Barclays shares rise as it begins £1bn share buyback
Shares in Barclays (BARC.L) rose to the top of the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) in early trade on Tuesday as the banking giant gave the green light to the £1bn ($1.25bn) share buyback it put on hold at its first quarter results.
The lender announced the plan in February after increasing its full-year dividend to 4p per share.
The programme, aimed at reducing Barclay's share capital, was put on hold twice by the fallout from a blunder in its structured products business and was pending a new submission to American regulators.
It refilled its accounts with US authorities on Monday, giving it the go-ahead to proceed with the plan on Tuesday and will end no later than 30 September.
Read more: Barclays to buy back £1bn of shares and raise dividend as profit soars
Barclays recently admitted to selling more products to investors in America than it was allowed to, triggering an estimated £450m loss. It overshot a $20.8bn limit agreed with US regulators by $15.2bn.
The British bank also faced regulatory scrutiny for the blunder as some of the structured goods have surged in popularity since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) bank was the biggest riser on London's bluechip index surging as much as 3.3% to 162p on Tuesday morning. Shares were up 1.9% at the time of writing to 160p.
In March, a mystery shareholder sold about £900m worth of Barclay's stock a day after the bank revealed a costly bond sale blunder.
The bank, which reported a 7% drop in profits to £2.2bn last month, warned about difficulties households and businesses face amid the cost of living crisis.
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Large stake sales have increased recently, with activity rebounding from a near clampdown on equity offerings as the start of the war in Ukraine in February fuelled market and economic uncertainty.
Big holders including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund have offloaded shares in firms like the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L), London-listed miner Glencore (GLEN.L) and French multinational naval engineering firm Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT.PA).
