n n n ‘. concat(e. i18n. t(“search. voice. recognition_retry”),’n
Shares of Barclays PLC BCS have lost 4.9% on the NYSE since Qatar’s wealth fund sold almost half of its stake in the British bank. According to the terms of the offering seen by Bloomberg, Qatar Holding LLC, owned by Qatar Investment Authority (“QIA”) sold 361.7 million shares in Barclays, raising £510 million.Notably, Qatar became the largest shareholder of Barclays during the 2008 financial crisis when it injected £4 billion into the British bank to help it prevent a state bailout.While Qatar’s above-mentioned intervention helped BCS avoid a government bailout, the emergency fund-raising has been a legal headache ever since.In 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority announced its plans of fining Barclays £50 million for failing to disclose an agreement to pay advisory fees to Qatari investment vehicles during the fund-raising efforts.While the Middle Eastern state remains a significant shareholder of Barclays, its decision to slash support for the bank comes as a surprise, adding pressure on CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan, months before he discloses a new strategy for the bank.Notably, Venkatakrishnan is overhauling Barclays in an effort to boost the company’s performance.Last month, it was reported that BCS plans to lay off up to 2,000 staff across its legal, compliance and human resource divisions to reduce expenses by $1.25 billion (around 7% of total operating costs incurred in 2022).Also, its investment bank is planning to axe thousands of unprofitable clients, including sovereign wealth funds, governments and large institutional investors.Moreover, in sync with its strategy to improve market share in the U.K., Barclays also seems interested in acquiring Edinburgh-based Tesco Bank.According to a report by Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, BCS seems to have already made a bid for Tesco Bank, formed in 1997 through a 50-50 joint venture between Royal Bank of Scotland (now known as NatWest Group plc) and Britain’s large food retailer Tesco Plc. In 2008, Tesco Plc took full ownership of the venture.Barclays is primarily interested in Tesco Bank’s credit card and savings account products. The deal offers an opportunity to cross-sell products to Tesco Plc’s huge retail customer base.The above-mentioned efforts taken by Venkatakrishnan are expected to boost Barclays’ share price, which has fallen 9.7% on the NYSE year to date against the industry’s 13.4% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Currently, BCS is carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. To remain successful in a high interest rate environment and navigate the current difficult economic environment, monetary corporations around the world have undertaken several restructuring efforts, primarily task cuts. Last month, Citigroup Inc. C began cutting various positions as part of its major organizational reform process. The job cuts affected about 10% of Citigroup’s senior management positions, or a total of about three hundred managers. According to C’s press release: “Today we share with our colleagues the next layer of adjustments to many of our businesses and purposes as we continue to align Citi’s organizational design. design with our new simplified operating model. As we have recognized, the steps we are taking to reorganize the company involve difficult and far-reaching decisions, but we believe they are the right steps to align our design with our strategy and ensure we consistently deliver excellence to our customers. As part of an effort to streamline business operations, Ally Financial Inc. ALLY has begun cutting its workforce, a move that is expected to have an effect on less than 5% of ALLY’s overall workforce. Spokesman Peter Gilchrist said in an email that the workforce relief will occur across all divisions and will not be limited to a single line of business.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Citigroup Inc. (C): Free Stock Analysis Report
Barclays PLC (BCS): Free Equity Analysis Report
Ally Financial Inc. (ALLY): Free Stock Analysis Report
For this article in Zacks. com, click here.
Zacks Investment Research