Barclays sets new performance goals as 2024 pretax profit rises

BARCLAYS upped its 2025 performance guidance on Thursday (Feb 13) after posting a 24 per cent rise in annual pretax profit for 2024 that beat expectations, as its investment bank enjoyed strong income growth and slower than expected interest rate cuts boosted its domestic lending business.

The British corporate, consumer and investment bank reported profit before tax for the year to Dec 31 of £8.1 billion, slightly above the £8.07 billion average of analysts’ forecasts and higher than the £6.6 billion it reported for the year prior.

Barclays is the first major UK bank to report its earnings for 2024, a year in which Britain regained domestic political stability but lost the confidence of some international investors after the newly-elected Labour government ushered in a raft of unpopular tax hikes it said were needed to fix the country’s parlous public finances.

CEO CS Venkatakrishnan last February laid out a three-year plan to revive the bank’s share price, which included cutting costs, returning more excess capital to shareholders and investing in the lender’s higher-returning UK business.

The bank said it met its performance targets for 2024, including a return on tangible equity of 10.5 per cent in line with guidance for greater than 10 per cent, a key measure of its profitability.

“Our new guidance for 2025, including Group RoTE of around 11 per cent, represents an important next step in the journey towards our 2026 targets, including Group RoTE of greater than 12 per cent,” Venkat said in a statement.

Barclays said total income in its investment bank reached £11.8 billion, just above analysts’ forecasts for £11.6 billion, powered by a 40 per cent year-on-year rise in income in its equities business and a 29 per cent boost in its fixed income unit.

Separately on Thursday, Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill told Reuters the long process of wrestling down inflation was not yet complete, and policymakers needed to be cautious in their efforts to reducing the cost of borrowing in Britain. REUTERS