Bank of Hawaii Corp. reported a 20.9 percent jump in its first quarter net income thanks in part to its sale of shares in Visa Inc., which recently went public.

The company said it earned $57.2 million, or $1.18 per share, during three months ending March 31, compared to $47.3 million, or 94 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The results exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had forecast earnings of 90 cents per share for the first quarter.

Shares of Bank of Hawaii rose $1.15 yesterday to close at $51.09 on the New York Stock Exchange.

"Bank of Hawaii Corp. began 2008 with solid financial performance," said Allan Landon, Bank of Hawaii's chief executive officer. "We further strengthened our balance sheets in anticipation of a slowing economy."

The bank said its interest income from its core business of making consumer and business loans increased $4 million to $102.4 million. Noninterest income — which includes fees earned by its financial services, leasing and other nonlending operations — rose to $86.1 million from first quarter 2007's $61 million.

A large part of that increase came from the bank's mandatory sale of shares in Visa Inc., whose $19.5 billion initial public offering was the largest ever.

Bank of Hawaii said it earned $13.7 million by selling some of the 900,000 shares of Visa that it owned. The bank, which received the Visa stock last year as a longtime member of the San Francisco-based credit card network, has said that it plans to keep most of its Visa stock.

Bank of Hawaii also received an $11.6 million boost from the early buyout of an aircraft lease.

The company did not identify the lessor but said it is taking steps to protect itself from the downturn in the nation's airline industry. During the quarter, the bank said it increased its allowances for loan and lease losses by $9 million to $100 million.

As of March 31, Bank of Hawaii said its total assets increased by $331 million to more than $10.8 billion while loans and leases grew by $72 million to nearly $6.6 billion.

Total deposits were $8.1 billion, an increase of $150 million.