Nomura Holdings Inc. shares dropped the most in more than two years after Japan’s biggest brokerage posted lower-than-estimated profit on weakness in its wholesale business and another loss abroad.
The stock dropped as much as 8.5% on Wednesday morning, the biggest daily decline since March 2021. The shares have gained about 13% this year, versus the benchmark Topix index’s 23% advance.
Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda is trying to revive profitability after net income fell in his first three years in charge of Japan’s biggest brokerage. The country’s stock market rally provided a tailwind in the quarter by boosting business catering to individual clients, but the company continued to struggle with high costs and lackluster performance in its global operations.
Net income climbed to 23.3 billion yen ($163 million) in the three months ended June 30 from 1.7 billion yen a year earlier, results showed Tuesday. That missed the 34.3 billion yen average of three analyst estimates.
Nomura’s overseas operations posted a pretax loss of 23.9 billion yen, its second straight quarterly deficit, led by the Americas and Europe. The Japanese company has lost money abroad in 10 of the past 12 years.
The wholesale division, which runs investment banking and trading, saw revenue drop 4%. It returned to profit on a pretax basis, from losses in the previous two quarters, as the ratio of costs to income improved to 99% from 108% three months earlier.
Still, that remains too high and must be dealt with immediately, Chief Financial Officer Takumi Kitamura said. “We have managed to secure profit at our wholesale business, but the level isn’t necessarily satisfactory,” he said.
Net revenue at the core retail division jumped 29% from a year earlier, thanks to strong growth in trading and sales of investment trusts, Nomura said in a presentation. Japanese stocks are trading around a 33-year high.
