MADRID, April 25 (Reuters) - Spain's Sabadell on Thursday reported its first-quarter net profit rose 50% compared to the same quarter in 2023 thanks to an increase in lending income and lower provisions.

The country's fourth-largest bank in terms of market value reported a net profit of 308 million euros in the January-March period. Analysts polled by Reuters expected a net profit of 233 million euros.

Spanish banks are mainly retail lenders and have benefited from higher costs on loans, which often carry floating rates, that are passed on to customers while they kept a lid on rates paid to savers.

Sabadell's net interest income, the difference between earnings on loans and deposit costs, in the quarter rose 11.9% year-on-year to 1.23 billion euros, slightly higher than analysts' forecasts. NII rose 1.7% against the previous quarter.

($1 = 0.9049 euros) (Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Inti Landauro)