Mizuho's 9-month net profit down 35.8% to $3.6B

Mizuho Financial Group's net profit in the April-December 2011 period went down by 35.8 percent to US$3.6 billion.

Group pretax profit in the first three quarters of fiscal 2011 fell 34.0 percent to US$4.8 billion, while its operating revenues decreased 5.3 percent to US$25.9 billion.

Gross profits at its three subsidiary banks -- Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Corporate Bank, and Mizuho Trust and Banking Co. -- fell US$731 million, mainly due to a drop in income from trading and other businesses.

Weak performance in securities units also weighed on the results, with the combined net operating revenues of two subsidiaries -- Mizuho Securities and Mizuho Investors Securities -- falling by US$662 million.

Lending provisions reduced thanks to efforts to help troubled borrowers, but a decline in the value of its shareholdings eroded overall profit, it added.

Despite an increase in income from overseas businesses, especially from Asia, income from customer groups including domestic business fell by US$140 million.

Mizuho left its earnings projections unchanged for the whole of fiscal 2011 ending March 31, expecting to boost its group net profit 11.3 percent from the year before to US$ 6 billion.

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