Profile

The Company is one of the leading online securities broker in Japan focused on providing competitive services to retail investors. In particular, the Company targets actively trading customers who are experienced and informed investors who value competitive pricing, convenience of trading platform and reliability of IT system over investment advice. Therefore the Company concentrates its resources in online-base brokerage businesses and believes this focus enhances its core competence by delivering unique and innovative services and products to specific target customers and its profitability by maintaining operational efficiencies.

The Company undertook structural reforms of its business since the economic bubble burst in 1990 under the leadership of Michio Matsui, its current president & CEO, and its initiatives behind attracted industry-wide attention as these involved innovative services and products which went against then industry practice and tradition. In May 1998, the Company began its online brokerage services before many of its principal competitors and prior to the October 1999 deregulation of retail brokerage commissions in Japan. Since then, the Company has transformed itself from a small-scale conventional securities broker into a leading provider of online brokerage services.

During the fiscal year ended March 2011, the Company accounted for 8% of the value of all retail transaction of Japanese stock in Japan and 9% of the value of all retail margin transaction in Japan. Its operating revenues were ¥22,091 million for the fiscal year ended March 2011 and ¥24,346 million for the fiscal year ended March 2010, and its ordinary income in the same periods was ¥8,479 million and ¥11,545 million. As of March 2011, the Company had 812,410 accounts for its online brokerage service ‘‘Netstock’’ and ¥1,280 billion in customer assets. The registered head office of the Company is located at 1-4, Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8516 Japan. The Shares are listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and are one of the 225 components of the Nikkei stock average, a Japanese stock index.

Recognizing early the potential of the Internet, the Company started offering full-fledged online brokerage services in 1998, being the first provider of this service in Japan. The Company believes it has positioned itself as the online brokerage of choice for experienced investors who want fairly priced, reliable services.

The Company believes it has been an industry innovator in meeting the needs of its customers. For example, the Company introduced an innovative commission structure “Box Rate” based on aggregate daily transaction value regardless of the number of transactions, which was the first of its kind in Japan, focusing the advantage of price reductions on investors who traded actively. The Company was also the first in Japan to introduce online margin trading, providing experienced investors with a quick, reasonably priced means for making leverage investments. The Company believes its market-leading services and innovative terms have enhanced its reputation as a brokerage of choice for the sophisticated retail investors.

Recently the Company has introduced the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) service, which is a major breakthrough in terms of improving availability of retail investors' trading capacity. RTGS was available only for cash transaction at first, but the Company has introduced RTGS for margin transaction in October 2011.

The Company has a policy of concentrating its resources in selected businesses. By virtue of its strong commitment to this approach, the Company has been able to sustain high profitability even under the current difficult market conditions. Its ordinary income for the fiscal year ended March 2011 was ¥8,479 million, one-fourth of its previous peak. However the Company was still one of the most profitable firms among the listed securities brokerages with 38% of its ordinary income ratio for the fiscal year ended March 2011. The Company will continue to focus on concentrating its resources in selected businesses in order to make the consistent and high profitability in any circumstances.

Fiscal Year ended	Operating Revenues	Ordinary Income	Ordinary Income Ratio	Net Income	ROE	Net Assets
March 2011	22,091	8,479	38%	5,410	7.2%	75,752
March 2010	24,346	11,545	47%	7,661	10.7%	74,203
March 2009	26,724	9,998	37%	6,921	9.2%	69,090
March 2008	39,915	20,744	52%	12,781	16.4%	81,044
March 2007	43,691	22,720	52%	13,444	18.8%	75,281

Note: The Company conducted a share buy-back of ¥9,452 million in the fiscal year ended March 2009.