PARIS - Credit Agricole SA, France's second-largest listed bank by market value, beat analyst estimates in the second quarter as its investment banking unit posted record sales driven by strong capital markets and corporate finance activity.

Net profit for the group from April to June fell to 1.82 billion euros ($1.97 billion) down 10.4% versus the same period the year prior and beating the 1.62 billion-euro analyst consensus compiled by the company.

The fall from 2023 levels is due to one-off elements included in the second quarter of last year, such as the transfer of some business assets, Credit Agricole said.

Sales edged up 1.8% to 6.8 billion euros against the same period last year, topping analyst expectations of 6.49 billion euros. The cost of risk, or money put aside for bad loans, was 424 million euros, slightly below expectations.

Credit Agricole's second-quarter corporate and investment banking sales grew 11.2% from a year earlier to 1.71 billion euros, the best second-quarter in sales ever recorded, it said.

Revenue from trading in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) edged up 1.7% over the period, the head of the bank's investment bank, Xavier Musca, said in a call with reporters.

This underperformed the average 5% growth seen by Wall Street banks as compiled by Jefferies but outperformed French rival BNP Paribas, where revenues from FICC fell 7%. French rival Societe Generale posted earlier on Thursday a 3% growth from trading in fixed income and currencies (FIC).

"We have achieved our highest ever result in these market activities, so these are very good results, which are even better than those of a number of our competitors," Musca said.

Sales from Credit Agricole SA's French retail activities also supported the bottom line, with a 11% jump in net interest margin -- a closely watched measure of how much a bank earns from loans minus how much it pays on deposit.

The listed entity of Credit Agricole Group kept its targets unchanged.

It said earlier this year it planned to meet its 2025 financial targets a year early. Targets include annual underlying net income of more than 6 billion euros and a return on tangible equity of more than 12%. ($1 = 0.9236 euros)

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain)