Societe Generale SA (GLE), France’s second-largest bank, said it will seek to increase return on equity, a measure of profitability, to more than 10 percent by 2016, helped by lending in Russia and Africa.

Societe Generale is targeting a revenue increase of 3 percent annually through 2016, the Paris-based bank said in a statement today. The lender sees consumer-banking revenue both in Russia, its second-largest country by clients, and in Africa rising 7 percent annually on average over the next three years, outpacing 1 percent growth at its French branch networks.

The bank’s 2016 profitability goal compares with an ROE of 8.4 percent last year, excluding certain items. The French company said it plans to boost its dividend payout to 50 percent of profit in 2015 and 2016 from 40 percent in 2014.

“The group is now fully ready to deliver profitable growth in the future by taking advantage of its strengths,” Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea, 50, said in the statement.

Societe Generale will seek 8 percent annual revenue growth over the three-year period at its corporate financing and advisory unit by “allocating more capital with a view to growing natural resources and structured financing activities,” it said. For its markets activities, the bank is targeting revenue growth of 1 percent a year through 2016, above the industry’s trends, it said.

Russia Targets

Societe Generale reported last week that first-quarter profit fell 13 percent as it wrote down the value of its Russian unit. The firm, among the largest foreign lenders in Russia, seeks “satisfying profitability” there for 2016 and sees a “shared willingness” to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Oudea said May 7.

The bank sees its Russian operations contributing 5 percent of group earnings in 2016, excluding exceptional items. That compares with about 4.3 percent last year, based on data on the company’s website. It is targeting an ROE of 14 percent from its Russian consumer banking activities in 2016.

The European Union imposed sanctions on companies in Crimea for the first time yesterday and threatened more measures, along with the U.S., to target Russian industries.

Bloomberg