Record results for Barclays

Barclays Capital delivered record results, with its two best quarters ever.

The bank stressed that July trading at the division had also been ahead of last year, easing concerns about the impact of current market turbulence.

Mr Varley said of group-wide prospects: “We enter the second half of 2007 with good business momentum across Barclays, driven by a strong first half resulting from high levels of customer activity.”

Jeremy Batstone, an analyst at Charles Stanley stockbrokers, said the prolonged battle for ABN Amro was weighing on the company’s share price.

He added: “We believe that Barclays shareholders will benefit from Barclays losing the contest, as underpinned by the solid performance of the underlying business, shares should benefit from being viewed as prey rather than predator and relief that the uncertainty regarding merger and acquisition is over.”