Barclays (LON: BARC) reports third-quarter results at 07:00 UK time on Thursday. The shares fell 3.5% today amid a reported complaint to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) about its private-credit exposure, so Thursday’s first trade will be the market’s first reaction to the numbers. Barclays says the date is provisional.
When and what to expect
The call will be at 09:30, hosted by C.S. Venkatakrishnan and Anna Cross. No consensus is available for profit before tax, income, return on tangible equity (RoTE, profit as a share of tangible shareholders’ equity), CET1 (a measure of core capital strength) or the buyback.
| Measure | Q3 2025 | Q2 2026 | Consensus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit before tax | £2.1bn | £3.3bn | No data |
| Income | £7.2bn | £8.3bn | No data |
| RoTE | 10.6% | 16.1% | No data |
| CET1 | No data | 14.3% | No data |
The second-quarter RoTE included about 1.2 percentage points from a one-off gain of about £225m on the sale of an American Airlines portfolio. CET1 was 14.3% at the end of June against a target range of 13% to 14%. In July Barclays raised its 2026 income guidance to about £31.5bn from £31bn.
The set-up
The shares closed at 417.5p today, down from 432.65p. The highest weekly close since April was 525.4p in the week of the 20th of July, so they sit about a fifth below that July weekly close.
The Financial Times reported that the PRA received a complaint this year that Barclays traders understated the risks of derivatives linked to private credit, lending made outside traditional bank and public markets, by placing the underlying loans in the trading book. Barclays says most of its £15bn private-credit exposure sits in the banking book. The Bank of England declined to comment. A Barclays spokesman responded to the report:
Under capital rules, we are required to meet certain conditions to classify treatment as trading book. Those conditions were met and supported by appropriate governance internally and by external advisers.
Barclays spokesman
What to watch
Any comment on private-credit exposure and capital will matter most. Beyond that, watch impairments, which were £0.6bn in both Q2 2026 and Q3 2025, and the Investment Bank. Barclays plans more than £15bn of distributions in 2026 to 2028, so any buyback news is a watch item.