Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar's second-largest bank by market value, reported an 18 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit on Monday, beating analysts' expectations.

The bank is the fourth major Qatari lender to report its first quarter results, with most outstripping analysts' forecasts.

Masraf Al Rayan's 2015 earnings are expected to be boosted by its booking of part of the gain from the sale last year of its 50 per cent stake in Seef Lusail Real Estate Development Company to Qatari Diar Infrastructure Company, the real estate arm of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund.

Elena Sanchez-Cabezudo, director of equity research at EFG-Hermes, said it was too early to determine how much of the 186 million riyals gain from the sale was included in the latest earnings.

Net profit for the three months to March 31 was 511 million riyals ($140.4 million) compared to 432 million riyals in the same period a year ago, a company statement said.

That was ahead of the forecasts of three analysts polled by Reuters. They, on average, forecast a net profit of 484.4 million riyals for the period. EFG-Hermes had forecast a net profit if 462 million riyals.

The lender, which has the largest weighting of any Qatari stock by index compiler MSCI, said financing activities reached 62.8 billion riyals, up by 37.6 percent from the same period of 2014. Customer deposits reached 60.8 billion riyals, up by 16.2 percent over the same period.

Qatari bank earnings have been propelled in recent years by public spending related to a raft of infrastructure projects as the government prepares to host the soccer World Cup in 2022.

Still, delays to some major infrastructure projects, as well as a move by the government to fund more projects directly rather than through bank credit, has contributed to recent softness in credit growth.-Reuters