Barclays Mulls Further Cost-Cutting after 1Q Income Slump

By Adam Clark

Barclays PLC (BARC.LN) said Thursday it may need to slash additional costs to meet its returns targets, following a difficult first quarter for its investment bank.

The U.K. bank made a pretax profit of 1.48 billion pounds ($1.91 billion), swinging from a loss in the year-earlier quarter. Its net profit came to GBP.104 billion.

Analysts expected pretax profit of GBP1.57 billion and net profit of GBP1.04 billion, according to company-compiled consensus.

Total income fell 2% to GBP5.25 billion, and net operating income dropped 5% to GBP4.80 billion, missing consensus expectations. Barclays was hit by a 6% slump in income in the International division, as the Corporate-and-Investment bank suffered from a slowdown in trading, partially offset by cuts to compensation.

Barclays reiterated its target of a return on tangible equity of more than 9% in 2019 and 10% in 2020. The bank said it may need to cut additional costs to boost returns, having previously guided for annual costs of GBP13.6 billion to GBP13.9 billion.

Activist investor Edward Bramson, who controls a 5.5% stake in Barclays, is pushing for a scaling back of the investment bank in the face of opposition from Chief Executive Jes Staley. Investors will vote on whether to grant Mr. Bramson a board seat next week.

Write to Adam Clark at [e-mail]; @AdamDowJones

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2019 02:42 ET (06:42 GMT)

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