BNP Paribas puts profit gain on Visa

French bank BNP Paribas managed to avoid a slide in profits in the second quarter, due in large part to a gain from selling its stake in the Visa card operator. The bank said Thursday that in April through June its net profit edged up to 2.6 billion euros ($2.9 billion), much higher than the average of 2.2 billion expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Among the exceptional items that boosted BNP Paribas's earnings was the sale of its stake in Visa Europe, which brought it a net gain after ta