Barclays: first-half earnings hit by charges

(CercleFinance.com) - Barclays reported lower pretax profit for the first half of 2018, as the British lender had to book litigation and conduct charges.


Group pre-tax profit came in at 1.66 billion pounds, down from 2.34 billion pounds in the first six months of 2017, which included litigation and conduct charges of about two billion pounds.

The charges are principally related to a 1.4 billion pound settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) regarding RMBS products and charges amounting to 400 million pounds due to the PPI case (credit insurance).

Excluding litigation and conduct charges, the group's pre-tax profit would have increased by 20% to 3.7 billion pounds.

Chief Executive Officer James Staley said the first half of 2018 has been characterised by "strong financial performance and increased profitability."

Barclays said it confident in the execution of its strategy and remains on track to achieve its return on tangible equity (ROTE) targets of over 9% for 2019.

The group declared a H1 2018 dividend of 2.5 pence per share, up from 1 pence a year earlier, and reiterated its intention to pay 6.5 pence per share over the full-year.

Despite this news, Barclays shares are slightly down this morning, dropping 0.3%.

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