Barclays Africa headline earnings increase by 4%

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the growth in the number of people visiting Cape Town was fantastic news for the city’s tourism sector and meant that it could continue to grow this sector and create even more much-needed jobs.

“It also shows that the collaboration with the Air Access team and Acsa brings great benefits as more people are now able to connect to Cape Town. Our beautiful city with its diverse cultures, experiences and people has so much to offer the world and we will continue working hard to ensure that we grow the tourism economy.” BARCLAYS Africa’s headline earnings per share increased by 4% to 1 837.7 cents, while its dividend grew by the same margin to 1 070 cents per share last year.

The company, formerly Absa, said it was reverting to the previous name. This follows the conclusion of the reduction by Barclays PLC of its majority shareholding last year.

Barclays Africa said its normalised revenue grew 1% to R72.9 billion and operating expenses rose 4% to R41.4bn.

Impairments declined 20% from a high base in 2016 while the cost-to-income ratio rose to 56.8% from 55.2%.

Barclays PLC first announced in March 2016 that it would sell most of its then 62% stake in Barclays Africa over two to three years, as the bank refocused its strategy on the US and the UK.

“Barclays Africa Group’s separation from Barclays PLC is progressing well and the parties continue to work together to ensure a seamless separation,” Barclays Africa said. – African News Agency (ANA)