Barclays (#BARC) sells its Italian branch network at a £200m loss
- 2015-12-03 00:16:17
UK 03:36 Sunday, 25 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
This morning, Barclays (BARC) sacked its Chief Executive Antony Jenkins. In a ruthless move, spearheaded by Deputy Chairman Sir Michael Rake, it seems that Jenkins’ vision for the bank did not match the ambitions of the rest of the board. Jenkins wanted to scale back the company’s global investment banking arm, while the board wants to grow this arm aggressively in the pursuit of “profit improvement”. Barclays shares are up 3%, as of writing, at 259p. The market welcomes this move, but should investors follow suit?
Hello Share Stalkers. You may have gathered that I favour investing in the big British banks. My main reason is that they were great once, with yummy share values - and that even if we get half way back to the days of glory, our purchases now will be quids in later on.
Evidence started to emerge four weeks ago of a major problem with the nominee service used by clients of Barclays Stockbrokers, Barclayshare Nominees. There is now a strong suggestion that Barclayshare Nominees and Barclays Stockbrokers have disposed of clients’ physical stock without their permission. This is a shocking turn of events in the New World Oil & Gas (NEW) forward selling fiasco and points to an even graver flaw in the mechanics of the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. Something like this should just not be possible, but the numbers appear telling.
Nominally I have a premium account with Barclays Wealth International in the Isle of Man. Given how most of its customers are multi-millionaire tax dodgers my tiny account (balance on Monday 90p because Darren forgot to pay me in full last month) must be a bit of an anomaly but still I am meant to get a premium service. If that is the case God help the rest of you with a “standard service”
Hello share twisters. The government is interfering with our banks again. They've launched yet another threat to the very fragile share prices of these very necessary institutions.
Writing on bank shares is a little like swimming with jelly fish; visibility is poor and you never know when you might get the next shock. In regard to that and Barclays (BARC), there is plenty of supporting evidence in the results for the nine months to 30 September 2014 in the shape of litigation fees, fines and so called one off provisions which often seem more serial than singular.
Barclays (BARC) revealed third quarter profits above forecasts today, at £1.59 billion, up 14% from the £1.39 billion last year. It wasn’t all good news however, as a Saudi businessman is suing the company for $10 billion in damages, and a £670 million pounds provision was made for rigging forex and PPI mis-selling.
Barclays (BARC) shares are trading at 224.95p on a PE which is hard to determine and a yield of 2.89%. Buy, sell or hold?
A week ago I published a review of the status of some of my tips I originally made a few months ago (here ). So how about some of the more recent names I have mentioned? I am happy to say that on balance I am, well ahead!
Bank results always come as a great compendium of numbers and statistics: too much for the everyday average brain to comprehend in any easily coherent way. They must even provide a great challenge for banking analysts who, poor devils specialise in this sort of copious material which floods out like the contents of Pandora’s famous box into a world of trouble. It is even worse now that readers are asked to consider three different versions of Barclays Bank (BARC); the one called “core”; the one called “non core” and an amalgam of the two. It is mind bending stuff.
These British banks are a bummer, aren’t they? Why can’t they do something positive for shareholders like us? The price just won’t rise. Even though they seemed to be out of the mire now. The trouble is nobody trusts them. So, though their price to earnings ratios are very low now, the big buyers are staying away.
Today, Barclays (BARC) announced plans to cut 19,000 jobs over three years. The stock was sharply higher this morning as investors bought the latest dip. The news has been well received, the question, however, is why has the stock been lagging the market since February 2013?
I have an unofficial rule that if an investment theme or a specific company appears three times in quick succession on the front page of the self-styled ‘World Business Newspaper’ (clue: its pages are pink) then whatever issue is being discussed is ‘in the market price’. It feels as if Barclays (BARC) has been on the front pages a lot recently following controversies on pay, management credibility, the future of its commodity unit, various fines and ‘discussions’ with different global regulatory authorities.
Hello Share Twiddlers: With your permission, gang, I'm going to look at banks again.
During the past five years, it has been difficult to feel any sympathy for the leading UK banks. This is even before we knew all the scandals such as Libor, or even had to swallow the implications of moral hazard in terms of the bailouts, or the unfettered immorality of awarding seven figure bonuses to the individuals working at loss-making entities.
