France's Societe Generale net profits down

French banking giant Societe Generale on Wednesday posted net profits down 42 percent in the second quarter, hit by writedowns on its TCW investment fund and Russian subsidiary Rosbank. The figure of 433 million euros ($532 million) was far lower than analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires forecast, with their predictions averaging 764 million euros. Societe Generale said it took a 250 million euro charge on its Rosbank acquisition "given the slower than expected momentum of the Russian operating infrastructure." At TCW, the Group was prompted to write down 200 million euros "to take account of the situation in the asset management market in the current economic environment," the bank said. The bank said operating profit in the April-June period rose 35.9 percent to 1.46 billion euros despite a 3.6 percent fall in net banking income, which totalled 6.27 billion euros in the period, slightly better than analyst forecasts. For the first six months of 2012, banking income hit 12.6 billion euros, a four percent fall from a year ago as operating income rose four percent to 2.54 billion euros. "Despite a challenging environment, the Societe Generale Group has progressed, quarter after quarter, with its transformation strategy, in line with its objectives," Frederic Oudea, Societe Generale Chairman and chief executive said in a statement. The banks said its core Tier 1 capital ratio -- a key measure of financial health -- was on target to reach between 9 and 9.5 percent by end 2013 as part of the international Basel III agreement to shore up the global financial sector.