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Barclays Q1 2019 results

Group

Q1 2019 Results

25 April 2019
Barclays has published its Q1 2019 Results.

Jes Staley, Group CEO said: “Today we have announced that Barclays earned just over £1bn of attributable profit in the first quarter of 2019, or 6.1 pence per share.

Group RoTE was 9.2% in spite of a mixed environment for global banks. TNAV increased 4p to 266p, which has now grown in each of the last four quarters.

Group profits before tax were £1.5bn, with positive jaws driven by a 3% reduction in costs, excluding litigation and conduct, versus a 2% reduction in revenues.

Barclays UK produced a strong RoTE of 16.4%, excluding litigation and conduct - an improvement on an increased equity base compared to Q1 of 2018, which included a 12% increase in Business Banking income.

Barclays International also delivered a double digit RoTE of 10.6%, excluding litigation and conduct, though this was down from a very profitable comparable period last year.

Within Barclays International, our Consumer Cards & Payments business had another good quarter, with improved performance in our US franchise in particular, driving a RoTE of 15.4%.

Our Corporate and Investment Bank achieved a RoTE of 9.5%, compared to 13.2% in Q1 of 2018. From a revenue perspective, we had a weak quarter in investment banking fees.

Our Markets business outperformed US peer average for the sixth consecutive quarter, and like Q1 last year, generated a double-digit return on tangible equity.

Our total operating expenses in the first quarter were £3.3bn. Three years ago, we took a charge of just under £400m to allow us to better align variable compensation accruals with the firm’s revenues.

What you see in the first quarter is Barclays using this discretion around variable compensation to manage our costs and deliver expected profitability.

A 9.6% RoTE, excluding litigation and conduct, in the first quarter of this year is a good step towards our objective of delivering a RoTE of greater than 9% in 2019 and greater than 10% in 2020.”