Barclays bank (LON:BARC) performed better than expected in the last quarter, as the turnaround strategy put in place by CEO Jes Staley begins to have an effect.

The group saw a 25 percent drop in profits to £793 million, down from £1.1 billion for the same period last year. However, the bank saw an improvement in some areas including an 18 percent increase in core profit before tax to £1608 million. Barclays have been troubled by poor results and a poor performance from its investment banking arm of late, but Jes Staley has recently put in place a strategy to streamline operations and bring the bank back into the black. He commented:

“This quarter we have made good early progress against the strategy update we announced on the 1st of March. It is the first set of results as a transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank operating under our new configuration of Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate & International, and they show a Core business performing well in a challenging environment.”

Citigroup analysts said in a note: “Overall we view these as solid results”. Shares have risen on the back of the better-than-expected results, currently trading up 2.83 percent at 179.10 (0958GMT).

27/04/2016