LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc reported a2 percent fall in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit on Tuesdayand unveiled plans to simplify its UK & international operationsto boost returns and cut costs, primarily by exiting itshistoric African business.
The British lender said it would sell down its 62 percentstake in Barclays Africa Group to focus on two mainsibling divsisions, Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate andInternational, two of its strongest divisions generating inexcess of 10 percent return on equity.
News of the restructuring came as the bank reported a weakerthan expected adjusted pretax profit of 5.4 billion pounds($7.52 billion) for the year to Dec. 31, compared with 5.502billion a year earlier. The figure was below the averageforecast of 5.772 billion from a consensus of analysts'forecasts.
Barclays Africa Group was created by combining Absa Groupand Barclays' African operations. ($1 = 0.7177 pounds) (Reporting by Lawrence White and Richa Naidu, Writing by JaneMerriman, editing by Sinead Cruise)