BNP Paribas said Friday first-quarter net profit plunged, hurt by lower investment banking revenue, and new provisions set aside against bad loans in Italy, as the French bank struggles to pull itself out of the molasses of the debt crisis.

The Paris lender, Europe's third-largest listed bank by assets, said net profit fell 45% to €1.58bn ($2.06bn) in the three months ended March, from €2.87bn a year ago, beating analysts' forecasts of €1.38bn. However, the decrease was from a relatively high-base as the sale of its stake in real estate company Klepierre lifted revenue in the same quarter last year.