Credit Agricole falls in Paris after first-quarter accounts below expectations

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Slightly below-expected quarterly accounts penalised Credit Agricole shares on the Paris Stock Exchange. The Banque Verte's stock price was not affected by the announcement of an $800 million share buyback plan by controlling shareholder Rue La Boetie, the holding company of the regional funds. L'Agricole ended the first quarter with a consolidated net profit attributable to the group of 2.1 billion, up 5.5% compared to the same period in 2025. Parent company Credit Agricole Sa, for its part, posted a profit of 1.7 billion, up 1.8% year-on-year but just below the 1.72 billion forecast by analysts' consensus.

The annualised cost of risk stood at 31 basis points, or -960 million, an increase of 30.6% compared to the same period in 2025. The figure includes provisions of EUR 755m on impaired loans as well as EUR 159m in prudential provisions also in light of the risks related to the war in the Middle East. Returning to the consolidated numbers, revenues rose 2.8% to EUR 10bn, while costs stood at EUR 6bn (+0.7%). Gross operating profit thus increased by 6.2% to EUR 4 billion. The cost/income ratio was 60.3%, while the return on tangible capital was 13.7%. "Despite the challenges, the group postedstrong and growing results in the first quarter," commented CEO Olivier Gavalda. "These results reflect sustained development across all business lines, an acceleration in the digitisation of the customer experience and continued expansion in Europe. The quarter's accounts include a positive contribution of €111m from the stake in Banco Bpm, which rose to 22.9% (Agricole had held 22.8% at the Piazza Meda meeting in recent weeks).

Analysts are also carefully assessing capital performance: the parent company's Cet 1 ratio fell to 11.4 per cent, compared to around 12 per cent expected by the market. Capitalisation, the bank emphasises, is nevertheless "2.6 percentage points above regulatory requirements". Meanwhile, other stocks in the banking sector also lost ground on the French stock exchange. Bnp Paribas slipped after announcing a record net profit of EUR3.2 billion in the first quarter, up 9 per cent year-on-year, thanks to a "solid operating performance and positive" and the integration of asset management company Axa Im, acquired in 2025. Also down was Societé Generale, which posted a quarterly net profit of EUR 1.7bn, up 5.5% year-on-year. Like Agricole, the other major French banks were also affected by the volatility linked to the war in Iran. Indeed, Bnp posted provisions of EUR 922m, above the 888m expected by the market, partly due to the 'geopolitical context'. War-related volatility also weighed on SocGen's fixed income trading business.