Barclays pre-tax profit climbs over pre-pandemic levels in Q2

Barclays plc (LON: BARC) said on Wednesday its pre-tax profit topped expectations in the second quarter and also surpassed levels seen in 2019 before the pandemic. The British multinational resumed dividends and expressed plans of announcing another share repurchase programme.

Barclays’ Q2 financial performance

Barclays reported £2.58 billion of pre-tax profit in Q2 versus the year-ago figure of £389 million. In the same quarter in 2019, its pre-tax profit stood at £1.53 billion. Barclays compiled consensus had forecast £1.70 billion of pre-tax profit in the recent quarter.

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After booking £55 million of charges in the first quarter, Barclays’ Q2 got a boost from £797 million of credit impairment releases. The FTSE 100 listed company noted £5.42 billion of total income – an increase from £5.34 billion last year and £5.54 billion in Q2 of 2019. Estimates for total income in the second quarter stood at £5.31 billion.

In separate news from the United Kingdom, Metro Bank plc said on Wednesday its pre-tax loss narrowed in the fiscal first half.

Barclays declares 2.0 pence per share of a dividend

Barclays declared 2.0 pence per share of a dividend on Wednesday as the Bank of England lifted its restrictions on dividend pay-outs. In the comparable quarter of the previous financial year, it had paid 1.8 pence per share of a dividend.

The London-based bank completed £700 million of share repurchase in April. On Wednesday, it said that a new £500 million share buyback will begin soon. Barclays’ common equity tier 1 (CET 1) ratio printed at 15.1% in the recent quarter. The CET 1 ratio will see a 17 basis points impact from the new share repurchase programme.  

In the fiscal first quarter, Barclays’ pre-tax profit stood at £2.40 billion. Shares of the universal bank were close to 5% up on Wednesday morning. The £30 billion company has a price to earnings ratio of 11.71.