Barclays posts £3bn profit

3rd Aug 2009 07:03

Barclays delivered profits of £3bn for the first half, an increase of 8% against the same period last year, despite £4.6bn of gross losses on credit market exposures and £3.3bn of other impairments. Profit before tax for the period rose to £2,984m from £2,754m last year as it posted record income of £16,253m, up 37%.Income absorbed gross credit market losses and higher reserves of £4,677m (including impairment of £1,170m) and other group impairment of £3,386m. The group said the £1,192m of gains on debt buy-backs and extinguishment more than offset £893m own credit charge.The group said Global Retail and Commercial Banking generated higher income, up 14% to £8,051m driven by Barclaycard and the international businesses.Investment Banking and Investment Management records saw overall profit before tax of £1,398m, up 44%. Barclays Capital top-line income more than doubled to £10,489m with very strong performances across client franchises in the UK."We expect the remainder of 2009 to be challenging, with continuing recessions in many of the economies in which we are represented," said the group."For the remainder of 2009, we expect credit market losses to be lower than in the first half but impairment trends to be consistent with those experienced over the first half," it added.Core Tier 1 was 8.8% and Tier 1 at 11.7% pro forma for the expected sale of Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock Inc.The group added that it intends to resume dividend payments before the end of 2009.