BARC Barclays Plc

By Adam Clark

Barclays PLC (BARC.LN) reported its first-quarter results on Thursday, swinging to a profit due to lower litigation and regulatory charges despite a drop in income. Shares were down around 2% in morning trading. Here's what we watched:

PROFIT: Pretax profit of 1.48 billion pounds ($1.91 billion) was lower than consensus expectations but net profit of GBP1.04 billion matched analyst forecasts.

REVENUE: Total income fell 2% to GBP5.25 billion and net operating income dropped 5% to GBP4.80 billion. Both figures were behind consensus expectations, with U.K. income stalling and a slump in investment-banking revenue.

WHAT WE WATCHED:

-INVESTMENT BANK: Net profit for the corporate-and-investment bank fell 28%, likely providing continued ammunition for activist Edward Bramson's campaign to claim a board seat and scale back the unit. Chief Executive Jes Staley pointed to Barclays' outperformance in the markets business against U.S. peers and falling investment-banking fees across the sector.

-COST-CUTTING: As had widely been predicted, Barclays said it could look for steeper cost cuts than previously guided in order to meet its target of a return on tangible equity of over 9% this year. The lender said it had already cut compensation at its investment bank and could go further if the "challenging income environment" continues.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@dowjones.com; @AdamDowJones

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2019 06:32 ET (10:32 GMT)

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