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Paris/ AFP
French bank Societe Generale served investors a pleasant surprise with third-quarter results, sending its shares soaring.
Although falling by 2.4 percent to 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), net profit still came in well above analysts’ forecasts of 888 million euros according to Factset, a data provider.
Shares in Societe Generale, France’s third largest bank after BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, promptly soared on the Paris stock exchange, rising 5.2 percent to 35.98 euros in morning business.
“The third quarter beat expectations, mostly because of international retail banking and market activities, which offset a fall in French retail banking,” said one Paris-based analyst.
Societe Generale’s retail banking network in its French home market, hit by low interest rates, generated six percent less banking income than a year earlier.
Non-French retail banking and financial services meanwhile generated 0.7 percent more revenues and 30.6 percent higher
profits.
Overall group net banking income dropped 5.6 percent to 6 billion euros, slightly below analysts’ forecasts.