Barclays has reported an attributable loss of £1.2bn for the first half of the year, following one-off costs.
The group increased pre-tax profits before the exceptional costs to £2.3bn, but the cost of discontinuing operations wiped nearly £2.2bn off the balance sheet. A further £700m went towards paying off PPI, reports City AM.
But chief executive Jes Staley said the disposal of shares in Barclays Africa had helped streamline the business for profits.
He said: “Our business is now radically simplified, the restructuring is complete, our capital ratio is within our end-state target range and, while we are also working to put conduct issues behind us, we can now focus on what matters most to our shareholders – improving group returns.”
Total revenues decreased 15 per cent to £5.06bn, missing market expectations of around £5.28bn.
Group return on tangible equity (RoTE) slipped 4.6 per cent.
Staley said the group would set a new target of 10 per cent RoTE “over time”, but did not give a target deadline.
After initially falling, Barclays shares were trading slightly up, flirting with 300p.
