By Lawrence White and Stefania Spezzati
LONDON (Reuters) -Barclays first-half profit rose by a better-than-expected 23%, the British bank said on Tuesday, with its markets business reaping bumper returns from the frenzied trading activity sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.
Pretax profit for the January-June period totalled 5.2 billion pounds ($6.94 billion), above analysts' average forecast of 4.96 billion pounds.
The bank also announced a share buyback of 1 billion pounds and a half
year dividend of 3 pence per share, equating to 1.4 billion pounds of total capital distributions to shareholders, up 21% from the year before.
The earnings update from the Britain and U.S.-focused lender showed continued progress in its strategy to cut costs and prioritise spending on its domestic, retail and corporate focused unit above its investment bank.
"We remain on track to achieve the objectives of our three-year plan, delivering structurally higher and more stable returns for our investors," CEO C. S. Venkatakrishnan said in the statement.
The lender's investment bank nonetheless followed Wall Street peers in reporting a robust second quarter, as market turmoil led to increased trading activity in fixed income products and stocks in particular.
Second-quarter income in the investment bank was 3.3 billion pounds, better than the 3 billion pounds forecast by analysts, thanks to strong gains in those trading businesses that offset a decline in fees from advising on deals.
($1 = 0.7492 pounds)
(Reporting By Lawrence White and Stefania Spezzati; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Louise Heavens)
