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

Stuck in a range between 220 - 240p since mid Dec.

Barclays down after its investment bank division misses out on a bond trading boom that saw earnings surge at its Wall Street rivals

but does that really warrant a 5% drop when overall it's profits smashed forecasts?
I'ld have thought not

StockMarketWire.com
Barclays' first quarter group profit before tax more than doubled to £1,682m driven by improved profitability in the core business and materially lower losses in the non-core segment of £241m (Q116: £815m).

Core basic earnings per share increased to 7.2p.

Barclays saud UK RoTE improved to 21.6% (Q116: 20.5%), with 2% income growth driving an improved cost: income ratio of 52% (Q116: 53%).

Net interest margin (NIM) improved 7bps to 3.69% with net interest income increasing 1% to £1,511m

Other highlights:
- Barclays International RoTE improved to 12.5% (Q116: 9.5%) as profit before tax increased 32% to £1,356m. Consumer, Cards and Payments RoTE was 36.4% (Q116: 23.4%) while the Corporate and Investment Bank RoTE improved to 8.2% (Q116: 7.3%)

- Basic earnings per share in respect of continuing operations increased to 6.1p (Q116: 2.2p)

- Attributable loss in respect of discontinued operation of £801m due to an impairment of Barclays' holding in BAGL allocated to acquisition goodwill of £884m

- Group RoTE decreased to 1.8% (Q116: 3.8%) due to a 7.2% dilutive impact from the impairment of Barclays' holding in BAGL allocated to acquisition goodwill

- Tangible net asset value per share increased to 292p (December 2016: 290p) primarily due to profits generated in the period

Group chief executive James E Staley said: "This has been another quarter of strong progress towards the completion of the restructuring of Barclays.

"Group profit before tax more than doubled compared to Q1 of 2016, and our core businesses continued to perform very well, producing a combined return on tangible equity of 11%, on an average tangible equity base that is £5bn higher year-on-year.

"Within that, Barclays UK's and Barclays International's RoTEs both improved to 21.6% and 12.5% respectively.

"Non-core rundown carries on apace, with materially lower losses, and RWAs reducing by a further £5bn to £27bn in the quarter. We remain well on track to close the unit on the 30th of June.

"Crucially, in this quarter, as we reduce that Non-Core drag, we can see more clearly than ever before the growing convergence between our Core RoTE of 11%, and the Group RoTE of 9%, excluding the one-off impairment in respect of our African operations.

"That convergence has been the central strategic objective in the accelerated strategy we have been pursuing over the past year.

"Our group cost to income ratio has improved to 62%, compared to 76% for the first quarter of 2016, driven by a marked reduction in Non-Core costs and positive jaws in the Core.

"On Africa, we await approval for the separation arrangements already agreed with local management, following which we will be able to make further progress towards regulatory deconsolidation.

"The earnings power of Barclays enabled us to take actions in the quarter including the redemption of US dollar preference shares, the purchase of shares for employee awards, and pension contributions, while still improving our CET1 ratio to 12.5% through organic capital generation, and that is pleasing.

"We are now just two months away from completing the restructuring of Barclays as a Transatlantic Consumer, Corporate and Investment Bank and there is further good reason in this quarter's performance to feel optimistic for our prospects."

StockMarketWire.com
Barclays' first half group profit before tax increased 13% to £2,341m following materially lower losses in non-core of £647m (H116: £1,904m).

Core profit before tax fell by 25% to £2,988m impacted by charges for PPI of £700m (H116: £400m) and the non-recurrence of the £615m gain on disposal of Barclays' share of Visa Europe Limited in H116.

Other highlights:
- Barclays UK RoTE of 4.6% (H116: 13.6%) and cost: income ratio of 72% (H116: 61%) reflected charges for PPI of £700m (H116: £400m). Net interest margin (NIM) improved 10bps to 3.69%, with net interest income increasing 2% to £3,045m

- Barclays International RoTE of 12.4% (H116: 14.3%) reflected RoTE of 28.0% (H116: 50.9%) in Consumer, Cards and Payments and an improved RoTE of 9.7% (H116: 8.4%) in the Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB)

- Loss after tax in respect of discontinued operation of £2,195m included an impairment of Barclays' holding in BAGL of £1,090m and a loss on the sale of 33.7% of BAGL's issued share capital of £1,435m, primarily due to recycling of currency translation reserve losses to the income statement

- Group basic loss per share of (6.6p) (H116: earnings of 6.9p) with earnings per share in respect of continuing operations of 7.1p (H116: 6.0p). Excluding the loss on the sale of 33.7% of BAGL's issued share capital, the impairment of Barclays' holding in BAGL and charges for PPI of £700m, earnings per share were 11.8p

- Tangible net asset value per share decreased to 284p (December 2016: 290p) as profit from continuing operations was offset by decreases across reserves

Group chief executive James E Staley, said: "The second quarter saw us complete two critically important planks of our strategy; both of them ahead of schedule.

"First, we reduced our majority shareholding in Barclays Africa Group Limited to a level which allows us to apply for regulatory deconsolidation, and we expect to achieve that in 2018.

"We have permission to apply proportional consolidation to our reduced shareholding, which means that our CET1 ratio stands at 13.1% today, within our end-state target range.

"We will realise a further c.26bps uplift resulting from the sale.

"Second, we completed the accelerated rundown of our Non-Core unit to below our target of £25bn in Risk Weighted Assets, allowing us to close it 6 months early and incorporate the residual assets back into the Core.

"Accomplishing both of these milestones marks an end to the restructuring of the Barclays Group, and brings forward the date when our shareholders can benefit from the full earnings power of this business.

"That power is evident once again in the performance reported today. At the half year, Group profit before tax increased 13% to £2,341m. Our strong businesses, Barclays UK and Barclays International, posted attractive Returns on Tangible Equity of 20.4% - excluding the provision for PPI - and 12.4% respectively.

"Our business is now radically simplified, the restructuring is complete, our capital ratio is within our end-state target range, and while we are also working to put conduct issues behind us, we can now focus on what matters most to our shareholders: improving Group returns.

"We have accordingly established a new target today which is to achieve a greater than 10% Group Return on Tangible Equity over time." Finally we will, at the full year results early next year, provide investors with an updated capital management policy for the Group."

Third quarter profits at Barclays were lower than expected as its investment banking business faced difficult markets but an improvement in the UK bank and the consumer credit arm. Pretax profit of £1.11bn was short of the consensus forecast of £1.43bn.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5718724

What a slapping, down -7.4% on that news!

In for a recovery play.

Not sure Stan. Two year chart not very encouraging, imo.

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I'm only looking for a small one HC.

Broker update http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5751078

long holder looks like i will see my money back XMAS 2018 with an increase in divi. BB S/P 220p + [ 2018] from informed one.

StockMarketWire.com
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged Barclays Bank in relation to a loan provided to the State of Qatar in 2008.

The SFO alleges that Barclays committed 'unlawful financial assistance,' in respect of a US$3bn loan provided to the State of Qatar in November 2008.

'Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC intend to defend the respective charges brought against them,' Barclays said.

StockMarketWire.com
Barclays reported pre-tax profits of £3.5bn for 2017, up 10% from £3.2bn a year ago, driven by a 5% fall in operating costs to £15.5bn.

The bank declared a dividend of 3p for the year, unchanged from a year ago, but vowed to restore its full dividend to 6.5p in 2018.

The bank reported an attributable loss of £1.9bn, a sharp contrast from the £1.6bn profit reported in the prior year, amid a loss of £2.5bn related to the sell down of Barclays Africa Group and the one-off net tax charge of £901m due to the re-measurement of US US deferred tax assets.

Net operating income for the year was £18.7bn, down 2% on last year's £19.1bn.

The bank's litigation and conduct costs in 2017 was £1.2bn, down 11% from £1.4bn the year before.

Barclays' common equity tier 1 capital ratio improved to 13.3% by the end of 2017, compared with 12.4% at the end of 2016.

'As a first demonstration of that intent, we are pleased to be able to announce today the restoration of the dividend to six and a half pence for 2018,' Barclays said.

Morgan Stanley today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) and raised its price target to 225p (from 215p).

LONDON (Reuters) - British bank Barclays (BARC.L) and digital payments firm PayPal (PYPL.O) have announced a partnership that will see them explore ways to combine their services for customers, Barclays said on Thursday.
The pair aim to allow Barclays customers in the United States and Britain to use their PayPal accounts on the bank’s online and mobile phone-based platforms while Barclays products will be used in PayPal accounts.

The move comes amid mounting concerns from bank industry executives that big technology companies such as Amazon (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) in the U.S. or China’s Alibaba (BABA.K) could come to dominate the $1.8 trillion global payments industry.

With their ever-expanding customer bases and nimbler platforms, the tech companies could supplant the banks as the face of an industry that accounts for 34 percent of all banking revenues, according to consultancy McKinsey.

The announcement from Barclays shows one route traditional lenders are taking, to try and collaborate with large technology companies rather than compete.

StockMarketWire.com
Barclays swung to a loss in the first quarter of the year as performance was weighed by a hefty settlement with the United States Department of Justice and additional payment protection insurance charges.

Barclays reported a first-quarter attributable loss of £764m compared with a profit of £190m the same period a year ago after taking a £2.0bn hit, mostly driven by a £1.4bn settlement with the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) and additional charges of £400m relating to payment protection insurance.

'This quarter we also reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to resolve issues related to the sale of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities between 2005 and 2007. While the penalty was substantial, this settlement represents a major milestone for Barclays, putting behind us a significant decade-old legacy matter,' the firm said.

The loss after tax from continuing operations was £540m compared with a profit of £1.2bn the same period a year ago.

Excluding litigation and conduct charges the bank's profit before tax was £1.7bn, while attributable profit was £1.2bn.

Its corporate and investment bank reported mixed performance as revenues from banking activities fell 4% while Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities, or FICC, trading revenues declined and equities trading revenues rose nearly 30%.

Revenues were slightly lower at the bank's UK division at £1.8bn.

'Demonstrating the benefits of diversification, lower revenues in our UK businesses, driven by one-offs, were offset by a stronger performance in Barclays International, particularly in the Corporate and Investment Bank, which reported profit before tax up 49% and a RoTE of 13.0%, the firm said. Overall, the bank's revenues fell 8% to £5.4n, while operating costs rose 47% to £5.3bn, while credit impairment charges and other provisions was significantly reduced to £288m, down 45% from £527m the same period a year ago.

Its common equity tier one ratio, a key benchmark of financial strength, declined to 12.7% as organic capital generation from profits was more than offset by a 61 basis point impact from litigation and conduct charges, and a £4.9bn increase in risk weighted assets.

The firm reiterated its intention to pay a dividend of 6.5p per share for 2018

Interim Results

3rd Quarters https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6179269

Broker Forecast - Deutsche Bank issues a broker note on Barclays PLC

BFN

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) and raised its price target to 243p (from 240p).

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Broker Forecasts data provided by www.sharesmagazine.co.uk

Half the price I would like.