It would appear the UK is an economy of two halves. The retail and consumer sector are struggling. Yet business to business and the City in particular appear to be booming. And firms that export overseas are doing nicely. If you agree with us and think this is an accurate reflection of UK plc, then the latest results from Barclays would seem to reflect that précis perfectly.
Profits at the Barclaycard division were down 19% to £687mn.
But the UK banking sector saw an 8% rise in profits to £2.4bn with the banking sub division the pick of the arm seeing profits up 10% and accounting for £1.4bn of the total.
As for Barclay Capital, the investment arm of Barclays, profits seemed to reflect the rise in the popularity of equities, coming in at £1.4bn.
But perhaps the real success story is the overseas arm. Five years ago this accounted for just 20% of the business, now its makes up 40%, and the company aiming for 50% within three years, and more to the point expects to achieve this without any major purchases.
Add all that together, throw in results from smaller subsidiaries, including a disappointing performance from Woolwich, and profits for the year were up 15% to £5.28bn.
Results from the other main banks to follow over the next few weeks.
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