London, Feb 20, 2024 -UK bank Barclays said on Tuesday its annual profit slid on a large restructuring charge, but shares rallied on a £10-billion ($12.6-billion) plan to return cash to investors.
Profit after tax slid 15 percent to £4.3 billion last year on a £900-million charge for the fourth quarter, Barclays revealed in a results statement.
The lender, fresh from axing 5,00 jobs last year, outlined a plan to slash another £2.0 billion in costs in the coming years but did not specify further cutbacks.
Barclays added that it planned “to return at least £10 billion of capital to shareholders between 2024 and 2026, through dividends and share buybacks”.
“Our new three-year plan… is designed to further improve Barclays’ operational and financial performance, driving higher returns and predictable, attractive shareholder distributions,” chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan said in the earnings release.
The news sent Barclays’ share price rallying more than six percent in early deals to top London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index, which dipped slightly overall.
Its share price later pared gains to stand at 155.18 pence, still a gain of 4.2 percent from Monday.
The group returned £3.0 billion to shareholders in 2023, up almost 40 percent from the year before.
Revenue grew two percent last year to £25.4 billion on the back of rising interest rates, which attract savers and also increase returns on bank loans.
The hikes followed moves by the Bank of England and central banks in other countries in ramping up borrowing costs in a bid to curb soaring inflation.
Barclays added on Tuesday that its operating costs jumped 12 percent to £16.7 billion last year.
The company axed 5,000 jobs in 2023, or six percent of its global workforce.
“We are not specifying right now” how many more jobs will be cut, Venkatakrishnan told reporters when questioned on Tuesday.
