Barclays' (BARC) first-quarter adjusted pre-tax profit fell 25 per cent year-on-year to £1.79bn - but that largely reflected costs associated with restructuring and the non-recurrence of gains in 2012's first quarter related to hedges on employee share awards.
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Operationally, Barclays made reasonable progress - the impairment charge fell 10 per cent, for instance, and there were no further PPI-related charges in the quarter. The UK retail arm, meanwhile, grew profit 29 per cent to £299m, and the investment bank boosted profits by a solid 11 per cent to £1.3bn. Still, the European retail arm suffered a £462m loss and the African operation's profit slumped 39 per cent.
