Takumi Kitamura
Management
Good evening, this is Takumi Kitamura, CFO of Nomura Holdings. First, I would like to express my sincere condolences to those affected by the coronavirus outbreak and pray for a speedy recovery for those who are currently ill. This invisible enemy has forced us into a fight like no other. The social distancing measures and border closures implemented by governments around the world have shut us off physically, putting the brakes on economic activity and severely restricting our daily life. Our top priority has been the safety of our clients, communities, and employees and their families. And as a financial institution operating in the capital markets, we have focused on ensuring business continuity. This slide outlines some of the initiatives we have undertaken to help our employees, clients and communities. Unfortunately we are yet to see any end in sight to the current situation and we will continue to do everything we can as a good corporate citizen. With that, I would now like to turn to our financial results for the year ended March 2020. Please turn to Page 3. For the full year, shown on the bottom left, net revenue was ¥1,287.8 billion, an increase of 15% compared to last year. Income before income taxes was ¥248.3 billion and net income was ¥217 billion, both of which represent a strong rebound from the challenging prior year. EPS for the year was ¥66.2 and ROE was 8.2%. The year-end dividend for shareholders of record as at the end of March was ¥5 per share. As a result, the full-year dividend is ¥20 per share. The market environment in first half of the year was challenging as market participant sentiment was dampened by the economic slowdown due to U.S. China trade friction and heightened geopolitical risks. Uncertainty started to ease…