The Doha-basedshipowner reported net income of QAR 206m ($56.66m) in the first three months of 2014versus the QAR177m seen a year ago.

TheMiddle East’s largest shipper of LNG said earnings per share (EPS) were QAR 0.37 versus the QAR 0.32 achieved in the same period in 2013.

“The strong resultsof the company's earnings clearly reflect the strong growth of Nakilat’s mainbusiness activities of transporting LNG,” said Nakilat chairman Mohammed BinSaleh Al Sada.

Hepointed