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First half profit falls 9%, less than feared

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Equities revenues up 24% in Q2

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Bank upgrades 2026 returns guidance

(Adds details throughout)

By Lawrence White and Sinead Cruise

LONDON, Aug 1(Reuters) - Barclays ( JJCTF ) announced a

new 750 million pound share buyback and upgraded its longer term

earnings guidance on Thursday, driven in part by an upswing in

investment banking performance that offset a 9% fall in profit

over the first half of 2024.

The bank's pretax profit of 4.2 billion pounds for the six

months to end-June was above the 3.8 billion pounds average of

analysts' forecasts, and down from 4.6 billion pounds in the

same period a year ago.

Barclays ( JJCTF ) said it was upgrading several longer-term return

goals, including a return on tangible equity (ROTE) greater than

12% RoTE by 2026, compared with a 10%-plus target in 2024.

The lender also outlined an income goal of 30 billion pounds

by 2026.

Barclays ( JJCTF ) shares were trading 1.4% higher at 0719 GMT, while

major British bank rivals all nursed losses.

A 10% rise in income at its investment bank over the second

quarter, driven by the equities business, helped Barclays ( JJCTF ) match

the bumper returns from trading desks reported last month by

Wall Street rivals.

Barclays ( JJCTF ) said equities income for the second quarter rose

24%, compared with an 18% increase for Morgan Stanley ( MS ), 7%

for Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and 21% for JPMorgan ( JPM ).

Shareholder Richard Marwood, head of income at Royal London

Asset Management, described the Barclays ( JJCTF ) results as "pretty

solid", adding that the lender remains one of the few major

banks still trading at a discount to its book value.

The British bank's strong performance in equities has been

part fuelled by market share gains in the lucrative world of

prime brokerage, serving hedge funds' complex trading needs,

Reuters reported last week.

Barclays ( JJCTF ) also reported fixed income, currencies and

commodities (FICC) revenues fell 3%, while investment banking

income from deals rose 44%.

The lender, which is shrinking its European business, said

it remains in discussions with respect to the disposals of its

remaining non-performing and Swiss-Franc linked Italian retail

mortgage portfolios.