Barclays: shares fall despite profit beat

(CercleFinance.com) - British universal bank Barclays posted better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, driven by cost disicipline, although its shares fell by over 2% after the report.


Excluding litigation and conduct, pre-tax profit rose by 9% to 6.2 billion pounds, the lender said in a statement issued this morning.

Barclays announced a total dividend of 9 pence per share - up from 6.5 pence for 2018.

The group's return on tangible equity (RoTE) improved year-on-year to 9%, from 8.5% in 2018, in line with the 2019 target, representing the third consecutive year of improved year-on-year RoTE.

However, given global macroeconomic uncertainty and the current low interest rate environment, Barclays said that it has become more difficult for it to achieve a RoTE target of over 10% in 2020.

Its shares are down 2.3% on the news.

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