Profits at Barclays, Britain's third biggest bank, were well below those of a year earlier in the first quarter after its investment bank and fund management arms were hit by tough financial market conditions.
In comments released before the bank's annual shareholder meeting today, the bank said profits at Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors were "well below" the strong profits of a year ago, but both businesses were profitable.
Barclays said this would include any writedowns it needed to make, but did not comment on whether it has taken or will take any more hits, amid concern it faces billions more in losses after rivals have written down the value of their risky assets.
Credit Suisse announced a $5 billion writedown for the first quarter today and Royal Bank of Scotland has said it could take a hit of nearly $12 billion.
By 8.30am Barclays shares were down 2.3 per cent at 445 pence in a weak UK bank sector, extending their fall this week to 10 per cent.
Barclays Chief Executive John Varley said current market turbulence meant it was a time for banks to have strong capital ratios, and he was targeting a Tier 1 equity ratio of 5.25 per cent "in time", from 5.1 per cent at the end of 2007.
Speculation that Barclays and UK peers such as HBOS will be forced to announce new big writedowns and may launch rights issues to rebuild capital intensified after RBS tapped investors for a record £12 billion.