ROTH Rothschild and Co

EARNINGS

French Banks Benefit From Visa Share Sale

French banks Crédit Agricole SA and Société Générale SA reported bigger-than-expected jumps in second-quarter net profit, as the sale of their Visa Europe shares helped offset pressure from volatile markets and low interest rates.

Crédit Agricole's net profit rose 26% to EUR1.16 billion ($1.30 billion), while Société Générale's increased 8% to EUR1.46 billion. Revenue rose 2% at both banks, to EUR4.74 billion at Crédit Agricole and to EUR6.98 billion at Société Générale.

The Visa Europe stake sale gave Crédit Agricole a gain of EUR328 million and Société Générale EUR725 million.

--Noemie Bisserbe

M&A ACTION

SGX to Make Offer for Storied Exchange

Singapore Exchange Ltd. will make a formal offer for Baltic Exchange Ltd. by the middle of this month in a move that could see another historic London marketplace end up in foreign hands, people involved in the matter said.

The 272-year-old Baltic Exchange is credited with helping expand British trade during the country's imperial heyday.

SGX was a late entrant in the race. Other suitors included Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc.; CME Group Inc., which operates the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; and state-run conglomerate China Merchants Group, the people said. SGX and Baltic began exclusive talks May 25.

The transaction, if completed, would represent the second sale in recent years of a storied London exchange to an Asian operator. In 2012, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. bought the London Metal Exchange.

--Costas Paris

EXCHANGES

ICE Gets Boost From Recent Deals

Exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc. logged bigger-than-expected increases in profit and revenue for the second quarter, as the company continues to reap the benefits of recent acquisitions and as trading volume picked up.

In the latest quarter, Interactive Data Corp., which ICE bought last year, continued to drive results. Revenue from data services more than doubled from a year earlier to $497 million, thanks to the addition of $265 million from IDC and London-based Trayport.

ICE reported a profit of $357 million, or $2.98 a share, up from $283 million, or $2.54 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 37% to $1.5 billion.

--Lisa Beilfuss, Bradley Hope

GAM HOLDING

Drop in Fees Causes Profit to Decline 46%

Swiss money manager GAM Holding AG said a slump in performance fees led to a sharp fall in first-half profit, causing its shares to drop 15% Wednesday.

GAM, which issued a profit warning in June, said performance fees for the first half were 1.2 million Swiss francs ($1.24 million), compared with 44.1 million francs a year earlier. That pushed underlying profit before taxes down 46% to 55 million francs.

Clients pulled a net 5.6 billion francs from GAM's main unit. Almost half of that came from absolute-return funds, which aim to profit in all market conditions.

--Laurence Fletcher

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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