Barclays has reported it doubled underlying quarterly profits, excluding a big hit for selling its African unit.
Today (28 April) the banking giant reported for the first quarter of 2017 group profit before tax more than doubled to £1,682m, compared with the first quarter of 2016.
James E Staley, group chief executive officer, said: "This has been another quarter of strong progress towards the completion of the restructuring of Barclays.
“Our group cost to income ratio has improved to 62 per cent, compared to 76 per cent for the first quarter of 2016.”
Mr Staley, who is being investigated for trying to discover the identity of a whistleblower by British and American regulators, added: “We are now just two months away from completing the restructuring of Barclays as a Transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank and there is further good reason in this quarter's performance to feel optimistic for our prospects."
The bank reported attributable profits of £190m for the three months to March, down from £433m in the same period of last year.
But this included the £658m post-tax cost of selling its African business.
Profits after tax from continuing operations more than doubled to £1.2bn – outstripping analyst expectations.
Revenues rose 16 per cent to £5.8bn, while operating costs shrank 5 per cent to £3.6bn.
Profits were flat at the bank’s UK division at £708m for the first quarter, compared with £704m for the first quarter of 2016..
Total income increased 2 per cent to £1,8bn driven by a 1 per cent increase in net interest income to £1.5bn as deposit growth and pricing initiatives more than offset the headwinds the UK base rate cut in 2016.
emma.hughes@ft.com
