Barclays Completes £1,000 Million Share Buyback and Starts New £500 Million Programme
Key Facts
Barclays announced on 4 November that it had completed the share buyback programme launched on 29 July, after purchasing and cancelling 213,040,129 ordinary shares. The volume-weighted average price of the shares purchased was 469.3951 pence, while the total consideration was about £1,000 million. The bank began a new buyback programme worth up to £500 million on the same day. The new programme follows completion of the previous one, according to the bank’s disclosure published via the London Stock Exchange. Barclays said the new programme is intended to reduce its issued share capital, and that shares bought under it will be cancelled.
The cancellation of shares bought under the completed programme reduced the number of ordinary shares in issue to 13,316,503,028, the figure cited in the disclosure for total voting rights. This reflects the cancellation of shares bought under the previous programme, while the new programme’s £500 million cap remains available for future purchases. The disclosure did not say that the full cap had been used when the programme began. Transactions on the programme’s final two days included the purchase of 4,166,932 shares on 2 November at an average price of 419.9733 pence per share. On 3 November, the bank bought 3,123,216 shares at an average price of 421.7155 pence per share.
The new buyback followed Barclays’ third-quarter results on 22 October, when it announced plans to launch a programme worth up to £500 million. The results showed a CET1 capital ratio of 14.2%, while announced distributions since the start of the year totalled £2.8 billion through the third quarter. Return on tangible equity rose to 11.7% in the third quarter of 2026, from 10.6% in the same period of 2025. The bank reported pre-tax profit of £2.3 billion, compared with £2.1 billion a year earlier. Group income was £7.4 billion, up 3% year on year, while the cost-to-income ratio fell to 62% from 63%.
The bank’s businesses delivered mixed performance in the third quarter, with group net interest income rising 4% to £3.9 billion. Net interest income, excluding the investment bank and head office, was £3.5 billion, up 7% year on year. At the investment bank, equities revenue rose 47% compared with the third quarter of 2025, with the bank pointing to the impact of its earlier investment in Prime financing and equity-linked derivatives. By contrast, fixed income, currencies and commodities revenue fell 19% amid what the disclosure described as a challenging environment. Before the new programme was announced, the shares fell 2.6% to 408.3 pence in trading on 22 October, after quarterly profit and group income came in below analysts’ expectations cited in the report.
In its third-quarter results, the bank said it was targeting return on tangible equity of more than 12% in 2026. It also expected total costs of about £18.5 billion in financial year 2026 and about £18.4 billion in 2027. These targets place the bank’s stated performance and cost expectations in the context of the launch of the new buyback programme, which follows the cancellation of shares under the previous programme. EL7 data showed the shares closing at $22.4 on 3 November. The new buyback initiative was announced with the third-quarter results on 22 October, before implementation began on 4 November.