Barclays First Half Profit Jumps

Barclays BCS, England's third-largest bank, said its first half profit rose to $3.9 billion from $3 billion a year earlier, helped by a decline in provisions to cover bad loans. Analysts were expecting a profit $3.6 billion. Barclays Capital, the bank's investment banking and capital markets arm, said revenue tumbled 32% in the second-quarter as clients took on less risk. The unit generated about 66% of the bank’s pretax profit in the first half, up from half last year, according to Bloomberg News. Barclays is depending more on that business to generate profits after selling its Barclays Global Investors fund management operation last year. Barclays will pay a first half dividend of 3 cents a share.