Portuguese nightmares for Crédit Agricole Sa in the second quarter. The listed vehicle of the French banking giant closed the April-June period with a drop in net profits of 97,5% on an annual basis, to 17 million euros.
The result is the result of the total devaluation and losses associated with the stake held in Banco Espirito Santo. The troubles of the Portuguese bank, partially nationalized over the weekend, weighed 708 million on the company's accounts.
In the first half Ca Sa recorded a consolidated net result of 885 million euros, down 24%. The Crédit Agricole group as a whole recorded net profit for the period of 705 million in the quarter (-49%) and 2,12 billion in the six months (-11,8%).
Faced with these numbers, Crédit Agricole said it was ready to initiate legal action against the Espirito Santo family for the collapse of the Bes, of which the French bank is a shareholder of the Portuguese institute with almost 15%.
“It goes without saying that we support the action of the Bank of Portugal (which rescued the Bes, ed) – said the CEO of Crédit Agricole Sa, Jean-Paul Chifflet -. We cannot but regret that we were deceived by a family with which Crédit Agricole had tried to create a real partnership to build Portugal's first private bank". The reference is to the Espirito Santo family, the main shareholder of the Bes, whose financial troubles (billion dollar insolvency of the parent holding companies) triggered the collapse of the Bes.
