barclays will ge coming out with trading update on 07.05.2009 It is expected to report profits higher than market expectations.

A good Buy Medium to Long term

hTTp://tickerreport.com/banking-finance/208275/barclays-plc-given-buy-rating-at-investec-barc/

Barclays announces Group Strategy Update

Barclays announces Group Strategy Update

Barclays Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins and Group Finance Director Tushar Morzaria will today update investors on the results of the Group Strategy Review. This will outline the path to deliver the Transform objective of a sustainable return on equity above the cost of equity in a changed regulatory and economic environment. As a result of these changes, our determination to become the 'Go-To' bank for our clients and customers remains, but how we achieve that goal has to take account of the new environment.

Barclays will be repositioned, simplified and rebalanced to improve returns significantly.

Barclays will be a focused international bank, with four core businesses:

1. Personal and Corporate Banking: a combination of most of our leading UK Retail, Corporate and Wealth businesses to take advantage of infrastructure cost synergies to deliver good returns
2. Barclaycard: a high returning business with strong and diversified international growth potential
3. Africa Banking: a longer term growth business with distinct competitive advantages
4. Investment Bank: an origination led and returns focused business, delivering Banking, Equities, Credit and certain Macro products to our clients in a more capital efficient way

Barclays today also announces the creation of Barclays Non-Core. This unit groups together those assets which do not fit the strategic objectives or returns criteria underlying the Strategy Review. Barclays will look to exit or run down these assets over time. Barclays Non-Core consists of c.£115bn of RWAs (including £59bn of Transform Exit Quadrant Assets held at year end 2013) with associated leverage exposure of c.£400bn, comprising:

· c.£90bn of Investment Bank RWAs, including non-standard FICC derivatives, non-core commodities and specific emerging markets products
· c.£16bn of Europe retail RWAs, representing the entirety of the business, reflecting its non-strategic nature to Barclays
· c.£9bn of certain Corporate, Barclaycard and Wealth RWAs

Barclays is targeting a reduction in non-core RWAs to c.£50bn, and leverage exposure to c.£180bn, by the end of 2016, with the drag on Group Return on Equity reduced to <3% (of which c.50 bps represents Europe retail), down from c.6% in 2013. Preservation of net tangible asset value will be a priority as Barclays seeks to reduce the return on equity drag from the non-core unit. Barclays also expects to be able to accrete capital at the Group level over the period to 2016.

As a consequence of these changes, Barclays will become significantly more balanced and in turn able to deliver higher, more sustainable returns through the cycle. The core businesses account for c.£320bn of 2013 RWAs, with the core Investment Bank expected to represent no more than 30% of the Group total by 2016, compared to just over 50% now. Personal and Corporate Banking, Barclaycard and Africa Banking account for the majority of the Group's RWAs in core Barclays. Plans for the Investment Bank will result in gross headcount reductions of around 7,000 by 2016 across core and non-core. The overall 2014 Group gross headcount reduction has been increased to 14,000.


more...

Investec Buy 257.08 295.00 295.00 Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 257.08 356.00 356.00 Reiterates

are there any more fines will buy on weakness ? maybe.

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Canaccord Genuity has upgraded Barclays from 'hold' to 'buy', hailing the bank's recent restructuring efforts.

Analyst Arun Melmane said that plans, which include reducing the size of the investment bank to 30% of risk weighted assets from the current 51%, should contribute to a re-rating of the shares.

I thought buy them at some 180 but after dark pools allegations, not sure, settlement must go first.

Complaint filed by New York State Attorney General

Barclays notes the Complaint filed by the New York State Attorney General this afternoon in the New York State Courts. The Complaint relates to the Attorney General's investigation of LX Liquidity Cross, which is Barclays' SEC-registered Alternative Trading System and which provides alternative liquidity to market participants. The Complaint makes a number of allegations, including fraud and deceptive practices. Amongst other relief, the Complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief.

Barclays will update the market, if appropriate, in due course.

-Ends-

Canaccord Genuity Buy 217.73 280.00 280.00 Reiterates

Credit Suisse Neutral 217.73 275.00 275.00 Reiterates

Citigroup Buy 217.73 305.00 305.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Buy 217.73 300.00 300.00 Retains

Jefferies International Buy 217.73 325.00 325.00 Reiterates


Just had a small dabble here @217p

skinny,

Perhaps you should be short?

I found this:

Dark pools are a good idea that has gone wrong.

They were created because large investors often struggled to invest in a company without moving the share price.

Let's say you're a fund manager who runs a £1bn fund. You're convinced that ABC plc, a £500m company, is one of the biggest bargains on the stock market. So you want to invest a sizeable chunk of cash. That probably means at least 3% of your portfolio, or £30m.

Remember that ABC has a £500m market cap. So if you invest £30m over a short period, you'll inevitably push up the share price. Part of that rise will be due to increased demand, which is fair enough.

But that's only part of the story. The other factor will be an increasing awareness that you're building a stake. When that news leaks out, other investors may follow your lead. And some of those followers will probably invest on a very short-term basis – possibly holding for just a matter of minutes.

These short-term investors will hope to buy shares just ahead of some of your purchases, and then sell the shares to you at a higher price shortly afterwards. These short-term purchases may be driven by computer algorithms which can spot increased trade in milliseconds. In fact, these algorithms are so sophisticated that some 'high frequency traders' may be able to spot what you're doing before you've even executed your first purchase.

So the idea of a dark pool is that it enables large investors to buy and sell shares 'off exchange' so that other players won't know what's going on. Then the large investor only need reveal what he's done, and at what price, when the whole process is done and dusted.

So what has Barclays been doing? Schneiderman says that Barclays allowed too many different players into its dark pool. As a result, some investors were able to use algorithms on Barclays' dark pool to figure out what was going on, and make money from that knowledge.

In other words, the Barclays 'dark pool' wasn't doing what it's supposed to do. Rather than enabling large investors to buy shares on the quiet, it was corralling them altogether, making them an even easier target for the high-frequency traders these large players were trying to avoid in the first place.

If Schneiderman's legal action is successful, Barclays could be hit by fines and compensation payouts, so it's not surprising that the share price has fallen. And it's not just the possible financial loss that is bothersome.

It's also of concern that this latest scandal shows that Barclays chief executive, Anthony Jenkins, still hasn't won his internal battle to change the culture at the bank. There are still Barclays staff who are prepared to take silly risks doing things that put the bank's reputation (what's left of it) and finances on the line.

On top of all this, on Monday, the Independent revealed that the banks more generally could be hit by greatly increased compensation claims for the mis-selling of interest rate swaps. The extra claims could be worth as much as £22bn, it said. Worrying stuff.

"These short-term purchases may be driven by computer algorithms which can spot increased trade in milliseconds. In fact, these algorithms are so sophisticated that some 'high frequency traders' may be able to spot what you're doing before you've even executed your first purchase. "

Really?

What is it - a woman?

:-)

A ruthless female brained trading machine with permed and tinted algorithms?

My £5 says it's probably nicknamed 'Hilary'.

Hmmm :-)

190P was the share dilution I believe. Looks like it could get there before years out.

Not my favourite Bank, Come to think of it, I hate them all equally.

Looking rather oversold on the daily, I'm debating a long position.

Half Yearly Report

Income Statement

Group performance

· Adjusted profit before tax was down 7% to £3,349m largely driven by currency movements and a reduction in the Investment Bank profitability, partially offset by improvements in Personal and Corporate Banking (PCB), Barclaycard, and Barclays Non-Core (BNC)

· Adjusted income decreased 12% to £13,332m whilst impairment reduced by 33% to £1,086m, resulting in a 9% decrease in net operating income to £12,246m

· Adjusted operating expenses were down 9% to £8,877m, including costs to achieve Transform (CTA) of £494m (2013: £640m) and litigation and conduct charges of £211m (2013: £126m), reflecting savings associated with prior Transform initiatives and currency movements

· Statutory profit before tax was £2,501m (2013: £1,677m), reflecting an additional £900m of provisions for PPI redress (2013: £1,350m) and the non-recurrence of a provision for interest rate hedging products redress compared to the prior year (2013: £650m)

· Adjusted Group attributable profit was £1,760m (2013: £2,055m). As a result adjusted Group return on average shareholders' equity reduced to 6.5% (2013: 7.8%) reflecting the equity raised from the rights issue in Q413 and the decrease in Core profit before tax partially offset by improvements in BNC

Core performance

· Profit before tax was down 10% to £3,840m, as improved performance across the majority of the Core businesses was more than offset by a reduction in Investment Bank profit

· Income decreased 7% to £12,674m, reflecting a 18% reduction in the Investment Bank, driven by a decrease in Markets and a reduction in Africa Banking due to currency movements, partially offset by growth in Barclaycard and PCB. Net interest income for PCB, Barclaycard and Africa Banking increased 3% to £5,564m reflecting strong savings, mortgage and card growth

· Credit impairment charges improved 13% to £937m. This reflected lower impairments in PCB as the improving economic environment had a positive impact on the majority of retail and wholesale portfolios in the UK and lower impairment in Africa Banking mortgages on a constant currency basis

· Operating expenses decreased £370m to £7,944m, reflecting improvements across each of the businesses as a result of Transform initiatives and currency movements partially offset by higher CTA charges of £453m (2013: £223m) and higher litigation and conduct charges of £177m (2013: £86m)

· Core return on equity decreased to 11.0% (2013: 15.1%)

Non-Core performance

· Loss before tax reduced by 27% to £491m. This reflected lower income, following asset disposals and risk reductions, to £658m (2013: £1,474m), more than offset by a £407m improvement in impairment to £149m and a 36% reduction in operating expenses to £934m including lower CTA of £41m (2013: £418m)

· Non-Core return on equity dilution improved to 4.5% (2013: 7.3%)

Balance Sheet, Leverage and Capital Management

· Fully loaded CRD IV Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio increased to 9.9% (2013: 9.1%) mainly driven by RWA reductions in BNC

· The PRA leverage ratio increased to 3.4% (2013: 3.0%), reflecting a reduction in the PRA leverage exposure of £99bn to £1,266bn and an increase in eligible PRA adjusted Tier 1 Capital to £43.2bn (2013: £40.5bn) principally from an exchange of existing T1 instruments into new AT1 securities. The estimated BCBS 270 leverage ratio was 3.4%

· Net tangible asset value per share decreased to 279p (2013: 283p) and net asset value per share decreased to 327p (2013: 331p) primarily due to an increase in the number of shares in issue and a decrease in currency translation reserves

The stock market gave a warm reaction to Barclays' first-half results on Wednesday, with analysts upbeat about the bank's better-than-expected results.

Numis Securities reiterated a 'buy' recommendation for the stock, saying that "Investment Bank revenues were better than feared, the balance sheet is strengthening and the non-core run-off is progressing well".Espirito Santo, Deutsche Bank and Santander also kept their 'buy' ratings for Barclays.

Topped up with some of these at 212p.... lookin good.,.

StockMarketWire.com

Barclays Bank has agreed to sell its retail banking, wealth and investment management and corporate banking businesses in Spain to CaixaBank SA. And Barclays has completed the sale of its UAE Retail Banking business to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

CaixaBank will acquire Barclays Bank SAU and certain subsidiaries, which represent total assets of €22.2bn and liabilities of €20.5bn as at 30 June 2014, for a consideration of €800m (approximately £630m), payable in cash upon completion and subject to adjustment based on the statutory Net Asset Value as at 31 December 2014.

Barclays has also completed the sale of its UAE Retail Banking business to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank at an estimated pre-tax gain of £119m.

Deutsche Bank Buy 226.20 226.25 285.00 300.00 Retains