BNP Paribas profits up nearly 10 per cent in first quarter 

(MENAFN - Saudi Press Agency) Net profits at France's biggest bank BNP Paribasgrew 9.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, boosted by capitalgains on asset disposals, the bank said Friday.

Net income came in at 2.87 billion euros, exceeding analystsexpectations, with BNP's sale of its stake in property investmentcompany Klepierre bringing in 1.8 billion euros.

BNP shares rose 0.43 per cent in morning trading to 29.22 euros.
'Against a backdrop of economic slowdown in the euro zone, the BNPParibas Group achieved good performance all the whilst rapidlyimplementing its adaptation plan,' the bank said.

Total revenues of 9.89 billion euros were down 15.4 per cent overthe same period in 2011, after the bank was hit by a charge of 843million euros on the revaluation of its debt and suffered a loss of142 million euros on sales of sovereign debt.

As one of the banks most exposed to the Greek debt crisis, BNP'sshares hemorrhaged investors last year.

BNP said it was 80 per cent towards its target of improving itstop-tier capital ratio, as required under new international capitalguidelines known as Basel III.