded market expectations, with the strongest contribution coming from stock trading. The volatility in global stock markets following Donald Trump's return to the White House helped drive Nomura's stock trading business to achieve significant revenue and profit growth, along with financial counterparts from Wall Street. Profits in the previous quarter exceeded analyst expectations. According to the performance data released on Friday by Nomura, the company's net profit for the three months ending March 31, 2025, increased significantly by 27% year-on-year to 72 billion Japanese yen (approximately 5.01 billion US dollars). This number exceeded the average forecast of 639 billion yen by five analysts compiled by Bloomberg. The revenue and profit contribution brought about by the growth in global stock market trading has helped Nomura's overall net profit exceed expectations for the fiscal year. Strong stock market trading and merger and acquisition activities, coupled with a significant increase in individual investment enthusiasm in the Japanese market, collectively led to record profits for Nomura. Furthermore, the long-dormant Nomura has once again entered expansion mode in the financial markets, announcing this week an $1.8 billion acquisition of an investment firm focusing on asset management business, and considering a return to cash equities brokerage business in the United States and Europe. Nomura announced plans to repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares, with a maximum amount of approximately 60 billion yen. For the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, Nomura achieved a record net profit of 340.7 billion yen, providing Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda with a strong reason to celebrate the brokerage business of this financial giant reaching its 100th anniversary. Despite a scandal last year in the bond trading and retail brokerage business departments that led to senior executive pay cuts, Nomura has still managed to impress global investors. Nomura's full-year profits hit a historic high - a significant milestone coinciding with the brokerage business celebrating its centenary Chief Financial Officer Takumi Kitamura described Nomura's latest performance announced as "very strong" in an earnings conference call, noting that the company is making significant progress towards sustainable earnings growth. He stated that market volatility has been very favorable for Nomura's stock trading business, but the company will cautiously manage the risks associated with financial market fluctuations. The financial report data showed that Nomura's global market business revenue increased by 1% year-on-year, with revenue from stock trading business jumping by 24% in the fourth quarter, propelling Nomura to enjoy double-digit growth rates in stock business similar to Wall Street giants like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. On the other hand, revenue related to fixed income declined by 14%. Under the leadership of Kentaro Okuda, Nomura has attempted to sustain profit growth by announcing a major transaction this week - the acquisition of Macquarie Group Ltd.'s public asset management business in the United States and Europe. This is the most significant acquisition since the company suffered a considerable setback in 2008 with the acquisition of assets related to Lehman Brothers, coinciding with escalating trade tensions disrupting financial markets and triggering fears of a global recession. Nomura's $1.8 billion acquisition of Macquarie's asset management business in the United States and Europe, bringing in approximately $180 billion in client assets, with about 90% coming from the United States, is seen by the market as "Nomura bottoming out in the US assets." Christopher Willcox, Chairman of Nomura Investment Management Company, said in an interview, "We keep telling our clients to stay invested in short-term volatility. So, if we don't show these behaviors ourselves, we wouldn't be particularly credible." He pointed out that the potential of the US and global economy remains strong. He added, "I am not bearish on the market. In the short term, I believe we will all experience a lot of uncertainty." "However, this acquisition exposes Nomura to greater risks related to the US and global economy," said Mark Williams, Senior Lecturer in the Finance Department at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, following the announcement of the transaction. "Its revenue streams will become more correlated with the strength of the stock and bond markets." According to Bloomberg's report this week, Nomura is also considering a return to cash equities brokerage services in the United States and Europe - four years ago, the company almost exited the risky business following approximately $2.9 billion in losses related to Archegos Capital Management. Nomura's stock price closed 0.5% higher in the Japanese stock market before the financial report was released. Since reaching a 16-year high in February and global stock market sell-offs were triggered by the Trump administration's aggressive global tariff policies, Nomura's stock price has since declined by 22%. Revenue related to Nomura's investment banking business grew by 5% in the fourth quarter, driven primarily by the significant increase in merger advisory fees. Bloomberg's statistics show that the scale of M&A and stock issuance related to Japan in the previous quarter has significantly increased compared to the same period last year. Other key data for Nomura's Q4 and fiscal year 2025 performance: - The large-scale trading business department that handles trading and investment banking saw a substantial 82% increase in pretax profit, driving the department's full-year pretax profit to 166.3 billion yen, exceeding Nomura's target of 130 billion yen. - However, a closely watched cost indicator for the large-scale trading business slightly deteriorated, with the ratio of net revenue to operating expenses increasing from 79% in the previous quarter to 86%. - Nomura's domestic wealth management business revenue declined by 4% in the fourth quarter, ending eight consecutive quarters of growth due to a slight retreat in the Japanese stock market this year. - Pretax profit from international operations outside Japan was approximately 28.5 billion yen, achieving a second consecutive year of profitability in overseas markets. - Nomura's pretax profit for the full fiscal year increased significantly by 72% to 472 billion yen, moving closer to Chief Executive Officer Okuda's goal of achieving a pretax profit of over 500 billion yen by the end of March 2031. - The return on equity (ROE) as of the fourth quarter was 8.2%, in line with the company's ongoing efforts to achieve sustainabiSetting a target of 8% to 10% or higher return on equity (ROE).Je veux manger une pizza ce soir.