BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) (GBLB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday its 2007 net profit fell 73 percent from 2006 figures boosted by a large capital gain, but cash earnings rose by 21 percent.

GBL, part-owned by Belgian billionaire Albert Frere, said its net profit was 779 million euros ($1.19 billion). It made a capital gain on the sale of its 25 percent stake in German media company Bertelsmann of 2.38 billion euros in 2006.

Excluding this gain, net earnings rose by 54 percent, GBL said in a statement.

Cash earnings in 2007 totaled 534 million euros.

KBC Securities had forecast net profit of 764 million euros and cash earnings of 511.7 million euros, and Fortis 726 million euros and 490 million euros.

Cash earnings are seen increasing this year due to dividend increases from the companies it holds, analysts say.

The holding company said it would propose a gross dividend for 2007 of 2.09 euros per share, an increase of 10 percent over the previous year.

GBL has stakes in several well known French companies, such as Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Lafarge (LAFP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Suez (LYOE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Pernod-Ricard (PERP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) as well as Iberdrola (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) of Spain.

In its statement on Tuesday, the company said its ownership of French utility Suez rose to 9.4 percent as of March 3 from 9.3 percent at the end of December.