Barclays Africa has announced positive financial results for 2014, revealing steady growth in all sectors
Revealing a 10 per cent increase in year-on-year headline earnings per share (HEPS) from US$977mn to US$1.08bn, the group stated that it was on track to achieve its strategic priorities and deliver on its financial commitments in the region.
Within Africa, headline earnings for South Africa rose by nine per cent to US$919mn, with the rest of the continent showing an even sharper rise on the previous year of 14 per cent, climbing to US$165mn.
Barclays Africa Group’s chief executive, Maria Ramos, said, “The Group has never been in a stronger position than it is today. These results clearly show that we have built a solid foundation and that we are building the ‘go-to’ bank in Africa.”
In a piece of good news for investors, strong equity levels and internal capital generation caused the total dividend per share (DPS) to rise by 13 per cent, while credit impairments fell 10 per cent to US$522mn.
Speaking about Barclays’ future prospects and priorities for Africa, Ramos said, “We will keep improving our business in South Africa by picking up the pace on turning around retail and business banking (RBB) while simultaneously driving growth in our corporate bank and wealth and investment management (WIMI) franchise across the continent.
“There is great upside in extracting more value from our existing portfolio so this is our main priority for 2015.”
