PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French lender Credit Agricole Group (CRARF, CDA.L, ACA), comprising Crédit Agricole S.A. and Regional Banks, reported Thursday that its first-quarter net income climbed significantly, with strong commercial momentum in all business lines. The shares, meanwhile, were losing around 1.3 percent in Paris trading.
Dominique Lefebvre, Chairman of SAS Rue La Boétie and Chairman of Crédit Agricole S.A.'s Board of Directors, said, 'In the first quarter of 2017, Crédit Agricole Group once again demonstrated the robustness of its Universal customer-focused banking business model and the synergies that could be generated by a customer approach common to the various business lines. This was reflected in strong business momentum and results, which bodes well for the success of our Strategic Ambition 2020 plan.'
Crédit Agricole Group's net income Group share for the first quarter of 2017 rose 95.6 percent to 1.60 billion euros from 818 million euros in the year-ago period.
Excluding specific items, underlying net income Group share was 1.65 billion euros, compared to 1.24 billion euros in the year-ago period. Gross operating income climbed 54 percent from last year to 2.77 billion euros, and underlying gross operating income grew 16.5 percent to 2.86 billion euros.
Crédit Agricole S.A.'s stated net income Group share was 845 million euros, significantly higher than 227 million euros last year. Earnings per share soared to 0.25 euro from 0.03 euro last year.
Excluding specific items, underlying net income Group share was 895 million euros, 2.3 times higher than in the first quarter of 2016. Underlying earnings per share came to 0.27 euros per share, compared to 0.10 euro in the previous year.
Crédit Agricole Group's revenues grew 15.2 percent to 8.25 billion euros from 7.16 billion euros last year. Underlying revenues for the quarter rose 6.7 percent to 8.33 billion euros from 7.81 billion euros in the prior-year quarter, with positive contribution to growth from all business lines..
Crédit Agricole S.A.'s stated revenues climbed 23.7 percent to 4.70 billion euros. Driven by the strong momentum in all business lines, underlying revenues were up 14 percent.
In Asset management segment, Amundi, assets under management grew 14.2 percent over one year to 1.128 trillion euros, mainly due to strong inflows of 32.5 billion euros in the first quarter of 2017.
Regional Banks' stated revenues were down 0.9 percent year-on-year to 3.529 billion euros. Underlying revenues increased 3.9 percent.
The bank's fully-loaded Common Equity Tier 1 or CET1 ratio was 14.5 percent, stable compared with end-December 2016.
In Paris, Credit Agricole shares were trading at 14.12 euros, down 1.33 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX