French bank Societe Generale reported a smaller-than-expected 22% slide in first-quarter net income on Friday, as profits on equity derivative sales offset more weakness at its retail bank and in fixed-income trading.
France's third-biggest listed lender, whose CEO Slawomir Krupa is seeking to end several years of lackluster performance and trim costs, said group net income over the first three months of the year was 680 million euros ($729.30 million).
Sales slipped 0.4% to 6.65 billion euros, above the 6.46 billion-euro analyst average estimate.
SocGen's investment banking division saw its earnings jump 26.4% to 690 million euros, beating forecasts, while revenues weakened 5.1% to 2.62 billion euros for the quarter.
Equity derivatives sales, an area where SocGen has historically been strong, did well, the bank said, as did corporate financing services and its advisory business.
Persons:
Slawomir Krupa
Organizations:
Societe Generale, Equity