Claiming a record net profit for the past year this morning, Societe Generale announced a significant increase in its total distribution to shareholders, as well as an upward revision of its return on tangible equity (ROTE) target for 2026.

The banking group revealed a group share net profit of 6 billion EUR for 2025, up 43%, with a ROTE of 10.2% and 9.6% excluding net gains on other assets, exceeding its annual target of around 9%.

This annual profit growth is based on a cost of risk at 26 basis points, at the lower end of its 2025 target range between 25 and 30 basis points, and an efficiency ratio at 63.6%, below the annual target (less than 65%).

The latter improved by 5.4 points thanks to both a 2% decrease in costs (excluding asset disposals) and record revenues up 6.8% to 27.3 billion EUR (excluding asset disposals), performances which also surpassed its annual targets.

On this basis, Societe Generale is proposing an ordinary distribution for 2025 of nearly 2.68 billion EUR, including a dividend of 1.61 EUR per share (with a balance of 1 EUR yet to be paid) and a share buyback program of 1.46 billion EUR to be launched on 9 February.

With the 2 exceptional distributions in the form of 2 additional share buyback programs launched in 2025, the group’s total distribution for the past year amounts to 4.68 billion EUR, an increase of 169%.

Finally, it has revised its targets for 2026 and now forecasts a ROTE above 10%, an efficiency ratio below 60% with revenue growth above 2% and a cost reduction of around 3%.