Barclays Share Discussion Threads

[smurfy2001] 22/2/2018 19:09

From the webcast this is quite pleasing:-

It is also the Board’s intention to
supplement the ordinary dividends with additional
returns to shareholders as and when appropriate

Jes Staley mentioned supplemental returns in the use of share buybacks. He mentioned that it was 20 years since Barclays last used share buybacks. When the buybacks will happen is not clear as yet.

[manics] 22/2/2018 16:52

GUYS. GUYS. SURE THE DoJ AND SFO ARE SNIFFING AROUND US FOR ALLEGED FRAUDULENT BILLIONS -BUT GUYS:



...the audacity imo.

[johnwise] 22/2/2018 16:20

London Evening Standard

Is it time to ignore the old adage and take a slice of Barclays?

[clond] 22/2/2018 14:48

It has to be said that overy 35 billion lost over 10 years and walking out the other side (agree manics that the industry was full of greed), does suggest the next 10 years should offer a better growth potential.
It needs to avoid falling fowl of anything else and entering 2020 would give great opportunity to holders. Can we wait anot her couple of years ? I have done 8!

[smurfy2001] 22/2/2018 14:47

exel22 Feb '18 - 14:28 - 124859 of 124860
Smurfy's 209p post results share price posted on 15feb18 looks spot on to me, once this morning's froth blows off. Well done, Smurf!

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;)

[bernie37] 22/2/2018 14:46

While the bulk of our historical challenges are behind us, we do continue to face some residual challenges. These include the historical residential mortgage backed securities matter in the US, the Serious Fraud Of ce prosecution in the UK as well as the consequence of Brexit. This said, depending on their scale and pacing, we believe we have the capacity to deal with them over time.
So, while a number of challenges remain, the launch of the ring-fenced bank Barclays UK expected at the beginning of April this year largely draws a line on large-scale restructuring. We look forward to a more traditional business pattern, including the return to a more normal dividend pattern, planned to begin with the 2018 nancial year.
Turning to the 2017 nancial year itself, this was another critical year for Barclays. Good progress was made on a signi cant number of fronts. The closure of the Non-Core business from the start of July marked a signi cant milestone. This business was formed in 2014 in order to deliver the divestment of our non-strategic assets and businesses, releasing capital to support strategic growth in our Core business and to strengthen the Group’s capital position. At its peak, the business comprised approximately £121bn of RWAs, representing 28% of the Group’s total at the time and it has been a signi cant achievement to reduce this to just c.£23bn by the time of its closure.
We also implemented the dif cult decision to sell down our shareholding in Barclays Africa in 2017. The changing regulatory requirements for global banks resulted in higher hurdles, making the ownership of the pro table African business uneconomic. Therefore, we successfully sold down 33.7% of our remaining BAGL shareholding in the rst half of the year. We now own a residual 14.9% of the issued share capital, consistent with regulatory commitments.
2017 also saw us make signi cant progress in terms of creating the new ring-fenced bank as required by UK legislation. This has been an enormous undertaking as we are in effect creating a new bank comprising some
24 million customers. We remain on track to set up this bank in the second quarter of 2018.
As part of our Structural Reform requirements a Group Service Company has been successfully established which provides a wide range of operations, technology and functional services to the Group as a whole.
We continued with our Brexit preparations to ensure that Barclays can preserve our access to the EU markets for our customers and clients. Barclays Bank Ireland, where we have a banking license and have operated for nearly 40 years, will provide us with a natural base from which we can continue to provide products and services which require an EU presence.
As shareholders are aware, during 2017 Barclays disclosed a whistleblowing incident involving allegations made in connection with the hiring of a senior management team member. After an internal investigation, the Board determined that CEO Jes Staley believed, mistakenly but in good faith, that it was permissible to identify the author. A detailed announcement on the issue was made in April and the matter is now the subject of an external investigation.
Despite the very signi cant achievements and milestones passed during the year, our nancial performance in 2017 highlights that further progress is required to deliver acceptable returns to our shareholders. Pro t before tax was £3.5bn, and although this was a 10% increase on prior year, return on tangible equity was a negative 3.6% on a statutory basis. Excluding litigation and conduct, the loss on sale of our BAGL stake and a re-measurement of DTAs, largely from US tax reform, return on tangible equity
was 5.6%.
Fortunately, the losses we experienced last year from Non-Core, as well as the costs of structural reform, are unlikely to be repeated going forward, and this, together with the pro t improvement programme in the core business, should contribute towards improving returns.
Accordingly, the focus of management and the Board’s attention is on performance, particularly that of the Corporate and Investment Bank in Barclays International. There, performance in Markets, and in particular Macro and Equities, was weak, driven by dif cult market conditions. There have been signi cant management changes and action is being taken to improve pro tability in this area.
Barclays Consumer, Cards and Payments saw pro ts decline by 22% but still produced a respectable 16.7% return on tangible equity. Barclays UK’s pro ts were marginally up on the previous year generating 9.8% return on tangible equity.
Share price performance in 2017 was disappointing, with the share price falling from 223p to 203p over the calendar year. We are working to reverse this in 2018. Delivering quality earnings above the cost of equity as well as returning to higher dividend levels, are necessary to generate a meaningful recovery in the share price. This is the priority for 2018 and beyond.
The ultimate resolution of legacy conduct and litigation issues will allow underlying pro t to fall to the bottom line to the bene t of shareholders. This, together with the resolution of the whistleblowing issue, will also help remove some uncertainty which is overshadowing the company.
The past few years have been a really tough period for the Board and management, and bottom line results can obscure the real underlying progress that is being made. I would therefore like to thank the Board, the management team and all our staff for the enormous efforts they are making to secure our recovery.
Finally, I would thank shareholders for their patience, and believe it will be rewarded. The situation is more complex and dif cult than we had envisaged, and is taking longer than we hoped, but shareholders can rest assured that we will continue to strive to deliver the performance and value creation that their patience deserves.
John McFarlane
Chairman

[bernie37] 22/2/2018 14:36

Chairmans letter
As I indicated last year, Barclays is one of the largest restructuring situations in bank history. While this was partly a consequence of the Global Financial Crisis, it was also partly a consequence of the doubling of the balance sheet and the seven-fold increase in derivatives across 2007 and 2008, immediately prior to the full onset of the Global Financial Crisis.
This, together with the subsequent designation of the Group as globally systemic, and the consequent more than doubling of minimum regulatory capital ratios, meant the need substantially to re-capitalise the Group, and resulted in a considerable proportion of our portfolio becoming economically non-viable in the post-crisis environment.
The consequent recapitalisation involved the urgent raising of capital in 2008 (now the subject of charges by the Serious Fraud Of ce), a substantial reduction in capital and balance sheet usage, and the disposal of a considerable portion of our international network.
Since the crisis, we have refocused the business, halving the balance sheet by £1 trillion and the staff by some 80,000, through the disposal of Non-Core assets. We are also creating a new UK ring-fenced bank from scratch, resolving and continuing to resolve multiple large legacy conduct matters, as well as preparing the Group for Brexit.
The enormous impact all of this has had on the business, the Board and management, is a sobering lesson.
Over the past 6 years, reasonable underlying operating pro ts have been fully eroded in the process. Over this period, we saw £15.1bn in litigation and conduct charges, £2.4bn in bank levies, £10.1bn in losses from Non-Core, a £2.5bn loss from the sell-down of Barclays Africa, and £7.1bn in taxes (at an average rate of 65 ). All of this, totalling £35.6bn over the six years, resulted in an aggregate attributable loss of £1.0bn over the same period. Imagine if all the underlying pro ts had gone to shareholders and to investment in growth.
Clearly, shareholders would prefer we declared higher dividends, but it should be remembered over the same period, we paid £5bn in dividends out of negative attributable pro ts.

[exel] 22/2/2018 14:28

Smurfy's 209p post results share price posted on 15feb18 looks spot on to me, once this morning's froth blows off. Well done, Smurf!

[ch1ck] 22/2/2018 13:02

Dont forget there has been a lot of short selling driving these shares down over the last year or more. There is always a resistance to a change of sentiment and direction.We have seen interest from the USA hedge funds driving this from the last low and I think they spotted something UK investors overlooked and that is the 40% investment in the US.This takes this stock into the wider US market with a massive income stream and potential. Strip out the Tax charge and these are way under valued with massive upside this and nest year.Sell Only joking. Make your own decisions

[smurfy2001] 22/2/2018 11:51

6.5p dividend for 2018/19 better than nothing l guess. Just restores back to what they were paying before the cut and subsequent rights issue.

[clond] 22/2/2018 11:46

Think seeing 220p this year will be a bonus - of course if ftse climbs back to 7600 then maybe a different story.

[portside1] 22/2/2018 10:44

the results wwre very good it was the new usa tax laws that dented them but now going forward is very good for barcs , div back to 6.5p and progressive div going forward ,

going forward will see barcs well over 350p

[exel] 22/2/2018 09:26

Pleasing & surprising? share price movement on bang average results (maybe a tad below that!). With all the past conduct elephants still in the room (whether provided for, or not?) I have cleared out today in the expectation of returning 'later for lower' at some future point. TNAV here keeps steadily falling back, despite past low dividends. A complex balance sheet, for sure. Thanks for all above posts. Good luck to all long term holders.

[portside1] 22/2/2018 08:35

mainics i am a buyer over 300p coming

[manics] 22/2/2018 08:30

portside1: getting close to your breakeven. Seize it imo. Then message the good news to the family who'll be desperate to rationalise your direction on which grocery stores they can shop at, which social media platforms they can use, which cars they drive and how they vote.

BARC has been the anomaly imo. Now is the time. You have been positioning 300p as a cert to this once proud community for 3-4 years now.

[portside1] 22/2/2018 08:25

looking for over 300p this year a cert

[manics] 22/2/2018 08:08

portside1: like standing at the end of the track when the 100/1 comes in though. Taking increased positions ahead of results is (generally) a mugs game in this market imo.

[johnwise] 22/2/2018 08:07

Bloomberg

Barclays Sees Markets Uptick Gathering Pace as Dividend to Rise

[portside1] 22/2/2018 08:05

dam I was going to add 10000 more yesterday

[manics] 22/2/2018 08:03

Up nearly 4%

[smurfy2001] 22/2/2018 08:01

Great news on the dividend!