Results round-up

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.

Educational publisher Pearson has reported a widening in first half pre-tax losses to £306m from £132m, reflecting lower operating profits and £171m in restructuring charges.

Sales decreased by £131m in headline terms to £1.86bn primarily due to the expected weakness in assessment revenues in the US and UK, which are weighted towards the first half of the year and the phasing of both gross sales and returns in North American Higher Education courseware.

Total adjusted operating profit from continuing operations fell £39m to £15m reflecting revenue declines, incentive compensation accruals and dual IT running costs, partly offset by initial savings from Pearson's simplification programme and phasing of integration benefits at Penguin Random House.

Currency movements, primarily from the depreciation of sterling against the US dollar during the period, increased sales by £86m and operating profits by £5m.

Pearson said its 2016 outlook was unchanged and it continue to expect to report adjusted operating profit before restructuring costs of between £580m and £620m.