Barclays jumps despite profit slump

BARCLAYS shares topped £2 for the first time in over two years today as robust quarterly results delivered an early boost to the lender’s new strategy.

The jump of 5% or 9.8p to 200.9p came as the bank’s UK retail operation countered strong mortgage market competition to report profits 12% ahead of City forecasts.

Group-wide profits dropped 12% to £2.3 billion but this was 4% above expectations, aided by some positive trends on bad debt impairments.

The biggest disappointment of the update came in investment banking, which continues to face pressure due to a slow recovery in deal-making fees.

Chief executive C. S. Venkatakrishnan hailed the group’s overall progress today, having used February’s annual results to set out new threeyear targets under a strategy to make Barclays “simpler, better and more balanced.”

Investors have warmed to his plan so far, particularly with interest rates likely to stay elevated for longer than previously expected. Shares are up more than 30% in the past three months, but broker Peel Hunt is among those backing further progress.

Demand for Barclays, the mining industry takeover developments and the positive reception to several other blue-chip results meant the FTSE 100 index traded at a fresh intraday high, up 0.7% or 57.51 points to 8097.89.

This was despite a setback for the US tech sector after a warning of higher costs sent shares in Facebook owner Meta Platforms down 15% in afterhours dealings.

Like Barclays, the update by consumer goods giant Unilever showed the early benefits of strategic actions under new boss Hein Schumacher.

He reported sales growth of 4.4% in the first quarter, driven by the power brands Dove and Knorr and split evenly between price increases and higher volumes.

Amid his pursuit of higher margins, Schumacher recently announced plans to cut 7500 jobs and spin off Unilever’s ice cream business. The shares continued their strong run of recent days by adding 189p to 4052p.

In contrast to the top flight, the FTSE 250 index was barely changed at 19,270.84 as Wizz Air and Travis Perkins rallied 3% after trading updates.