The group profits of Nomura Holdings Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc., two of Japan's major brokerages, increased sharply in the April-September period, local media reported Tuesday.
According to their semi-annual earnings, Nomura's group net profit in the first half of fiscal 2013 increased 104.01 billion yen from 4.70 billion yen a year earlier, while revenues gained 3. 6 percent to 933.65 billion yen.
Daiwa's group net profit rose to 92.83 billion yen from 10.07 billion yen as revenues soared 46.0 percent to 331.98 billion yen.
The surge in the stock market since late 2012 might be the main reason. Robust stock transactions allowed the brokerages to sharply increase commission revenues, as with their net trading gains, Kyodo News reported.
With the help of the profit growth, Nomura plans to raise its dividend payout for the half-year period from 2 yen per share to 8 yen and Daiwa from 3 yen to 17 yen.
