PARIS (Reuters) – Crédit Agricole SA reported quarterly results slightly above expectations on Thursday, as its retail and investment banking activities offset a drop in revenue from its insurance business.
The group’s net profit in the fourth quarter fell 25.2% year-on-year to 1.33 billion euros, while analysts on average expected 1.28 billion euros, according to a consensus provided by Crédit Agricole.
However, the group’s net banking income for the period reached 6.04 billion euros, up 1.2% but below the expectations of analysts, who expected on average 6.16 billion euros.
The second French bank also reported a better than expected cost of credit risk in the fourth quarter, at 440 million euros.
Crédit Agricole also announced a 24% increase in its dividend compared to 2022, to 1.05 euros per share.
The group said that revenues from its large clientele division increased by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, notably with the integration of the European activities of RBC Investor Services. The net income of community banking in France increased by 4.2%, driven by growth in the net interest margin. The turnover of the insurance business, however, fell by 47% year-on-year, due to “high weather-related losses in the quarter”.
With an annual group net profit of 6.35 billion euros, a return on tangible equity (ROTE) of 12.6% and an operating ratio of 54.1%, the group declared that it had achieved 2023 all the financial objectives it had set for 2025.
Crédit Agricole has not raised its medium-term objectives.
(Report Mathieu Rosemain, written by Augustin Turpin, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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