Islamic lender Gulf Finance House (GFH), Bahrain's second-largest firm by market value, on Monday reported a 61-per cent jump in quarterly profits as fee income soared.

Profits reached $116.3 million in the first quarter while earnings per share rose to 14.68 cents from 9.08 cents in the prior-year period, the firm said in a statement on the Bahrain stock exchange's Web site.

Placement, arrangement and management fees for the investment bank surged more than five-fold to $22.7 million in the three months to March 31.

The bank plans to develop a petroleum-related research and education area on Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea coast at a cost of $10 billion, the Kazakh government said earlier this month.

Gulf Finance House, which has overseen infrastructure projects and investments of more than $12 billion over eight years, is also building energy parks in Libya, India and Qatar.

In February, the bank said it plans to set up an Islamic bank with a capital of $750 million to invest in the energy sector in the Middle East and North Africa.-Reuters