Kabu, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFJ), released preliminary financial results for May of 2018 today. The retail broker saw a respectable level of growth across its three main business lines last month.

Kabu was able to increase its total revenue for May to ¥1.68 billion ($15.25 million). This represented just under 4 percent in month on month growth.

This growth was due in large part to an increase in brokerage commissions. In April of this year, Kabu ($5.38 million) from brokerage commissions. Last month, the Japanese firm was able to increase that figure to ¥649 million ($5.88 million).

This growth was largely down to an increase in equities trading. The slight uptick in client trading meant that commissions from equities trading grew by 15 percent in May to ¥365 million ($3.31 million).

Acceptance fees up, volatility down

Kabu also saw growth in the business area that has been its biggest money maker for the past several months – acceptance fees. In April, the firm finished the month with ¥740 million ($6.71 million) in revenue from acceptance fees. At the end of May, this number had increased to ¥791 million ($7.17 million), a 7 percent increase.

Despite the undoubtedly positive increases in revenue, Kabu is still in something of a slump. Revenues steadily decreased from January up until April. Last month saw a slight recovery but total revenues were still almost 20 percent lower than they were in January.

The reason for this appears to have been a burst of investor enthusiasm, particularly in Japanese markets, in the first quarter of this year. This was and enabled retail brokers to perform particularly well in the FX markets.