Barclays: Q1 boosted by cost reductions

(CercleFinance.com) - Barclays reported a better-than-expected Q1 profit on Thursday, as the British banking group succeeded in continuing its cost-cutting drive despite current inflationary pressures, particularly in terms of wages.


The British bank's Q1 pre-tax profit came to £2.3bn, down 12% from £2.6bn a
year ago.

However, this performance was better than the consensus, of £2.2bn.

Barclays points out that its operating costs fell by 3% over the quarter, a reduction that stems mainly from its UK retail banking business, which is currently undergoing a "simplification" project.

The London-based bank, which has set itself the target of achieving a return on tangible equity (RoTE) of over 10% this year and at least 12% by 2026, reports that its RoTE was 12.3% in the first quarter.

Barclays - which plans to complete the acquisition of Tesco's retail finance business by the end of the year - also claims to be "well capitalised", with its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio reaching 13.5% at the end of the quarter.

Up over 4%, the share was one of the biggest winners on London's FTSE 100 index on Thursday.


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