BCS Barclays PLC

By Sabela Ojea

Barclays PLC reported Wednesday a nearly halved net profit for the first quarter of 2020 and said that the early effects of the coronavirus have been reflected in a large credit-impairment charge and the cancellation of 2019's dividend.

The FTSE-100 listed lender made a net profit of 605 million pounds ($752.7 million) in the quarter, compared with GBP1.04 billion for the same period a year earlier.

The U.K. bank made a pretax profit of GBP913 million, compared with GBP1.48 billion for year-earlier period.

Analysts expected a net profit of GBP510.5 million, taken from FactSet and based on two analysts' estimates, while pretax profit was forecast to be GBP1.48 billion, also taken from FactSet and based on four analysts' estimates.

Total income rose 20% to GBP6.28 billion, it added, noting that the board decided not to pay its 2019 9.0 pence a share dividend declared in February.

The U.K. lender also warned of having taken a GBP2.12 billion credit-impairment charge for the period and that it had a return on tangible equity of 5.1%, down from 9.2% in the first quarter of 2019.

"However, we believe that a RoTE of greater than 10% remains the right target for the bank over time," Chief Executive James E Staley added.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2020 02:41 ET (06:41 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.