BCS Barclays PLC

   By Adria Calatayud 
 

Barclays PLC (BARC.LN) said Thursday that it plans to cut costs in the remainder of 2019 after a fall in income in the first half, as it reported a higher pretax profit.

The British bank said it expects to reduce costs for 2019 to below 13.6 billion pounds ($16.55 billion), the lower end of its previous guidance of between GBP13.6 billion and GBP13.9 billion. This follows a 1.3% decline in total income for the first half to GBP10.79 billion from GBP10.93 billion in the year-earlier period, and an increase in first-half costs, the lender said.

Barclays made a pretax profit of GBP3.01 billion compared with GBP1.66 billion in the year-earlier period. Excluding litigation costs, underlying profit fell to GBP3.1 billion from GBP3.7 billion, the bank said.

At June 30, the bank's Common Equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of balance-sheet strength--stood at 13.4% after dividend accrual, up from 13.0% as of March 31.

The board raised its interim dividend to 3.0 pence a share from 2.5 pence a year earlier.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 01, 2019 02:41 ET (06:41 GMT)

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