Barclays in Fresh £1bn Writedown
Written by admin on May 15th, 2008 in World Economies, banks.
Days after HSBC announced more writedowns as a result of the sub prime market, Barclays announced it has taken a further £1bn writedown on assets and confirmed that profits will be lower in the first quarter of 2008 than in the same period last year.
The announcement on profits was made after warnings that tough trading in its investment banking division Barclays Capital would cut group profits.
I reaction to similar news other banks including Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Bradford and Bingley have asked shareholder to for extra cash in order to repaid the credit losses. Barclays on the other hand have not asked for any additional funds from shareholders.
“It [Barclays] maintains that it will continue to monitor all options and will clearly not be drawn on speculation as to what form this capital injection might take.” - Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers,
