£1.5bn Barclays goes on defence

BARCLAYS fended off calls for a shakeup yesterday, insisting its retail and investment banking combination is delivering as it cheered investors with forecast-beating profits.

The blue-chip bank, preparing for a meeting in the next few weeks with 5 per cent activist investor Edward Bramson, claimed its trading arm is outperforming Wall Street rivals.

Bramson, who has led boardroom coups at other companies, is believed to be pushing for Barclays to scale back its investment banking as well as wanting a say in the search for a new chairman.

But chief Jes Staley said its diversified approach makes the bank “safer” and gave its involvement as an adviser on several major recent takeovers, including Comcast’s bid for satellite broadcaster Sky and gold producer Randgold’s merger with Barrick, as an example.

Staley said: “During the third quarter our corporate and investment bank outperformed peers again. Having completed the restructuring of Barclays in 2017, our transatlantic consumer and wholesale bank is now delivering.

“In spite of macro-economic uncertainty, and particularly concerns over Brexit which weigh heavily on market sentiment, 2018 is proving to be a year of delivery on our strategy.”

Third-quarter pre-tax profits rose by a third to £1.46billion, helped by a lower level of bad loans.

It said its performance over the first nine months was the best for five years, with year-to-date pre-tax profits up 23 per cent to £5.3billion excluding litigation and conduct charges. Shares rose 5p to 170¾p. Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf said: “The recent volatility we have seen in global markets should also help out a bit with trading income at the investment bank. Progress has been made, though it’s come in fits and starts, and we’d like to see greater consistency in its performance.”