LONDON (Reuters) – Barclays reported first quarter profits more than doubled, despite not releasing cash set aside to cover bad loans from the COVID-19 pandemic as its British peers had done.
Barclays booked a profit before tax for the three months ended March 31 of 2.4 billion pounds ($3.34 billion), up from 923 million pounds a year ago and above the 1.76 billion pound average of analysts’ forecasts.
The lender took an impairment charge of 55 mln for further bad loan charges, much less than analysts had forecast.
($1 = 0.7175 pounds)
(Reporting By Lawrence White and Iain Withers, editing by Anna Irrera)
