Barclays Profit Surges on Strong Equities Trading--Update
April 30 2021 - 3:31AM
Dow Jones News
By Simon Clark
LONDON -- Barclays PLC said net profit more than doubled as
equities trading revenue surged and the U.K. economy started to
recover from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.
The London-based lender earned GBP1.7 billion in the first three
months of the year, the equivalent of $2.37 billion, up from GBP605
million in the same period last year.
Barclays operates a trans-Atlantic investment bank as well as
offering traditional financial services in the U.K. Pretax profit
from the investment bank, which trades fixed-income securities,
equities and derivatives, rose 46% to GBP1.7 billion in the first
quarter. Provisions for bad loans fell to GBP55 million in the
quarter from GBP2.1 billion in the same period last year.
The performance of the investment-banking arm is a boost for
Chief Executive Jes Staley, who has backed the unit in the face of
criticism from activist investor Edward Bramson, who has called for
the unit to be scaled back. Mr. Bramson's Sherborne Investors owns
about 6% of Barclays.
In the first quarter, Barclays ranked seventh among global
investment banks in terms of revenue, one place behind Credit
Suisse Group AG, the highest-ranked European bank, according to
Dealogic.
The U.K.'s rapid rollout of Covid-19 vaccines has improved the
prospects for all British banks. Public-health restrictions have
started to relax and the country is on course to fully reopen its
economy by the summer.
After setting aside billions of pounds for bad loans in 2020,
HSBC Holdings PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC and NatWest Group PLC
released some of those provisions in the first quarter, citing
improving economic prospects.
Write to Simon Clark at simon.clark@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 30, 2021 03:16 ET (07:16 GMT)
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