Barclays resumes dividend payouts

LONDON: Barclays has resumed shareholder payouts ater a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seting expectations other British lenders will follow suit when they report full year earnings in the next few days.

Barclays said it would pay a full-year dividend of 1 pence per share and buy back 700 million pounds ($969.43 million)worth of shares, a vote of confidence in its balance sheet ater regulators in December gave the green light for payouts.

The resumption came as Barclays’ profit fell by half, much less than forecast as a strong performance by its investment bank offset provisions against bad loans from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Barclays reported a profit before tax for 2020 of 3.1 billion pounds ($4.29 billion), well above the average estimate of 1.96 billion pounds from analysts’ forecasts compiled by the bank.

Barclays’ profit was bolstered by a stellar year for its investment bank, which in common with US peers reported strong revenues from its equities and fixed income businesses as customers traded frantically in volatile markets in 2020.

The fixed income, currencies and commodities unit reported a 53% increase in income, as swings in global interest rates and prices of commodities such as oil drove activity.

Equities saw a 31% rise in income while banking fees rose by 8%.

Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also saw fourth-quarter profits sail past analysts’ estimates, as coronavirusinduced volatility coupled with the impact of the US elections boosted trading.