CAIRO (Reuters) - Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt's largest-listed company, reported a 17-per cent rise in first-quarter net profit helped by improved interest margins.

Net profit rose to 1.29 billion Egyptian pounds for the three months to March 31 from 1.1 billion a year earlier, it said in a statement to the bourse on Sunday.

Revenue rose 4 per cent to 2.63 billion pounds while standalone deposits increased by 9 per cent to 169 billion pounds.

“Key business metrics improved in the face of large moves in interest and currency exchange rates," the bank said, noting that a year-end 50-basis-point rate hike had helped raise EGP net interest margins to over 7.3 per cent.

CIB is in the process of selling investment banking arm CI Capital to Beltone Financial and has approved a further two-week extension for the offer. The offer will now expire on May 26, it said in a statement on Sunday.

In February, CIB signed a deal to sell CI Capital to Beltone, a unit of billionaire Naguib Sawiris' Orascom Telecom, for 924 million pounds but the deal has stalled pending regulator approvals.

CIB said its standalone net interest margin was 5.81 per cent, generating income of 2.27 billion pounds.

Its standalone gross loan portfolio was 67.3 billion pounds, up 4.4 billion.

Standalone non-performing loans represented 4.68 per cent of the gross loan portfolio. 

($1 = around 8.8 Egyptian pounds. Reporting by Asma Alsharif; editing by Lin Noueihed and Jason Neely)