Barclays Share News (BARC)

UK lender Barclays slashed its Barclays Capital (BarCap) bonus pool in 2011, after the investment banking unit helped push down full-year group income by 8%.Total income excluding an own credit gain of £2,708m (£391m in 2010) and gains on debt buy-backs of £1,130m (nil in 2010), fell 8% from £31,049m to £28,454m. Including these items, total income rose 3%. Total income at BarCap dropped 22% from £13,209m to £10,335m due to the challenging market environment, the group said.While income fell at BarCap, the firm assured that income increased in most other business "despite continued low interest rates and difficult macroeconomic conditions".Bonuses at the investment banking arm were cut by 32% last year to £1.5bn, while the headcount was reduced by 3%.Meanwhile, group profit before tax fell 3% from £6,065m to £5,879m in the 12 months ended December 31st, mainly attributable to a £1,000m provision for the redress of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) that wasn't recorded the year before. The adjusted profit before tax figure, which excludes certain items such as the PPI figure, fell by a lesser 2%. BarCap pre-tax profits dropped from £4,389m to £2,965m over the year."Barclays has delivered solid results for the full year 2011 amidst a challenging economic, market and regulatory environment and has done so by continuing to support growth in the real economy," said Chief Executive Bob Diamond.The full-year dividend per share was increased by 9% to 6p, from 5.5p in 2010.Prime Markets said that despite the fall in revenues and profit, Barclays still remains the "pick of the UK banking sector", noting that the company has improved its core tier-one ratio to 11% (well above the Basel III requirements) and diversified its operations to take up the slack from the underperforming BarCap operation."As an investible entity, there is every sign that Barclays is undergoing a renaissance that will continue to provide a solid underlying momentum to it's continued recovery," according to head of dealing at Prime Markets, Richard Curr.Lastly, and perhaps most critically, on the conference call with reporters the lender´s chief executive, Bob Diamond, reiterated that the bank´s target for return on equity is 13% although he did add that, "because of some of the external headwinds, we can't be as convinced that 2013 will be the year." BC