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The Barclays and HSBC buildings are seen amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, October 20, 2020.
Matthieu Childs | Reuters
Barclays beat second-quarter earnings expectations on Wednesday and boosted returns for shareholders, with its investment and equity banking business posting record revenues.
The UK lender posted quarterly attributable profit of £ 2.1bn ($ 2.9bn), up from £ 90m for the second quarter of 2020. Analysts expected a reported net profit of £ 1.7 billion for the three months to the end of June, according to Refinitiv data.
Equity and investment banking commissions increased by 38% and 27% respectively in the second quarter.
Barclays also announced an increase in capital distributions to shareholders, with a semi-annual dividend of 2p per share and a new share buyback of up to £ 500million.
The bank also saw a significant reduction in provisions for credit losses, as noted in its first quarter earnings report.
Barclays stock is up around 15% year-to-date, but was up to 31% higher at the end of April.
Other highlights of the quarter:
- Group revenue reached £ 5.4bn, up from £ 5.34bn a year ago.
- The CET 1 ratio, a measure of bank solvency, stood at 15.1%, up from 14.2% a year ago.
Barclays has previously indicated that it expects costs to increase in 2021 from the previous year, due to coronavirus-related spending, a real estate review, new structural cost measures and salary increases.
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