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Barclays Second-Half Profit Falls 21 Percent on Writedowns

By Ben Livesey and Jon Menon

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, the U.K.''s third- biggest bank, said second-half profit fell 21 percent on asset writedowns and a slump in revenue from fixed-income trading.

Net income declined to 1.78 billion pounds ($3.48 billion), or 26.6 pence a share, from 2.26 billion pounds, or 34.5 pence, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. That beat the 1.73 billion-pound median estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company raised its dividend by 10 percent to 22.5 pence in the second half.

U.K. banks face rising bad consumer loans as borrowers come under pressure from more expensive mortgage payments, higher utility costs and a slowing housing market. London-based Barclays is expanding commodities trading and overseas consumer lending to help mitigate a decline in credit trading at its Barclays Capital investment banking unit.

``The fact that there are no surprises is good news and shows that Barclays is coming out of this with minimum injuries and bodes well for the future,'''' said MF Global Securities Ltd. analyst Mamoun Tazi in London, who rates the stock ``buy.''''

Barclays Capital, the company''s most profitable unit in the first six months of 2007, posted 1.6 billion pounds in net writedowns related to assets including collateralized debt obligations and loans for leveraged buyouts in 2007.

The bank, which abandoned its 63.2 billion-euro ($123 billion) bid for ABN Amro Holding NV in October, posted 1.7 billion pounds of gross writedowns for the first 10 months of 2007.

Barclays Capital Outlook

``Investment banking and investment management performed well in the tough market conditions of 2007,'''' Chief Executive Officer John Varley said in the statement. ``Global retail and commercial banking is showing good momentum in the U.K., in western Europe and especially in emerging markets.''''

Barclays fell 28 percent in London trading in the six months through yesterday, just below a 27 percent drop in the FTSE All-Share Banks Index.

``The big growth engine for Barclays has been Barclays Capital, the outlook for which is not that great at the moment,'''' said Derek Chambers, an analyst at Standard & Poor''s Equity Research Ltd. in London who rates the stock ``buy.''''

Barclays President Robert Diamond has said the slowdown in the U.S. may enable the bank to invest and gain ground on securities firms that have been hurt by market swings.