SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) _ Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC) on Friday reported first-quarter profit of $252.8 million.

The bank, based in Santiago, Chile, said it had earnings of 54 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 43 cents per share.

The financial holding company posted revenue of $1.01 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $753.2 million, which also topped Street forecasts.

Banco Santander-Chile shares have increased 18% since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 33% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BSAC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BSAC

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