Barclays shares drop on profits news

Shares in Barclays have fallen this morning.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

The share price of Barclays has fallen this morning (May 6th) on the back of the bank announcing a fall in its pre-tax profits in its latest financial results.

It was revealed that the bank recorded an adjusted profit of £1.69 billion. Barclays stated that its results have been hit by a 28 per cent fall in revenue at its investment banking business.

The bank had warned a few weeks ago that there would be a fall in its profits for the first quarter of the year, but investors still responded negatively to the news this morning in the early stages of trading on the London Stock Exchange.

As a result of the five per cent drop in profits at the bank during the first three months of the year, shares fell by more than three per cent when the index opened following the bank holiday.

"We continue to be cautious about the trading environment in which we operate and as a consequence we remain focussed on structurally reducing the cost base in order to improve returns," Barclays said in a trading statement.

Bonuses

Shareholders at the bank have also been expressing concern over the bonus payments being handed out to Barclays executives in recent years. The bonus culture in British banks has come under the spotlight in the last few years as a result of the impact the financial sector had on causing the global financial slowdown.

Barclays also said in a statement that a reduction in client activity was one of the reasons for the performance of the bank in the first three months of 2014 when compared to data for 2013.

At 08:18 BST, the share price of the bank was down by four per cent on the start of the day and stocks were continuing to fall as the trading session picked up pace. Shares were down to 248.15, which is narrowly above the company's 52-week low of 227.65.

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