Barclays 2Q Pretax Profit Beats Views, Total Income Misses — Earnings Review

By Elena Vardon

Barclays reported results for its second quarter on Thursday. Here is what you need to know:
PRETAX PROFIT: The U.K. bank posted a pretax profit for the three months to June 30 of 1.96 billion pounds ($2.54 billion), beating expectations of GBP1.91 billion taken from a company-compiled consensus and higher than the GBP1.50 billion reported for the same quarter the previous year.

TOTAL INCOME: Barclays’s total income for the quarter was GBP6.29 billion, below consensus’ estimated GBP6.53 billion and the previous year’s GBP6.71 billion. Net-interest income for the period was GBP3.27 billion.
WHAT WE WATCHED:
-IMPAIRMENTS: Credit impairment charges for the period amounted to GBP372 million, lighter than consensus’ expectation of GBP597 million.
-CET 1 RATIO: The bank ended the period with a common equity Tier 1 ratio–a key measure of balance-sheet strength–of 13.8%, in line with views.
-INTERIM DIVIDEND: The board declared a 2.7 pence per share payout, in line with views and up from 2.25 pence a year earlier.
-SHARE BUYBACK: Barclays announced an up to GBP750 million share buyback, significantly larger than the GBP575 million program expected by consensus.
-GUIDANCE: The lender lowered its 2023 net interest margin view for Barclays UK to below 3.20%–with the current view at around 3.15%–from above 3.20% previously, but backed the rest of the targets for the year.
Write to Elena Vardon at [email protected]