LONDON— Barclays PLC Wednesday said its net profit rose in the second quarter, driven by a strong performance in its investment bank.
The London-based bank earned £2.11 billion, equivalent to $2.92 billion, in the three months to the end of June, up from £90 million in the same period last year.
Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley has staked his strategy on reinvigorating the investment bank. The bank recently promoted several executives to new roles and has targeted becoming the fifth-largest investment bank by revenue, usurping the position held by Citigroup Inc.
In May, activist investor Edward Bramson’s Sherborne Investors said it had sold its entire 6% stake in Barclays, clearing away a key critic of Mr. Staley’s strategy of maintaining a robust trans-Atlantic investment bank serving big companies and investors, stitched together with a large U.K. retail bank.
Profit at Barclays’ corporate and investment bank rose 51% to £1.05 billion during the second quarter. The bank’s U.K. unit earned £721 million after reporting a loss in the same period last year.
