Strong IPO and M&A demand boosts Nomura Holdings (NMR.US) Q3 profit to double.

Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest brokerage and investment bank, reported on Wednesday that its third-quarter net profit rose 101% year-on-year to ¥101.4bn ($6.62bn), boosted by strong demand for stock offerings and merger and acquisition advisory services.

Nomura, which has now reported seven consecutive quarters of profit growth, saw a strong rebound in its wholesale business, including investment banking and global markets, after several years of poor performance.

The bank earned healthy fees from M&A and from corporate disposals of cross-shareholdings in its equity capital markets business.

Global markets, which includes the investment bank, saw net revenue rise 39% year-on-year, driven by growth in all overseas regions, particularly in derivatives in the Americas.

The division's performance showed that clients outside Japan were not deterred by the bond trading scandal, which saw Nomura temporarily stripped of its status as a primary dealer in Japanese government bonds and fined ¥21.8m.

Nomura's results were weighed down by its investment management division, which saw a 41% quarter-on-quarter decline in profit as the valuation gain on an investment fell from the previous quarter.

However, inflows into asset management products remained strong, helping the division's profit rise 21% year-on-year.

Nomura's quarterly profit was its highest since the first quarter of 2020, while smaller rivals Daiwa Securities and Mitsubishi Securities also performed well, with profits up 64 per cent and 340 per cent respectively.