Abu Dhabi's Union National Bank (UNB) posted a 3.5 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Monday, beating the estimates of analysts who had expected its earnings to shrink.

The bank made a profit of 512.1 million dirhams ($139.4 million) in the quarter, up from 494.9 million dirhams a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Six analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast that UNB's profit would fall 3.9 percent, although their forecasts were based on a slightly different figure that excludes profit owed to minority shareholders of the bank's subsidiaries.

Under this figure, net attributable profit, UNB's net profit rose 3.6 percent to 509.1 million dirhams. - Reuters