Nomura incurs 1st-quarter group net loss of 76.59 billion yen

TOKYO, July 30 Kyodo - Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it incurred a group net loss of 76.59 billion yen in the April-June quarter as it set aside provisions for investments in connection with U.S. bond insurers.

With the provisions totaling 63.1 billion yen, ''We have almost completed what we have to do with monoline'' bond insurers, said Masafumi Nakada, Nomura'schief financial officer.

Monolines insure against the risk of bond defaults. Nomura set aside the provisions against losses related to contracts with them amid the mortgagemarket turmoil in the United States.

But the net loss, in stark contrast to a net profit of 75.94 billion yen a year earlier, follows a loss of more than 150 billion yen in the January-March period, indicating that the serious impact of the U.S. subprime loan crisis onfinancial markets worldwide has yet to subside.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2008 ending March 2009, Nomura's revenue fell 60.1 percent to 257.88 billion yen due in part to a decrease in brokerage commission revenues in the wake of an insider trading case involving a Nomuraemployee.

The consolidated quarterly results compiled by Japan's largest brokerage house based on U.S. accounting standards also include a pretax loss of 84.26 billion yen, compared with a profit of 139.94 billion yen in the corresponding periodof last year.

Nomura will pay a dividend of 8.5 yen per share for the first quarter.

==Kyodo 2008-07-29 22:05:06