Monex Group Q1 2020: Japan Suffers Whilst US Shows Strength

Tokyo-based financial services company, Monex Group, has published its financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, yet again revealing a downturn in its Japanese subsidiary Monex Inc.

The Monex Group operates numerous retail brokerages, TradeStation in the United States, Monex Inc. in Japan, Boom Hong Kong, and cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck. It also has a subsidiary in Australia.

As a Group, Monex reported a ¥13.2 billion ($121.5 million) total revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2020, ended June 30, 2019. When measured against the first quarter of fiscal 2019, which reported total revenue of ¥13.8 billion, it’s lower by 4.3 percent.

Total expenses, however, also fell on a yearly comparison. Specifically, it fell by 5.2 percent from ¥12.7 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, down to ¥12.0 billion in the most recent period.

For the first quarter, Monex Group achieved a profit of ¥804 million in fiscal 2020. This is less than the ¥1.2 billion profit the financial firm managed to achieve in the prior-year period by 31.0 percent.

Monex Inc sees a weak performance in Q1

The Group’s retail broker in Japan, Monex Inc., noted a weak performance during Q1 of 2020. Operating revenue for the period dropped by 12.9 percent, from ¥7.7 billion in Q1 of 2019 down to ¥6.8 billion in the recent quarter.

Net operating revenue fell by 15.1 percent year-on-year, reaching ¥5.7 billion and operating income and ordinary income declined by 33.3 percent and 33.1 percent on an annual comparison, respectively.

Profit for the retail broker was ¥373 million in the first quarter of this year. Weighing this against the prior-year period, which had a gain of ¥576 million, it is lower by 35.2 percent.

Taking a look at the number of active accounts, the Japanese firm had 1,825,215 accounts by the end of the quarter. From these, 1,056,681 were active. This is the lowest number of active accounts since the first quarter of fiscal 2019.

For foreign exchange (Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term) trading, the broker reported an FX revenue of ¥831 million for the quarter. While this is lower when measured against the final quarter of fiscal 2019, it is still higher on a year-on-year comparison by 12.9 percent.

Trading value for forex during the Q1 of 2020, was ¥12.81 billion. Although this figure is lower than that achieved in Q4 of fiscal 2020, it is still stronger than every other quarter in 2019. It is also higher by 73.0 percent year-on-year.

TradeStation sees a solid start to fiscal 2020

Despite weakness in Japan, over in the United States, TradeStation managed to actually report 93,185 active accounts during the quarter. This is the best quarterly result achieved out of the 2019 and 2018 fiscal years.

In the first quarter of 2020, TradeStation reported operating revenue of $53.9 million. Not only is this higher on a quarter-on-quarter comparison, but it has also risen by 7.5 percent year-on-year.