Nomura Securities Co., Japan’s largest brokerage firm,...

Nomura Securities Co., Japan’s largest brokerage firm, has surpassed Toyota Motor Corp. as the country’s most profitable company. The company’s pretax profit for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30 soared 26.8% to 493.8 billion yen, or $3.6 billion. Sales rose 17.1% to 957.2 billion yen, or $7 billion. The company said the profit growth resulted from the booming stock and bond markets during the period. The three other members of Japan’s “big four” brokerage houses also reported large earnings increases for the year.