British bank Barclays has trumped second-quarter profit expectations and boosted returns to its shareholders.
Exceeding analysts’ expectations, Barclays has posted a quarterly attributable profit of £2.1 billion, up from £90 million for the second quarter of 2020. According to Refinitiv data, analysts had predicted a net reported income of £1.7 billion for the three months up to the end of June. Investment banking fees were up 27%, whilst equities were up 38%.
The bank has also announced that it will be increasing capital distributions to shareholders. Shareholders will receive a half-year dividend of 2 pence per share and an additional buyback of up to £500 million. Barclays shares are up by approximately 15% year-to-date. However, they were as much as 31% higher at the end of April 2021.
As detailed in its first-quarter earnings report, Barclays has also seen a substantial reduction in credit loss provisions and successfully released almost £800 million from its credit impairment provisions instead of the £1.6 billion charge incurred for the same period of 2020.
