LONDON (Alliance News) - Several major shareholders in Barclays PLC want to meet Deputy Chairman Gerry Grimstone because they are unhappy with the bank's surprise decision to cut its dividend in 2016 and 2017, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
Last week, Barclays said it will slash its dividend to 3.0p in both 2016 and 2017 and make the payments semi-annually rather than every quarter, having maintained the dividend at 6.5p per share in 2015. The bank's net loss widened to GBP394.0 million in 2015, from GBP174.0 million in 2014.
The Sky News report said that an investor, who did not want to be named, drew attention to a letter to shareholders from Barclays Chairman John McFarlane in September.
"We are taking action to accelerate earnings growth, return on equity and capital generation in order to have the capacity to invest in the business and to increase dividends," the letter said, according to the report.
Barclays declined to comment to Alliance News.
Shares in Barclays were down 0.3% at 173.22 pence on Tuesday.
http://news.sky.com/story/1655793/barclays-investors-demand-talks-over-divi-cut
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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Barclays (BARC)