The price of shares in FTSE 100 banking giant Barclays (LON:BARC) climbed 6.91% to 104.52p (as of 12:00 BST) after it said the return on tangible equity had been resilient despite the COVID-19 crisis. Statutory profits before tax for the first quarter were down by 40% due to an increase in credit impairment charges linked to a single name client.
CEO James E Stanley commented: “Barclays remains well capitalised with a common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 13.1%. Given the uncertainty around the developing economic downturn and low interest rate environment, 2020 is expected to be challenging. However, we believe that a RoTE of greater than 10% remains the right target for the bank over time.
“In response to a request from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), we cancelled the full year 2019 dividend payment of 6 pence per ordinary share, and the Board will decide on future dividends and its capital returns policy at year-end 2020.
“Despite all the challenges we face as a consequence of COVID-19, I am confident Barclays will emerge from this pandemic, well placed to continue to serve our customers and clients, the communities and economies in which we operate, and our shareholders“.