Barclays holds guidance as Q1 profit jumps 16%; Shares gain

Barclays said it was on track to meet full-year guidance as it posted a 16% jump in pre-tax profits driven by growth across all its businesses.

The bank on Thursday said group income rose 11% to £7.2bn, with pre-tax profit coming in at £2.6bn, generating a group return on tangible equity of 15% and earnings per share of 11.3p. Shares in the lender gained 5% in London trade.

Profits were driven by its UK division, the ringfenced consumer lender, where profit leapt by a third to £515m, boosted by net interest income growth on higher rates as the Bank of England lifted its base interest benchmark to a 15-year high of 4.25% last month.

That resulted in the bank's net interest margin - the difference between interest on loans and savings - to hit 3.18% from 2.62% last year.

Bad debt provisions increased to £524m from £141m reflecting higher US cards balances and the continuing normalisation anticipated in US cards delinquencies.

Income at the bank's consumer, cards and payments division surged 47% to £1.3bn, thanks to rising credit card balances driven partly by its acquisition of a portfolio from retailer Gap last year.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com