Banque Saudi Fransi registered a 10 per cent gain in its first-quarter net profit on the back of improved operating income, the bank said, edging ahead of analysts’ expectations.

The SR789 million ($210.4 million) it earned in the first three months of 2012 compared with net earnings of 717 million riyals in the same period a year earlier and 661 million riyals in the last quarter of 2011, the bank said in a bourse statement on Tuesday.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the firm to post, on average, SR778 million in profit in the first quarter.

The company attributed its profit gains to an increase in total operating income, which rose by 6.1 per cent to SR1.22 billion from SR1.15 billion in the first quarter of 2011.

The profits from special commissions grew by 5.9 per cent to SR802 million from SR757 million in the same period a year earlier.

Loans and advances rose by 15.5 per cent to SR97 billion from SR84 billion at the end of March 2011, it added.

Bank lending to businesses has surged in the Saudi market in recent months, government figures showed in February.

Saudi Fransi Capital, the brokerage arm of Banque Saudi Fransi, has six initial public offerings in the pipeline, including three that might launch in the first half of the year, its chief executive told Reuters in February.

The IPOs, which include firms in the fast-growing construction and cement sectors, range in size from 500 million riyals to over SR1 billion.-Reuters