Barclays half-year pre-tax profits fall 21%

Half year pre-tax profits at Barclays fell 21% to £2.06bn, reflecting the costs of offloading its non-core business.

The bank's core business made pre-tax profits of £3.97bn, up 19% while the non-core business made a loss of £1.9bn.

The non-core loss was mainly due to a £372m writedown relating to the sale of its French business.

It added that an extra £400m was being allocated in the second quarter relating to the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance, reflecting an updated estimate of costs, primarily relating to ongoing remediation programmes

Barclays said 2016 core cost guidance of £12.8bn, excluding litigation and conduct charges, and subject to foreign currency movements1, remains unchanged.

It added that the existing non-core income and operating expenses guidance for 2016 remains unchanged. 2017 Non-Core operating expenses are expected to be within the range of £400m to £500m excluding notable items. The Non-Core RWA guidance of around £20bn in 2017 remains unchanged.

Barclays said the result of the UK's decision to leave the European Union means that the long-term nature of the UK's relationship with the EU is “unclear and there is uncertainty as to the nature and timing of any agreement with the EU”.

“In the interim, there is a risk of uncertainty for both the UK and the EU, which could adversely affect the economy of the UK and the other economies in which we operate,” Barclays said.