Publications
Partners
London - British bank Barclays said first-quarter profit fell a quarter from a year ago, as a hefty bill for the cost of a restructuring plan by its new chief executive offset a solid performance by its investment bank.
Adjusted pretax profit for the three months through March dropped to £1.79bn from £2.4bn a year ago, just below a mean forecast of £1.85bn from analysts polled by the company.
Profits were dented by a £514m charge to cover costs associated with "Project Transform", CEO Antony Jenkins' plan to axe 3 700 jobs, prune the investment bank and reform the bank's culture after a series of scandals.
The bank said it expects another £500m of charges related to the restructuring this year.
Jenkins is attempting to distance Britain's third-biggest bank from the aggressive, high-risk culture championed by his predecessor Bob Diamond, who left in July after Barclays was fined $450m for rigging Libor interest rates.
Most of the costs incurred so far were in its European operations, where it has cut almost 2 000 jobs, and the investment bank, where it is axing 1 800.
The investment bank made a profit of £1.3bn in the first quarter, up 11% on the year and accounting for almost three-quarters of group profit.
Investment bank income rose 1% on the year to £3.5bn, higher than the £3.3bn expected by analysts, as growth in equities and advisory income offset a fall in fixed income, currency and commodities income.
The bank said the good start to the year had continued into the second quarter across its businesses.
