Barclays delivers on dividend despite 2017 disappointment
LONDON: Barclays PLC (BARC.L) showed its confidence in future earnings on Thursday by restoring its full dividend, despite lackluster investment banking income, restructuring costs and U.S. tax reforms hitting the bank’s 2017 bottom line.
Shares in the British bank were up 5.1 percent to 212 pence at 1043 GMT, sending Barclays to the top of the FTSE .FTSE index risers after it said it would resume paying its full dividend of 6.5 pence per share, which it halved in March 2016 in order to provide extra funds to pay for restructuring.
“It is our firm intent, over time, to return a greater proportion of our earnings to shareholders, both through the annual dividend and in other ways,” Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley said in a statement.
Although Barclays posted a pretax profit of 3.5 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) for 2017, up from 3.2 billion pounds a year ago, this was worse than the 4.7 billion pound average of analysts’ forecasts compiled by the bank.