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Barclays Plc, Britain's third biggest bank, beat expectations with a 35 per cent jump in 2006 profits, helped by one-off gains from disposals, and indicated it was through the worst of its bad-debt troubles.
Barclays reported record pretax profit of £7.14 ($20.14) billion for 2006 -- including £323 million of exceptional gains on disposals. That compares with £5.28 billion a year earlier and an average 2006 forecast of £7.01 billion based on 18 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Group income rose 25 per cent to £21.6 billion, slightly below forecasts, but outpacing a 20 per cent rise in operating costs to £12.7 billion.
Bad-debt troubles have weighed on Barclays as UK borrowers struggle to pay back loans at its Barclaycard credit card unit and the bank said its bad-debt charge rose 37 per cent from 2005 to £2.15 billion last year.
- REUTERS
