UK bank Barclays on Friday said first quarter profits had more than doubled, but cautioned that its outlook remained uncertain due to the Coviud-19 pandemic.
The company posted a better-than-expected pre-tax profit before tax for the three months to March 31 of ended March 31 of £2.4bn, up from £923m pounds a year ago and compared with forecasts of £1.76bn.
Impairment charges came in at £55m, driven by reduced unsecured lending balances, “no material single name wholesale loan charges and limited portfolio deterioration”. Unlike sector peers Lloyds and NatWest, Barclays did not release any cash set aside to cover potential bad loans from the pandemic.
“While evidence of recovery is encouraging, we have continued to take a cautious view of the impact of the pandemic on the business,” said chief executive Jess Staley.
“We remain disciplined on costs, with a cost to income ratio of 61% this quarter. Our capital position remains well above target with a CET1 ratio of 14.6% and we completed our £700m buyback this month. We will give further guidance on distributions when appropriate.”
