Barclays share price: 4 things to watch out for in its half-year results

Barclays is set to release its half-year results on Thursday, with investors hoping for a strong performance that will help provide support for its share price which has steadily been in decline over the last two years.

IG looks at some of the key things to look out for ahead of its half-year results.

Can Barclays stem its declining share price?

Barclays continues to see its share price slowly slide, with its stock falling more than 16% over the last 12 months from 186p a share this time last year to 158p as of 10:15 GMT on Tuesday.

Investors will be hoping that Barclays performance in its first six months will help its share price find support, but 2019 continues to be a challenging year for the lender and the entire UK banking sector.

Brexit uncertainty continues to hurt British banks

The lender faces a myriad of challenges, including ongoing Brexit uncertainty, prolonged low interest rates, a slowing global economy and increased regulation.

All this has taken its toll on the bank this year, with the lender seeing a 0.2 billion decline in group pre-tax profit to £1.5 billion and a 2% slide in revenues in its first quarter (Q1) results.

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Barclays tussles with activist investor Ed Bramson

Meanwhile, the bank’s management continues to battle against activist investor Ed Bramson, whose investment vehicle Sherborne Investors controls a 5.5% stake in Barclays, has been trying to build shareholder support to scale back the CIB unit.

Barclays boss Jes Staley remains adamant about holding onto the bank’s investment division and will likely feel even more strongly about remaining in charge of the unit after European rival Deutsche Bank closed its equities unit on Wall Street.

Barclays under fire from CMA over bad banking practices

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has told Barclays it must improve its banking practices after breaking rules designed to safeguard small businesses (SMEs).

The decision came down from the CMA after the lender was found to be preventing SMEs who hold Business Premium Accounts from transferring money to or from non-Barclays accounts and telling clients they had to open a current account with it instead.

‘Banks must not force small businesses to have current accounts with them, as part of a practice known as bundling,’ CMA Senior Director Adam Land said.

‘Bundling prevents small firms from being able to choose the best banking products for them and can result in unnecessary costs.’

Barclays was forced to pay around £2000 in total compensation across affected Business Premium Account holders to reimburse them for payments they should not have had to make.