Barclays profits fall 11.8%

Total income was down 2% and operating expenses decreased 3% to £3.3bn. The group has said that it may cut costs further if challenging condition continue.

More positively, attributable profits were £1bn, compared to a loss of £0.8bn in 2018. This is largely due to a non-recurrence of litigation and conduct charges which totalled £2bn in Q1 2018, relating to PPI and a settlement relating to residential mortgage backed securities.

Barclays UK profits increased to £0.6bn from £0.2bn in the first quarter of 2018.

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, commented: “These are a messy set of results, the non-recurrence of massive conduct charges has boosted reported numbers, while one-off write backs in US loans are negatively impacting the underlying figures. Sweep all that aside though and eyes will focus on the poor results from the investment bank.

"A poor result from the investment bank isn’t a great surprise, international rivals have flagged pretty tough conditions across the market and Barclays is keen to point to a growing share of global banking fees. Still, the troubles in the investment bank shouldn’t distract investors from the rising pressures in the UK business – particularly margin pressure in mortgages.

"It’s not all doom and gloom though. Cost control looks good, and management have made it clear they’re willing, and able, to flex the cost base further to boost profitability if tough conditions continue. Underlying bad loans also remain pretty stable – and are actually improving in the UK despite the tough market backdrop.

"Overall we don’t think this changes things too much for Barclays, investment banking results are poor, but not worse than expected, while UK results are a tad disappointing, but certainly not critical. Investors will either continue to believe in Barclays the bulge bracket bank, or not.”