Nomura Securities Co. made 124.19 billion yen in pretax profits for the business year ending March 31, up 35.7 percent from the year before, the company announced April 24.

But the brokerage acknowledged that the recent scandal involving the company is showing signs of adversely affecting its earnings. It was the first time since 1992 that pretax profits for the nation's top brokerage firm rose above the 100 billion yen mark, company officials said.

But in the most recent reporting year Nomura incurred an after-tax loss of 271.514 billion yen because 371 billion yen in assistance went to its financially ailing subsidiary, Nomura Finance Co. Meanwhile, operating profits increased 38.8 percent to 125.65 billion yen, and the firm's dividends reached 10 yen per share, or a total of 19.63 billion yen.

Since the revelation in early March of a scandal in which two managing directors allegedly funneled profits to a firm with links to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist, institutional investors have begun to refrain from dealing with Nomura. "We imagine that monthly profits in March were about half those of a normal month, and there is no denying that there has been some damage done," according to Director Takamichi Arata.

The harshest effects of fall from investors' favor could be seen in the areas of equity brokering market share and underwriting related business, Arata said. But he stressed that the firm does not expect to tumble into the red either for the month of April or for the current business year, saying he hopes cost-cutting efforts could more than offset the lost business.