Takumi Kitamura
Management
Good evening. This is Takumi Kitamura, CFO of Nomura Holdings. I will now give you an overview of our results for the first half and the second quarter of the year ending March 2020. Please turn to Page 2. For the first half of the year, net revenue increased 29% year-on-year to JPY715.4 billion, while income before income taxes jumped 14.4 times to JPY203.3 billion. Market activity remained muted throughout the period as U.S.-China trade friction raised concerns of an economic slowdown, and geopolitical risk grew in the Middle East. Japanese retail investors stayed on the sidelines, leading to more than 10% decline in equity trading volumes and sales of stock investment trust, excluding ETFs. The fixed income market proved to be a challenging trading environment. Although central banks continued their easing policies and interest rates trended down, liquidity remained thin due to seasonal factors and interest rates fluctuated from August onwards while volatility spiked. Amid this environment, we focused on realigning our business portfolio, as announced in April, and maintained stringent cost and risk management. As shown on the bottom right, three segment income before income taxes for the first half increased 65% year-on-year to JPY80.5 billion. By reducing low-profitability businesses and focusing on our core strength in Wholesale, we have improved the stability of our revenues. In Fixed Income, revenue growth was driven by Rates products in EMEA and the Americas, and ForEx and Emerging Markets and Credit in Asia excluding Japan. We also made progress in reducing costs. Wholesale revenue for the period increased 11%, while costs declined by 4%. Retail reported a decline in income before income taxes of 58% as retail investor sentiment weakened and stock and investment trust sales declined. Asset Management booked 47% increase in income before income taxes due to improvements related to American Century Investments. Segment Other results improved markedly for three main reasons. First, in the second quarter, we booked JPY73.3 billion realized gain from the sale of shares in Nomura Research Institute. Second, in the same period last year, we booked approximately JPY27 billion in expenses related to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and ForEx translation losses related to the winding down of a subsidiary in the Middle East. Third, declining interest rates in Japan and for the Brazilian real and Turkish lira led to an improvement in profitability of economic hedging transactions. As a result, we had a very strong start to the year with net income for the first half of JPY194.4 billion. EPS was JPY57.66, and ROE was 14.6%. Today, we also declared a dividend of JPY15 per share for shareholders of record as of the end of September. Please turn to Page 3 for an overview of second quarter results. Firm-wide net revenue for the quarter was JPY383.4 billion, up 15% quarter-on-quarter. Income before income taxes was JPY128.5 billion, an increase of 72% over the last quarter. The biggest driver of this performance was the realized gain of JPY73.3 billion from the sale of Nomura Research Institute shares I just mentioned. The sale of NRI shares resulted in a JPY27 billion decline in tax expense due mainly to the application of deemed dividend rules and reversal of deferred tax liabilities booked in previous years. As a result, net income exceeded pretax income at JPY138.6 billion, climbing 148% compared to the prior quarter. Earnings per share was JPY41.23. Annualized ROE was 20.6%. As shown on the bottom right, three segment pretax income declined 26% from the previous quarter to JPY34.2 billion. Now to take a look at each business, starting from Retail on Page 6. Net revenue in Retail totaled JPY76.9 billion, down 5% quarter-on-quarter. Income before income taxes declined 35% to JPY5.3 billion. Retail investor sentiment was weaker due to factors such as U.S.-China trade friction, resulting in softer sales of stocks and investment trusts. In addition, we also overhauled our sales structure by reallocating our sales staff in line with client needs, which also had somewhat of an impact on the quarterly results. Please turn to Page 7. As you can see on the bottom left, investment trust and discretionary investment AUM stood at JPY12.7 trillion, representing a decline from June due to weaker sales of investment trust and fund wraps. Annualized recurring revenue, shown on the top left, was JPY88.8 billion, down slightly quarter-on-quarter. We maintained our recurring revenue cost coverage ratio at 31%. Although discretionary investments reported net outflows, SMA contracts and AUM continued to grow, driven by wrap trusts that tap into demand for estate planning. Please turn to Page 8 for Asset Management. As you can see on the top left, net revenue was JPY25.7 billion, down 26% from the last quarter. Pretax income was JPY10 billion, down 45% quarter-on-quarter. This is due to a decline in gains related to American Century Investments, which was JPY8.7 billion in the first quarter but JPY700 million in the second quarter. Excluding ACI, net revenue was relatively stable at JPY25 billion. In addition, Asset Management reported its 13th straight quarter of inflows, lifting AUM to the second-highest level ever at JPY52.4 trillion. The top left of Page 9 shows inflows of JPY381 billion. The Investment Trust business reported inflows of JPY259 billion, mainly from ETFs, funds distributed through banks and funds for defined contribution pension plans. The Investment Advisory business reported inflows of JPY121 billion, having won a mandate for Japan stocks from a Japan public pension plan and large new mandates in EMEA. As you can see on the bottom right, we continue to make progress in our collaboration with ACI. We are providing products to each other to meet the increasing diverse needs of our clients. And during the second quarter, we integrated ACI UCITS products into our platform, further strengthening our strategic alliance. As a result, AUM was $6.4 billion as of the end of September. Please turn to Page 10 for an overview of Wholesale. Second quarter net revenue in Wholesale was JPY156.7 billion, down 2% quarter-on-quarter. Income before income taxes declined 5% to JPY18.9 billion. Global Markets net revenue declined 2%. Equities reported higher revenues, but Fixed Income slowed from the strong previous quarter. Investment Banking net revenue was roughly unchanged quarter-on-quarter as DCM delivered a resilient performance. Please turn to Page 11 for an overview of each business line. Global Markets net revenue was JPY132.8 billion, down 2% from the prior quarter. Fixed Income net revenue was JPY77.2 billion, a decline of 6% from the strong previous quarter. Despite a challenging environment with interest rates fluctuating in Europe and the U.S., prudent risk management ensured revenues from Rates products declined only marginally. As you can see on the top right, the arrows are pointing down in the Americas and EMEA. That said, in the Americas, agency mortgages remained robust, supported by flows from new mortgage bond issuances on the back of lower interest rates. In EMEA, revenues were driven by European government bonds. Japan and AEJ saw stronger revenues from FX and Emerging, and Credit had a resilient quarter. As such, the arrow is pointing up for both regions. Net revenue in Equities was JPY55.6 billion, up 4% quarter-on-quarter. Geopolitical risk and concerns of an economic slowdown fueled market uncertainty, but investor activity picked up as volatility rose, and Derivatives reported stronger revenues in both Japan and the Americas. Please turn to Page 12 for Investment Banking. Net revenue was JPY23.9 billion, roughly unchanged from the previous quarter despite a decline in global fee pools. In Japan, DCM had a solid quarter tapping into demand from issuers. Internationally, ALF revenues slowed in EMEA and the Americas, while M&A improved. Please turn to Page 13 for an overview of expenses. Second quarter noninterest expenses totaled JPY254.9 billion, down 1% quarter-on-quarter. Cost-reduction initiatives contributed to a 4% decline in compensation and benefits. Occupancy and related depreciation declined 4% as a result of a decline in one-off expenses related to the consolidation of branch offices in Japan. Please turn to Page 14 for an update of our financial position. Our balance sheet at the end of September was JPY45.7 trillion, representing an increase of JPY3.2 trillion from JPY42.5 trillion at the end of June. This is due mainly to an increase in repo transaction and trading assets. As shown on the bottom left, Tier 1 capital was JPY2.7 trillion, and risk-weighted assets were JPY14.6 trillion. Accordingly, we maintained a robust financial position at the end of September with Tier 1 capital ratio of 18.4% and CET1 ratio of 17.3%. Our leverage ratio was 4.92%, and our liquidity coverage ratio was 194.4%. That concludes the overview of our second quarter financial results. To conclude, our second quarter results were lifted significantly by changing our capital relationship with Nomura Research Institute. But looking just at our core business, we had a fairly good quarter given the challenging market environment and our structural reforms. The whole firm moved swiftly to implement cost reductions, and we have now completed over 60% of our cost-reduction target of JPY140 billion. Looking ahead, we will shift our focus to the longer-term work that we need to do to overhaul our operating model and drive efficiencies, mainly in our corporate functions to work towards achieving our March 2022 target. To more accurately meet the needs of each client in our Retail business, we reorganized our sales structure. For accounts assigned with sales representatives, we changed the person in charge for 45% of these accounts, which equals 1.25 million accounts. To ensure these changes are effective, we integrated 25 branch offices, centering on smaller branches. Revenues in October have slightly outpaced the second quarter, but we expect it to take a bit longer before we see the real results of this change. Under the new structure, we are aiming for higher productivity across the board and higher quality services for our clients. In Wholesale, the realignment of our business portfolio and cost-reduction initiatives have led to improved profitability to a certain extent. Second quarter momentum has continued into October. With the U.S.-China trade friction, Brexit and the end of the credit cycle, we expect market turbulence to continue, but we remain focused on pursuing revenue opportunities while controlling risk prudently. Thank you very much.