Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. Company operates in over 60 countries and employs over 78,000 people.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

Barclays buys Standard Life bank for 226m

Interim Management Statement

Performance Summary
Profit before tax for the nine months ended 30th September 2009 of 4,542m
Excluding movement on own credit, gains on acquisitions and disposals and gains on debt buy-backs, profit before tax increased 116% from 2,046m to 4,413m
Income for the nine months up 26% year on year
Positive cost:income jaws of 7%
Annualised loan loss rate of 136 basis points on a constant balance sheet and foreign exchange basis, compared to 144 basis points for the first half; impairment for the full year currently expected to be around the bottom end of the previously referenced 2009 consensus range of 9.0bn to 9.6bn
Continued strengthening of capital and liquidity positions

Interim dividend of 1p per share

Overall I am disappointed with these results - and had hoped for at least 3p by way of dividend. Bankers preach the maxim of "Sales are vanity, profits are sanity" and looks imo that they should practice what they preach.

From J P Morgan today:
"Overall, this is an exceptionally - one might almost say unnecessarily - messy statement. The use of qualitative commentary for 9M periods is especially unhelpful, and the level of disclosure bears poor comparison with RBS last week. What seems to be emerging is that the big driver of Barclays' performance in recent years, BarCap, has stalled, but, on a more positive note, the provisions are better. The stock has underperformed the European sector by 8% over the past month and 11% over the past quarter, and does not look expensive on 1.0x 10E P/NAV. However, the unclear message in the statement, together with the weakness at BarCap, will unsettle the market, and we also believe that Barclays has a material capital deficit (11.8bn.) to address. We remain UW, target price 280p."

As with all banks (and other companies come to that) it's what they "don't say" as much as what they do IMHO.

BARC is having to steadily "chomp" through its portfolio of bad debts like other banks, it will take at least another year before this process is over,unless of course the property market takes a dive.

These are going down to 260pence soon.

YOU AND I HOPE///

NOt so far away 275pence,did you get back in?

Good buying oppertunity Dubai scare will be sorted. I am in.

Bob Diamond sells 5m of Barclays shares

Bob Diamond, Barclays president and head of its investment bank, has sold 5m worth of shares in the company, the first time he has reduced his multi-million pound stake since joining the bank in 1996.

The sale in two transactions was to "manage his personal portfolio" according to a Barclays spokesperson.

According to the announcement late on Wednesday, he sold 2.7m worth of shares at 275p on Tuesday and a further 2.3m at 277p on Wednesday. The disposal follows a 78pc rise in Barclay's share price so far this year. Barclays closed down 3.05 at 275p.

The sale comes at a sensitive time for Barclays. Although the bank did not have to go the Government for a bail-out during the financial crisis, it sold a 5.8bn stake to Qatar and Abu Dhabi investors last year in a deal that enraged many shareholders.

The bank followed that up by selling its fund management arm, Barclays Global Investors, to BlackRock in June this year for 8.2bn, a deal which is understood to have reaped a multi-million pay-out for Mr Diamond.

Are you still short here, hlyeo? 260 looks to be slight support level.

Bob Diamond is selling, that doesn't boost much confidence, I should say.

hlyeo that's fine except you failed to mention that Diamond still has a beneficial interest in over 8 million shares.

Probably Diamond is starting to sell more now.

Also stops being hit possibly?

I think the US banks will take a battering on opening today leading to bigger falls over here.

Brace for another 20-30p drop on Monday as Dow dropped 200 points on Friday.

Hyel, I didn't know you were such an optimist.

Fred, you mean it will go back to 60p??? You are scaring me.


Barclays braced for 1.5bn reforms hit


Barclays could lose at least 1.5 billion of trading revenues if the UK banking group is forced to curtail its activities in the wake of President Obamas far-reaching overhaul of Wall Street risk-taking.

The bank could also be forced into a rapid sale of its private equity unit, Barclays Private Equity (BPE), which generates as much as 350 million in revenues, analysts and investors said.

President Obamas proposals have also prompted renewed calls from some of Barclays leading investors last night for the bank to consider splitting its investment bank, Barclays Capital, from its retail and commercial lending divisions.

They should separate them. There are technical issues to be addressed but these can be overcome, said a Barclays shareholder, who added that investors who wanted to buy Barclays for its high street banking presence should not be exposed to its riskier trading operations.

Shares in Britains third-biggest banking group dropped by more than 4 per cent as investors speculated that of the UKs listed banks, it would be among the hardest hit by the Presidents proposed reforms.

The shares lost 11p to 271p, wiping 1.3 billion off the banks market value as the City fretted about the ownership of the North American assets of Lehman Brothers, the collapsed Wall Street investment bank.

Barclays paid about $1.6 billion to buy Lehman in October 2008 at the height of the international banking crisis. The acquisition transformed the bank into a big operator in securities trading and mergers and acquisitions advisory work in the US.

Analysts at UBS estimated that proprietary trading betting using the banks own money accounted for about 10 per cent of its 14.8 billion in annual revenues from sales and trading.

President Obama has unveiled a radical plan to ban banks from trading for their own profits as opposed to working for their customers. He also proposed preventing American banks from owning hedge funds or private equity businesses unless in their clients interests.

Banks will no longer be allowed to own, invest in or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds or proprietary trading operations for their own profit unrelated to serving their customers, the President said on Thursday.

Lehman Brothers held a stake of an estimated 11 per cent in GLG, the hedge fund manager, before its collapse and was a big provider of liquidity to alternative investors.

Analysts said that President Obamas reforms were likely to spur the bank to sell BPE as soon as possible. Barclays is understood to have been open to offers from prospective buyers of BPE for some months.

Barclays declined to comment on the potential impact of the Presidents proposals, or on a likely sale of BPE.