LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Barclays said itsunderlying profits fell 5 percent in the first quarter from ayear ago after its investment bank struggled due to a slump infixed income revenues.
Barclays said on Tuesday its adjusted profit before tax was1.69 billion pounds ($2.85 billion) in the first quarter, afterincome at its investment bank fell 28 percent from a year ago,mainly due to a 41 percent crash in income in fixed income,currencies and commodities. It blamed that fall on subduedclient activity and changes in its business mix as part of areview of its investment bank, which will be unveiled onThursday.
"We continue to be cautious about the trading environment inwhich we operate and as a consequence we remain focused onstructurally reducing the cost base in order to improvereturns," the bank said in a trading statement.($1 = 0.5929 British Pounds) (Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Matt Scuffham)