Societe Generale 2Q Results Beat Market Expectations

By Tracy Qu

Societe Generale's net profit for the second quarter was 1.79 billion euros compared with 1.45 billion euros for the same period last year, the French bank said Thursday.

Analysts had expected net profit to come in at 1.59 billion euros, according to consensus estimates compiled by the bank. Revenue rose 4.5% to 7.10 billion euros. Analysts had forecast 6.98 billion euros, according to the same consensus.

"Our operational efficiency improved with both an increase in our revenues and a sharp drop in our costs generating strong positive jaws effect in the quarter," said Chief Executive Officer Slawomir Krupa in the release.

Societe Generale raised its outlook for 2026. It expects a 4% reduction in costs this year compared with 2025, with return on tangible equity, or ROTE, a key profitability metric for banks--of around 11%.

It previously expected and a 3% reduction in costs this year compared with 2025, with return on tangible equity of more than 10%.

The strong momentum "translates into a significant improvement in our profitability and allows us to upgrade our ROTE target for 2026 to 11%," Krupa said.

Its second-quarter return on tangible equity was 12.2%.

The bank also plans to launch a share buy-back of 1.5 billion euros on Aug 3 at the earliest, it said.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2026 01:25 ET (05:25 GMT)