Barclays reports fall in profits, exit Africa

Barclays has reported a drop in full-year profits, and announced plans to cut its dividend and sell down its stake in its Africa business.

Underlying annual profits for 2015 fell 2% to £5.4bn. The bank said it would cut its dividend by more than half to 3p per share in 2016 and 2017.

Barclays also announced a further £1.45bn provision for PPI mis-selling.

The bank said it planned to sell down its 62.3% stake in its Africa business in the next two to three years.

Barclays also said its bonus pool for staff in 2015 had shrunk 10% to £1.67bn.

The bank said it wanted to simplify its business by focusing on two main core divisions – Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate & International.

“Barclays is fundamentally on the right path, and is, at its core, a very good business,” said chief executive Jes Staley in the results statement.

“There is of course more we need to do and areas where I believe we can move much faster to deliver the high performing group that Barclays can and should be.”