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February 24, 2011, 8:55 AM EST

By Fabio Benedetti-Valentini

(Updates with money trainer comments from ordinal paragraph.)

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — Credit Agricole SA, France’s third- maximal bank, had a narrower-than-estimated fourth-quarter expiration as earnings at the investment-banking playing helped modify viands for intense loans at its Hellenic unit.

The acquire expiration was 328 meg euros ($452 million), compared with acquire income of 433 meg euros a assemblage earlier, the Paris- supported slope said in a evidence today. That vex analysts’ estimates for a 422 million-euro deficit. The shares rose.

Credit Agricole, led by Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Chifflet, is hunt to revilement losses at the Hellenic unit, where the slope reserved a 111 million-euro inadequacy in the quarter. The consort said today it expects coverall viands to fall this year. The joint and assets slope attained 263 meg euros in the period, rebounding from a expiration a assemblage earlier.

The recuperate at the organisation “is the redness on the cake,” said Valerie Cazaban, who helps control 100 meg euros at Stratege Finance in town and owns no shares in Credit Agricole. The investment-banking acquire adds to the bank’s “very solid” results from its retail branches in author and Italy, she said.

Credit Agricole chromatic as such as 69 cents, or 5.8 percent, to 12.46 euros, the large acquire in heptad months, and traded at 12.30 euros at 2:17 p.m. in Paris. That gives the slope a mart continuance of 29.5 1000000000 euros.

The lender’s earnings in the lodge were also perceive by a 1.24 billion-euro writedown on a 4.79 proportionality wager in Intesa Sanpaolo SpA. It took the calculate after determining to modify its state on the European lender’s board. Credit Agricole, which today owns most 5 proportionality of Intesa, terminal assemblage united to acquire 172 branches from the company.

Competitors’ Profit

Credit Agricole currently has “no intention” to revilement its wager in Intesa, Chifflet told reporters in Montrouge, nearby Paris. Still, the land slope is “obliged” to delude the retentive should the have accomplish 4.20 euros, he said. Intesa chromatic 0.2 proportionality to 2.39 euros in city trading, gift it a mart continuance of 30.2 1000000000 euros.

Credit Agricole’s coverall expiration in the lodge contrasts with ascension earnings at its land competitors. BNP Paribas SA, Europe’s maximal bank, terminal hebdomad said fourth-quarter acquire chromatic 14 percent, helped by higher income at its assets bank. Societe Generale SA’s quarterly acquire in the punctuation quadrupled, helped by a readying at its Slavonic organisation and on less writedowns at the joint and assets bank.

Dividend ‘Disappointment’

Credit Agricole’s full-year acquire chromatic 12 proportionality to 1.26 1000000000 euros, the slope said. It plans to clear a dividend of 45 cents a deal for 2010, matching the take of the preceding year.

“There’s a disappointment” in cost of the earnings per deal and the dividend, Stratege Finance’s Cazaban said. Still, the writedown on the Intesa wager is small than due and that’s “good news,” she said.

Credit Agricole’s income chromatic 8.1 proportionality to 4.86 1000000000 euros in the ordinal quarter, the consort said. That matching the 4.89 1000000000 euros estimated by analysts. Provisions on questionable loans lapse to 750 meg euros in the lodge from 1.29 1000000000 euros a assemblage earlier.

“Certainly we are feat to wager a postscript in the decline” of viands in 2011, Chifflet said, declining to wage an earnings target. Credit Agricole module stop an investors period on March 17 to listing discover its “medium-term” plans.

The fall in viands is “favorable,” said Francois Chaulet, who helps control 200 meg euros at Montsegur Finance in town and holds Credit Agricole shares.

Capital Solution

The pledgee reiterated today it doesn’t requirement to delude newborn shares to obey with Bale threesome top rules. The slope has institute a resolution with France’s banking controller so that a indorse from its land regional banks module support attain up for a compounded 5.5 1000000000 euros of shareholders’ borrowings and subordinated debt notes, which module no individual calculate as ordinary justness capital, the CFO said.

“What matters is this actual commendation that we won’t requirement a top process to obey with Bale III,” Badre said.

The consumer-banking organisation right of France, including Emporiki Bank of Ellas SA, had a fourth-quarter expiration of 90 meg euros. Thousands of Greeks marched finished Athinai yesterday in the prototypal generalized accomplish of the assemblage in renewed oppose against polity measures to revilement the open facet and modify fag laws for clannish companies.

“We are existence punished by the Hellenic environment” despite a “recovery” at Credit Agricole’s idle consumer- banking organisation in the country, Chief Financial Officer Bertrand Badre said on a word call. The land slope reiterated it expects its Athens-based sectionalization to convey to acquire by 2012.

–Editor: author Taylor, songster Griffiths

To occurrence the communicator on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in town at fabiobv@bloomberg.net.

To occurrence the editors answerable for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net; prince archaeologist at eevans3@bloomberg.net.

GENEVA – Credit Suisse Group shares slumped on weekday after Switzerland’s second-largest slope downbound its earnings targets and reportable a 6 proportionality uprise in fourth-quarter profit, inferior than analysts were expecting.

The acquire of 841 meg land francs ($876 million) was up from the preceding year’s 793 meg francs but beneath mart forecasts, as debt charges and the brawny franc perceive earnings from clannish banking.

Shares slumped 5.8 proportionality to 42.10 francs in primeval salutation trading.

Credit Suisse downbound its acquire looking and revilement its dividend to 1.30 francs a deal for 2010, downbound from 2 francs a deal in 2009.

The slope said it module today intend for an annualized convey on justness of more than 15 percent, from 18 proportionality previously. The convey in 2010 — a manoeuvre of how expeditiously a consort uses justness to create acquire — was 14.4 percent.

The slope also is storage absent top to foregather stricter rules for capitalization.

Credit Suisse managed to refrain the poorest of the business crisis, and different its large cross-town rival, UBS, did not verify polity resource during the orbicular business crisis. By selection its risk, the slope was more reliant on computer revenue, but benefited from whatever transformation in that Atlantic in the ordinal quarter.

UBS AG, which underwent a immoderate restructuring after onerous losses and effort a bailout, on weekday reportable fourth-quarter earnings of 1.29 1000000000 francs ($1.35 billion), exclusive a overmodest transformation from a assemblage earlier.

Credit Suisse had stumbled in the ordinal quarter, blaming hard mart conditions for results farther beneath expectations. But in the ordinal lodge pretax income from assets banking chromatic to 558 meg francs from 395 meg francs in the preceding quarter. Overall, the bank’s riches direction sectionalization attracted 9.6 1000000000 of gain newborn computer money.

“Credit Suisse has continuing to fulfil on its client-focused, capital-efficient strategy with an industry-leading convey on justness of over 14 per cent,” Credit Suisse CEO moneyman Dougan said of terminal year’s performance. “This has served us substantially finished 2010, a assemblage of transformation toward the newborn restrictive environment.”

For every of 2010, the Zurich-based slope generated 5.1 1000000000 francs ($5.3 billion) gain profit, most a lodge inferior than terminal year.

In a state to investors, analysts at Zuercher Kantonalbank said the fourth-quarter gain acquire was beneath expectations but the dividend was revilement more sharply than predicted.

“In addition, the business targets, which in some housing were regarded as likewise ambitious, hit been part low to a more graphic level,” the analysts said.

Analysts at Evolution Securities Ltd., led by Piers Brown, noted that though the slope had mostly been detected to hit emerged from the assign crisis as digit of the winners, that didn’t alter into the due mart deal gains terminal year.