Barclays Reported Record 2021 Group Profit Before Tax, Stock Higher
Barclays Financial Results
Barclays is a British universal bank, headquartered in London and established in 1896 as a limited company. It provides not only retail banking but also corporate and investment banking services.
Before the London open today, it announced Record 2021 Group Profit Before Tax £8.4 billion, from around £3 billion in the previous year, while Net Income rose to £21.9 billion [1]. In Q4 2021 Profit Before Tax stood at £1.5 billion and Net Income at £5.2 billion.
The bank also released £700 million in credit impairment provisions during the last year, from a charge of £4.8 billion in 2020 and announced a share buyback program of up to £1 billion.
This was the first report under new Chef Executive C. S. Venkatakrishna, who commented that "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".
He also highlighted some long-term priorities like the next-generation consumer financial services. Back in December, Barclays had teamed-up with Amazon to allow UK customers to pay online in instalments, taping into the growing Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market.[2]
Stock Reaction
BARC.uk comes from a poor week, but today it gains nearly 3%, as investors react positively to its financial results. It has been managing to stay defend its EMA200 for a year now, doing it again today. This keeps January's high in the spotlight (220.60), but it may be early for a greater advance towards 244.40.
On the other hand, BARC.uk it is vulnerable to sub-EMA200 moves that would expose it to 169.40 and could open the door for a bigger decline towards and beyond 156.40.
UK Banking Sector
Focus now sifts to rival Lloyds, which reports on Thursday, while HSBC was in the spotlight yesterday. HSBC announced Profit before tax of $18.9bn in 2021, from $8.777 in the prior year and a new share buy-back of up to $1 billion.
All regions were profitable in 2021, notably HSBC UK Bank plc, where reported profit before tax increased by $4.5bn to $4.8bn. [3]
Nikos Tzabouras
Senior Financial Editorial Writer
Nikos Tzabouras is a graduate of the Department of International & European Economic Studies at the Athens University of Economics and Business. With extensive experience in market analysis and a strong foundation in international relations, he brings a unique perspective to financial markets. Nikos emphasizes not only technical analysis but also on fundamentals and the growing influence of geopolitics on financial trends.
As a Senior Financial Editorial Writer, he delivers comprehensive and forward-looking insights across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, commodities, and currencies. His work explores how macroeconomic events, political developments, and global policies impact market dynamics, providing readers with a deeper understanding of both short-term movements and long-term trends.
Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, other information, or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an "as-is" basis, as general market commentary and do not constitute investment advice. The market commentary has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research, and it is therefore not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of dissemination. Although this commentary is not produced by an independent source, FXCM takes all sufficient steps to eliminate or prevent any conflicts of interests arising out of the production and dissemination of this communication. The employees of FXCM commit to acting in the clients' best interests and represent their views without misleading, deceiving, or otherwise impairing the clients' ability to make informed investment decisions. For more information about the FXCM's internal organizational and administrative arrangements for the prevention of conflicts, please refer to the Firms' Managing Conflicts Policy. Please ensure that you read and understand our Full Disclaimer and Liability provision concerning the foregoing Information, which can be accessed here.