Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
Morning JayK,
All good thanks. Hope you and your clan are all in fine fettle.
As you are probably aware, currently and patiently, sitting "outside of the tent" and looking for an in for a swing trade if and when I feel ready. Personally I always seem calmer when I have no skin in the game. Is that always the way?
Not sure where the true bottom/retrace from the intra-day 52 week high of 194.80 actually is, but the US Banks reporting may give a clue/steer today and next week... or may be not (as I chuckle to myself).
Good luck my friend,
Regards, MrA
Evening All,
Barclays will be second out of the traps on this occasion.
Wed 24 Apr 24 Lloyds
Thu 25 Apr 24 Barclays
Fri 26 Apr 24 Nat West
Tue 30 Apr 24 HSBC
Thu 2 May 24 Standard Chartered
Regards, MrA
Thanks eviking, to expand a tad, US banks earnings kick off the earnings season tomorrow with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo reporting.
Any mention of distress in commercial real estate and weak loan growth will be pounced on, but stellar results could bolster expectations that a June Fed rate cut is now off the cards.
US consumer sentiment will be interesting after a hotter-than-expected CPI print. Plus, the UK releases monthly GDP and industrial output numbers.
On the basis that, typically, the US Banks set the direction of travel and the UK banks tend to follow, then it should prove to be an interesting follow.
Regards MrA
Evening Boonie,
Is your post not old news from the Investors Chronicle dated 7 December 2021?
I’m confused?
By the way bloody well done everyone that backed the ‘blue budgie’ since results day!!!
Regards, MrA
https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/education/2021/12/07/barclays-bank-a-cheap-stock-technically/
At the same time, though, the company has vowed to invest more heavily in other areas within the bank, including its UK-focused offerings and its US credit-card arm. For instance, Barclays expects risk-weighted assets to climb by roughly £50 billion ($64 billion) in the coming years and it’s not planning to allocate any of the additional capital to the investment bank.
Managers in the division are also under pressure to trim £700 million in costs by 2026 as they seek to whittle the unit’s cost-to-income ratio down to a percentage in the high-50s. That metric, which shows how much it costs to produce a pound of revenue, ended last year at 69%.
“The simple way to think about it is that we’re looking for the investment bank to grow and to contribute more while consuming less,” Venkatakrishnan said at the event last month.
Bankers on Edge
Inside the investment bank division, staffers have been on edge for months as they awaited executives’ decisions on the fate of the unit, Bloomberg reported late last year.
The division has been reeling from a grim bonus season in which Barclays handed dozens of investment bankers no bonus at all. Tensions have also been running high as executives have spent recent months trying to recover from the period of higher-than-usual attrition last year.
After those departures, the division’s leaders — Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright — began offering guaranteed bonuses and paying more to those who threatened to leave, Bloomberg reported last month. Those moves further depleted the bonus pool this year, frustrating bankers who stayed, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
The investment bank “is a critical part of Barclays and will continue to be an important part of Barclays,” Venkatakrishnan said last month. “I’m equally clear that there is a lot more to do. Our investment bank has to be higher returning. And, relatively speaking, it has to become a smaller part of Barclays.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-20/barclays-preparing-to-cut-hundreds-of-jobs-in-investment-bank?utm_content=business&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&sref=2h1zKciy
Barclays Readies Hundreds of Job Cuts in Investment Bank
Cuts will affect dealmaking, trading and research divisions
Bank embarking on yearslong effort to improve unit’s returns
By Jan-Henrik Foerster and Pamela Barbaglia
20 March 2024 at 18:27 GMT
Updated on 20 March 2024 at 19:06 GMT
Barclays Plc is preparing to cut several hundred jobs within its investment bank division as the firm embarks on a yearslong efforts to trim costs and boost profits within the unit, according to people familiar with the matter.
The cuts will affect staffers in global markets, research and the firm’s investment banking arm, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information. They are expected to take place in the coming months and are part of the firm’s annual cutting of low performers, the people said.
“We regularly review our talent pool to ensure that we can invest in high-performing talent, execute on our strategy, and deliver for our clients,” Barclays said in an emailed statement, which noted it hasn’t finalized the number of roles included in this year’s review.
In recent months, Wall Street giants from Citigroup Inc. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have turned to job cuts in response to the global slump in dealmaking and capital markets activity. At Barclays, the moves come as the company is kicking off a lengthy push to improve the profitability of its investment bank division, which has been stung by that dearth of activity as well as higher-than-usual attrition among dealmakers.
Barclays has long faced questions from investors about the viability of its Wall Street operations because the investment bank consumes more capital than other, higher-returning divisions across the firm. Last month, Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan sought to put those questions to rest as he laid out plans for the unit to become more profitable by focusing on boosting its advisory and equity underwriting offerings.
As part of that work, the company has been refocusing its businesses on industries it believes will be most active in the coming years, including financial sponsors and energy companies that are navigating away from greenhouse gas emissions. To that end, Barclays won a mandate to advise Equitrans Midstream Corp. on its $5.5 billion sale to the US natural gas producer EQT Corp. this month.
Barclays Looks to Sovereign Wealth Funds in IB Push
Barclays Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan says the bank is hoping to expand its relationships with sovereign wealth funds and private equity giants as it looks to broaden its footprint in advisory and equity underwriting.
Evening All,
The title says it all...
Here's the link: https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2024:newsml_L5N3FW2PG:0-citi-sees-european-banks-valuation-cheap-but-q1-miss-likely-adds-barclays-to-top-picks/
Regards, MrA
Evening All,
Here is the Bloomberg Podcast for those that may have missed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZv1Fqij-U0
Regards, MrA
... via Bloomberg Business News Live accessible for free on YouTube.
Morning All,
Hope everyone is well.
As per message title this may be worth a watch?
Regards, MrA
Morning roddle1, in relation to support of the buy-backs propping up the price, you could well be right. Time will make things clearer. Still early doors but the price is gently tip-toeing towards 170p. Very interesting!
Good Luck My Friend,
Regards, MrA
Morning JayK,
"...but you still gotta live and have a bit of fun right as much as I like making money ha."
Absolutely! Pointless making money if you can't enjoy some by spending it. If anyone wants any suggestions related to booking a cruise... and NOT up the Grand Union Canal (rofl Mr Wolf!) please send me a dm.
Regards, MrA
Morning JayK, all good thanks. Hope you and your clan are doing well. Not sure if you sold your car or not?
That's exactly how I read it also. However, i wouldn't want to cloud anyones judgement. It will be interesting to see if on Thursday, post-div, the share responds with a text-book drop of the same circa div-amount?
Regards, MrA
Morning All,
To those that cannot log-in to this site of citywire.com. I have copied and pasted accordingly.
Regards, Mr A
Activist investor Jeremy Hosking has questioned what he sees as a ‘15-year share price undervaluation’ of Barclays, following the bank’s results today.
The lender implemented a £2bn cost-cutting drive on Tuesday, alongside plans to return £12bn to shareholders over the next three years.
However, the Hosking Partners founder, who is a long-term shareholder in the bank, suggested shareholders had been given a raw deal.
‘The 60% discount to tangible book value either demands surgical action or an acknowledgement that Barclays has massively overstated its shareholders’ funds via dodgy accounting,’ Hosking asked. ‘Which is it to be?
‘Shareholders would benefit from a drastic shrinkage of Barclays’ consolidated balance sheet, the consequential creation of excess capital, and the return of that excess to shareholders via sustained buybacks.’
Barclays’ stock has traded sideways for five years and remains well below its pre-global financial crisis peak of 756p, putting chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan under pressure. Shares in the business were up 5.7% to 158p on Tuesday at 12.15pm.
As part of the shake-up of the firm, £12bn is set to be returned to shareholders via dividends and buybacks over the next three years.
Much of the aforementioned £2bn cost-cutting drive will be in the corporate and investment bank, with £0.7bn of cuts earmarked in this area.
Hosking has been particularly scathing of investment banking, although he does not believe that eradicating this unit would be a silver bullet.
‘Shorn of the investment bank, Barclays would probably carry the valuation afforded Lloyds or Natwest, which would hardly be a case for shareholder rejoicing,’ he said.
‘Shareholders should vote against the re-election of Barclays’ directors until a coherent way forward is in place and agreed with investors. This business-as-usual circus has gone on for too long.’
The Guardian gives its views.
Again, worth a read.
Regards, MrA
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/20/nice-targets-but-scepticism-is-hard-to-shake-at-barclays
Uphill battle at Barclays, says Third Bridge
Barclays (BARC) needs to cut staff by 20% in order to reach its £2bn cost-saving target, as the bank fights an ‘uphill battle’, says Third Bridge.
The Citywire Elite Companies AAA-rated bank announced plans to win over shareholders, including a cost-cutting drive that will save £2bn by 2026, a management shake-up, and £10bn of dividends and buybacks over the next three years.
Third Bridge analyst Max Georgiou said to achieve its £2bn target, a ‘20% reduction in headcount is needed’ but this would not impact day-to-day operations.
‘Previous cost reduction programmes have not been executed effectively, in some part due to its political culture,’ he said.
‘A coherent strategy is needed for future success but is an uphill battle.’
Georgiou added that further compression in net interest margin, or the difference between the interest earned on loans and the interest paid to depositors, is expected as interest rates stabilise and pressure from competitors grow for deposits.
Shares in the bank rose 4.6%, or 7p, to 156p on the announcement of the cost cuts on Tuesday, but are still down nearly 10% over the past year.
https://citywire.com/wealth-manager/news/stock-talk-barclays-needs-to-cut-staff-by-20-says-third-bridge/a2436642
Anyone know the dividend dates /amounts? 😂😂😂
I just couldn’t resist MrWolf. Have a Good Weekend.
Evening One and All,
Now as the dust starts to settle, the views of Reuters following Tuesdays Annual Results.
As I have mentioned before Reuters are rarely wrong and I am struggling to disagree with their detailed summary here.
Definitely worth a read in my humble opinion.
Regards, MrA.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/barclays-maps-uncertain-route-simpler-stronger-future-2024-02-20/
3.Dividends on ordinary shares
It is Barclays' policy to declare and pay dividends on a semi-annual basis. (Twice a year).
The 2023 full year dividend is 5.3p per ordinary share.
The Excluding Dividend Date is Thursday 29 February 2024.
Shareholders Recorded on the Share Register on Friday 1 March 2024 will receive a Dividend per Share.
Dividends will be Paid on Wednesday 3 April 2024.
Regards, MrA
https://home.barclays/investor-relations/shareholder-information/dividends/
@Fusion98 . Well Done! An 11% profit is a good return on a short term trade in my world.
Regards, MrA
Moring @JayK,
"My eldest daughter is 2.5 and she's already been introduced to candle sticks :)"
Should that not include "...and as a parent, due to a lack of sleep she has introduced me to matchsticks, for keeping my eyes open during the day".
Good Luck My Friend.
Regards, MrA