British bank Barclays reported a 2008 profit of £6.1 billion (€6.9 billion), ahead of analysts' forecasts but down 14 per cent on the year after £5 billion of writedowns.
Barclays said it expected 2009 to be “another challenging year” with credit market losses set to shrink but bad debt charges likely to rise as recession takes its toll on the economy.
But it said it had had “a good start to the year”, with the performance of its Barclays Capital investment bank arm “extremely strong”, and that it plans to restart paying dividends in the second half of this year.
Barclays' 2008 pretax profit was down from £7.1 billion in 2007 but ahead of an average forecast of £5.8 billion from 13 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates since new profit guidance was issued on January 26th.
The figure included £8 billion in gross writedowns and bad debts, or a £5 billion net writedown after gains on the valuation of debt it carries on its books.
Profit included £2.4 billion in gains on acquisitions, most related to its purchase of Lehman Brothers' US business.
Its equity tier 1 ratio was 6.7 per cent at the end of the year, up from 5.1 per cent a year earlier.
Reuters