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LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc said its2013 underlying earnings dropped by a quarter from the yearbefore to 5.2 billion pounds ($8.5 billion), below expectations,which is likely to be due to a fall in investment bank earnings.
The British bank will not report its results until Tuesday,but it released the headline number early on Monday. A previewin the Financial Times included numbers close to the figuresreleased by Barclays.
Other banks, including Deutsche Bank, havereported weak investment bank revenues for the final quarter oflast year and Barclays' core fixed-income business is likely tobe similarly hit, analysts said.
Analysts are likely to focus on what Chief Executive AntonyJenkins plans to do to increase cost savings - which couldinclude hundreds of job cuts - and shrink his investment bank.He is attempting to improve profitability, cut risk and reducethe bank's leverage.
Jenkins is expected to increase cost savings targets beyondthe 1.7 billion pounds in annual savings unveiled a year ago.
The bank has cut about 400 jobs in its investment bank inthe last two weeks and plans to cut a similar number in itscorporate bank. Jenkins is expected to cut staff and branches inthe coming years to improve efficiencies.
After raising 6 billion pounds from shareholders in October,Barclays said it would cut the size of its balance sheet by65-80 billion pounds and Jenkins is expected to increase thattarget. The Sunday Times said he could cut the balance sheet by150 billion pounds.
Jenkins is also due to set new targets on how staff conductthemselves as he tries to improve culture following a string ofindustry scandals.
Barclays was expected to report adjusted profit before taxof 5.4 billion pounds, according to the average forecast fromanalysts polled by the bank.
The only other number released on Monday was a statutorypretax profit of 2.9 billion for 2013.
The bank had already said it would take a 330 million poundcharge in the fourth quarter to cover litigation and regulationpenalties.
