Societe Generale Profit Drops 20% in First Quarter PARIS - The French bank Société Générale said on Thursday that its first-quarter net income fell 20 percent from the period a year earlier, as the bank unloaded assets and booked a charge on the cost of its own debt. The bank's net income in the first three months of the year dropped to 732 million euros ($963 million), while revenue fell 4.7 percent, to 6.3 billion euros. The firm took a charge for the revaluation of its own debt; had it not done so, net income would have been 851 million euros, it said. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News and Reuters had forecast a range of figures for net income of 600 million euros to 750 million euros. Société Générale's corporate and investment banking unit posted revenue of 1.9 billion euros, down about 18 percent from the first quarter of 2011. The unit's performance was hampered by a decline in the financing and advisory business. Jon Peace, an analyst at Nomura in London, noted that strong fixed income, currencies and commodities trading had helped the corporate and investment banking unit, contributing 993 million euros to group net income, from 713 million euros a year earlier. That may not be enough for some skeptical investors, he said, but considering that Société Générale shares had "underperformed sharply ahead of results on macro and capital concerns," and are trading at less than 40 percent of their tangible book value, "we expect a relief rally from these results." The bank's shares rose 1.8 percent in morning trading in Paris. Stock in Société Générale has lost 58 percent of its value in the last year. Like other French banks, including its larger rival BNP Paribas, Société Générale has been retrenching in some areas to reduce risk, particularly in dollar-funded activities, while the corporate and investment banking division is cutting nearly 1,600 jobs. Frédéric Oudéa, the bank's chief executive, said in a statement that first-quarter earnings were healthy, adding: "We maintain the priority given to rigorous risk management, controlling operating expenses, reducing our liquidity needs and strengthening our capital." The bank said its core Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of its financial strength, rose 35-hundredths of a percentage point, to 9.4 percent, from the fourth quarter of 2011. That put it into conformity with the European Banking Authority's requirement that banks have a 9 percent core Tier 1 ratio by June 30. Société Générale also said it would meet 2013 targets for new Basel III Tier 1 capital of 9 to 9.5 percent without having to seek new funds from investors.