MW French banks diverge as Société Générale shares surge, BNP Paribas stock sinks
By Louis Goss
France's top two banks saw their share prices take opposite trajectories on Thursday with Société Générale's stock surging on news of a management shakeup while BNP Paribas shares dropped on weakness in its retail banking division.
Société Générale jumped 8% with shares in France's second largest bank having gained 21% over the previous 12 months.
The bank, which is headquartered in Paris's La Defense financial district, beat expectations in posting a 10.5% increase in its third quarter revenue to EUR6.8 billion, versus the EUR6.6 billion expected by eight analysts polled by FactSet.
In contrast to its main rival BNP Paribas, Société Générale saw its profits boosted by a strong result from its French retail banking business on the back of a strong rebound in its net interest income inside its home country.
Société Générale (FR:GLE) also reported a 0.8% drop in its operating expenses to EUR4.3 billion, even as its main rival BNP Paribas saw its operating expenses increase by 1.7% over the same period, to EUR7.2 billion.
Société Generale on Thursday also announced a shakeup of its management that will see Banco Sabadell's current chief financial officer, Leopoldo Alvear, take over from incumbent CFO, Claire Dumas, as the lender's new finance chief.
Societe Generale's deputy CEO Philippe Aymerich will also step down as part of the overhaul, the French bank said. Citi analysts said the expected the management changes would be welcomed by markets.
France's largest bank BNP Paribas, meanwhile, saw its share price drop 5% on Thursday on the back of a mixed set of results from the lender including a drop in revenue from its retail banking business.
All in all, BNP Paribas performed in line with expectations in posting a 2.7% increase in its third-quarter revenue, to EUR11.94 billion, versus the EUR11.98 forecast by nine analysts polled by FactSet.
The lender saw its top line boosted by a 9% increase in revenue from its corporate & institutional banking segment to EUR4.24 billion which helped offset a 2.6% decline in revenue from its commercial, personal banking & services division to EUR6.58 billion.
Jefferies Group analysts, led by Joseph Dickerson, pointed to weakness in BNP Paribas' retail banking segment as they noted the bank's French, Italian and Belgian divisions all fell short of expectations.
The Paris headquartered lender, which was first founded in 1822, posted a 5.9% increase in its net income to EUR2.87 billion, in line with forecasts from eight analysts polled by FactSet that it would post net income worth EUR2.86 billion.
Shares in BNP Paribas (FR:BNP), listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, fell 6% on Thursday having advanced by 14% over the previous 12 months.
BNP Paribas confirmed its outlook for the full-year, as it said it expects to see a 2% year-over-year increase in its 2024 revenue to EUR46.9 billion on the back of continued growth in its corporate & institutional banking division.
-Louis Goss
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 31, 2024 05:57 ET (09:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments