UPDATE 1-Spain's Criteria Q1 net profit drops

(Recasts with net profit figure, further details)

By Joe Ortiz

MADRID, April 29 (Reuters) - Criteria Caixacorp (CRIT.MC: Quote, Profile, Research), the company that holds the financial and industrial holdings of Spanish savings bank La Caixa, said on Tuesday its first-quarter net profit fell 29.3 pct to 302 million euros ($470 million).

Criteria said it had made no share sales in the first quarter after it generated an extrardinary net profit of 220 million euros in the same quarter last year through the sale of a 1 percent stake in Suez (LYOE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research). It said it made a recurrent net profit of 378 million euros in the first quarter of 2008, a 41 percent increase.

Criteria listed on the Spanish stock market in October and is using some of the proceeds to buy new industrial and financial stakes, including an 8.9 percent stake in The Bank of East Asia (0023.HK: Quote, Profile, Research).

It said it invested some 1.5 billion euros in the first quarter, mostly on shares in water company Aguas de Barcelona (AGS.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and infrastructure firm Abertis (ABE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research).

Criteria said the net value of its portfolio, which includes Spanish bellwethers like Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and Repsol (REP.MC: Quote, Profile, Research), had risen to 6.80 euros per share to the end of March, though the net value of the portfolio had dropped 8.6 percent to 22.75 billion euros from 24.9 billion at the end of 2007.

Criteria said the rise in recurrent profits was explained by higher dividends from some of the companies in which it is invested and by keeping control of its own operating costs.

Criteria said its shares were trading at a 35.7 percent discount to the net value per share of the portfolio at the end of March this year compared with a 30 percent discount at the end of 2007.

Before the earnings release, the company's shares closed down 1.1 percent at 4.33 euros. (Reporting by Jesus Aguado and Joe Ortiz, editing by Will Waterman)