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2000 has been a good year for Barclays. We
began to reap the benefit of past investments.
We expanded the reach and range of our
products and services. We advanced our aim
to transform our business and we continued
to build the foundations for future growth and
development.
Profit before tax was £3.5 billion, up 42% on last
year. Earnings per share were 163.3 pence and
our post tax return on equity 25.1%. The results
reflect revenue growth of 15%, £260 million of
productivity gains in business as usual costs
and an almost doubling of strategic expenditure
to £426 million, demonstrating a good balance
between short-term aims and investment in
future growth. This is reflected in the total
dividend pay-out for the year of 58 pence,
a 16% increase over 1999.
This financial performance was achieved against
a backdrop of accelerated transformation of
Barclays, achieving benefits for our customers,
staff and shareholders.
In 2000, customers gave us a vote of confidence.
We gained new customers across the Group and
did more business than ever before.
We also laid the foundations for ensuring
operational excellence in all we do as we
transform from old bank to new bank.
Our total shareholder return for 2000 was 21%,
only average in terms of the international banks
we benchmark ourselves against. This is a good
result in absolute terms but not good enough
in relative terms. Our ambition is to rank among
the top quartile of our international peers.
So we have much to do.
Capitalising on previous investments and
developing profitable growth opportunities
In Retail Financial Services, we acquired new
customers, increased business with existing
customers, and expanded customer choice and
access. We maintained our position as the UK’s
leading internet bank and now have 1.7 million
personal and small business customers on-line.
Our investment in managing customer data,
which is at the leading edge of technology
worldwide, allowed us to anticipate and respond
to customer needs better than ever before.
Products per current account customer rose
to 2.3. The numbers are even more impressive
on-line, where each customer holds on average
2.7 products. We invested £65 million in 2000
in a programme that will upgrade 1,000
branches by the end of March 2001.
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