BCS Barclays PLC

   By Elena Vardon 
 

Barclays on Thursday reported second-quarter profit ahead of market views on higher net interest income and a lighter credit impairment charge, and announced a larger-than-expected share buyback.

The U.K. bank posted a pretax profit for the three months ended June 30 of GBP1.96 billion ($2.54 billion) compared with GBP1.50 billion a year earlier and GBP1.91 billion estimated by a company-compiled consensus.

The FTSE 100-listed lender's net attributable profit rose to GBP1.33 billion from GBP1.07 billion. Analysts polled had expected GBP1.24 billion.

Total income fell to GBP6.29 billion from GBP6.71 billion, missing consensus' estimated GBP6.53 billion. Barclays said net interest income--the difference between what banks earn on loans and pay clients for deposits--accounted for GBP3.27 billion of total income, from GBP2.42 billion last year.

The bank's common equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of balance-sheet strength--was 13.8%, as expected.

The board declared an interim dividend of 2.7 pence a share, in line with views and up from 2.25 pence a year prior.

Barclays said it intends to launch a GBP750 million share buyback, while analysts had expected a GBP575 million program.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2023 02:52 ET (06:52 GMT)

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