Monex Group Reports Strong Growth in Revenues in Q1, FY19 Despite Unfavorable Market Dynamics

TradeStation GroupMonex Group, the Tokyo-based financial services company has announced its first quarter result for the fiscal ending March 31st, 2019. The brokerage group managed to show up a good performance despite the low trading volumes and low market volatility in the market. The company in its report also revealed updates on the business developments in Japan, Asia-Pacific and the US.

The group posted a 12 per cent yearly rise of operating revenue of $111.4 million (12.4 billion yen). Due to lower system related costs which helped in overcoming the lower brokerage commissions due to decline in trading volumes. The strong growth was reported in the US and in Japan which helped in the overall increase in profits but the Asia-Pacific region lagged behind.

Overall, the segment profit was reported at $9 million (1 billion yen), an increase of 2 per cent compared to the previous quarter. Through its US subsidiary, TradeStation Group, the segment profit came in at $1.8 million (200 million Yen), a significant increase of 183 per cent compared to the previous quarter. In the US markets, the profits were largely due to the new branding, pricing revisions, and streamlined onboarding tools. In fact, the company has been following the same business operation strategy in the five out of six quarters for the platform.

The TradeStation’s new branding and simplified offerings helped the company to attract more casual traders and not only this, in the last 18 months, the new customers added are 4 years younger than previously rolled in customers. 

For the Aisa Pacific region, the results are not very encouraging despite being profitable in the quarter which is only the positive aspect during the quarter. Mones Securities Australia, which recently started its operation has reported a segment loss of $81,000 (9 million Yen) and Earnings in the region as a whole were lower both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

CoincheckThe firm’s newly acquired local cryptocurrency exchange; CoinCheck also reported a disappointing result during the quarter. The company faced a lot many issues including the largest hack in crypto history just before the acquisition. Following the hacking event, the platform suspended its services and only allowing existing customers to withdraw their holdings. The segment reported a loss of $2.7 million (300 million yen).

In its Friday release, the group also revealed plans to establish TradeStation Crypto Inc., especially focusing on the US market. The Monex Group has invested heavily in strengthening the cybersecurity and internal controls. Monex acquired CoinCheck in April for around $33 million.