COMPANY COMMENT
Maria Ramos’s foresight pays off for shareholders
Without the settlement, Barclays Africa shareholders would have taken a R1.9bn hit
Barclays Africa’s shareholders must be thanking their lucky stars that CEO Maria Ramos had the foresight to negotiate a £765m (about R12.8bn) "divorce settlement" from Barclays plc. The African banker’s results for December shows that had it not received this settlement it would have reported much lower earnings due to separating from the UK banking group. Like a good parent, Ramos has ensured her children would not be adversely affected by the (thus far) amicable divorce, resulting in a 4% gain to 1,837.7c in diluted headline earnings for the year to December 2017 – using the settlement to cushion the bank from expenses related to rebranding, technology and other costs related to the separation. Without the settlement, Barclays Africa shareholders would have taken a R1.9bn hit, decreasing diluted headline earnings to 1,716.5c. While the R1.9bn costs related mainly to spending on technology, Barclays Africa has finally decided on a new name — Absa Group — and put it to shareholders ...
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