Nomura Holdings Inc. posted on Wednesday its first quarterly profit since 2007 as a stock market revival boosted trading and investment banking.
Japan's largest brokerage reported net income of ¥11.4 billion for the three months that ended June 30, compared with a loss of ¥76.6 billion a year earlier. Trading profit rose to ¥121 billion from ¥10.5 billion a year ago.
The result, which beat analysts' expectations for net income of ¥1.5 billion, keeps alive a pledge by Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Watanabe to resume dividend payments.
Nomura's acquisition of parts of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also helped the company benefit from an increase in trading and share sales during the best quarter for global stocks since 1998.
"The Lehman purchase boosted Nomura in trading, and generating global underwriting and M&A business will be on the agenda now," Azuma Ohno, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, said before the earnings report. "We can expect Nomura to continue posting profits."
Investment banking fees increased to ¥29.7 billion in the first quarter from ¥13.4 billion a year ago, while brokerage commissions rose to ¥102 billion from ¥82.2 billion, Nomura said. The Nikkei average gained 23 percent during the quarter.