ii view: Barclays sharpens focus on shareholder returns
28th February 2022 15:31
by Keith Bowman from interactive investor
A strong recovery in profit and a forecast future dividend yield of around 4%. Buy, sell, or hold?
Full-year results to 31 December
- Income up 1% to £21.94 billion
- Full year pre-tax profit of £8.4 billion, up from £3.1 billion in 2020
- Final dividend of 4p per share
- Total dividend for the year of 6p per share, up from 1p per share in 2020
- New share buyback programme of up to £1 billion
- Capital cushion or CET1 ratio unchanged at 15.1%
Chief executive Mr Venkatakrishnan said:
“2021 is the year in which Barclays demonstrated the results of the strategy we set out in 2016. I am proud that we have delivered this resilient performance while continuing to support our clients and customers through another year of Covid-19 related challenges.
“Looking ahead into 2022, we are focussed on delivering consistent performance and returns across our businesses, supported by robust management of our balance sheet, costs and controls.”
ii round-up:
Barclays (LSE:BARC) operates via the two divisions: Barclays UK and Barclays International.
The UK division includes personal banking, Barclaycard consumer UK and UK business banking. Personal banking generates just over half of all revenues for the division.
Barclays International comprises both its Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) and consumer, cards, and payments segments in Europe and the US.
For a round-up of these latest results, please click here.
ii view:
Tracing its roots back to 1690, Barclays today employs over 80,000 people and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Like its rivals, Barclays since the 2008 financial crisis has been on a mission to become a simpler more focused bank. Unlike its rivals, the bank has kept much of its markets and investment banking operations. Barclay’s structure is today more like JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) in the US than its UK rivals.
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For investors, a 2% increase in total operating expenses is not to be ignored, with the cost:income ratio rising to 66% from a previous 64%. Likely interest rate rises going forward make for a tougher environment for parts of its investment banking business, while income for its UK Barclaycard business remained pressured as consumers look to repay existing debts and keep new borrowing limited.
On the upside, expected interest rate rises are expected to aid the performance of its traditional banking business. Share buybacks are also being made and the shares now offer an estimated future dividend yield of around 4%. In all, and with the bank offering both diversity of operations and a robust balance sheet, long-term investors are likely to remain loyal.
Positives
- Business diversification
- Focus on shareholder returns
Negatives
- Increased costs
- Investment banking operation may suffer under rising interest rates
The average rating of stock market analysts:
Buy
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