Barclays 2005 Annual Report Download - page 10

Barclays PLC
Annual Report 2005
8
Group Chief Executive’s review
John Varley
Group Chief Executive
Our strategy
“I am pleased to report that 2005 was
another record year for Barclays. Profit
before tax grew 15% to £5.3bn. We
increased our dividend 11%. This
performance is the consequence of having
a well-grounded and robust strategy, and
implementing it well.
Our ambition is to position Barclays as one
of the handful of universal banks leading the
global industry. Our portfolio helps us to
achieve this, through diversity in both
business and geography.
We have a simply stated business purpose:
to help our customers and clients achieve
their goals. Our strategic priorities are
derived from that business purpose.
They are: building the best bank in the
UK; accelerating the growth of our
global businesses; developing retail and
commercial banking activities in selected
countries outside the UK; and enhancing
operational excellence.
In executing our strategy, we are clear about
what we are seeking to achieve on behalf of
our owners: higher earnings growth. This is
what drives our investment priorities, and
what has guided us towards further
international expansion. The acquisition of a
controlling stake in the South African bank,
Absa Group Limited, which we completed in
2005; the development of our other
International Retail and Commercial Banking
businesses; and the continued rapid growth
of Barclays Capital, Barclays Global Investors
and Barclaycard International – all of these
are designed to enable us to grow faster by
ensuring that we have a good spread of
activities both by business and by geography.
We have a clear view about sources of
growth in the financial services industry
over the coming years. We see significant
growth opportunities in the UK but we see at
least as many internationally. Our selective
diversification by geography, by product, and
by customer segment helps us improve
financial performance, manage risk, and
create opportunities for synergies in product
and capital.
Our performance in 2005 has been
underpinned by three strong pillars: our
portfolio of businesses; our geographical
presence; and the talent and skills of our
people.
Our portfolio
UK Banking is a bellwether business for us.
If Barclays is to achieve its ambitions, then
UK Banking must perform well. We made
good progress in UK Banking during 2005,
and both of its components – UK Business
Banking and UK Retail Banking – achieved
encouraging profit growth. We have made
a public commitment to improve the
productivity of this business by two
percentage points in each of 2005, 2006
and 2007, and we outperformed that goal
in 2005.
We know that UK Retail Banking presents
us with a significant growth opportunity. Our
recruitment of customers was good in 2005
– 400,000 new current account holders,
250,000 new savings customers, and over
Build the best
bank in the UK
Accelerate
growth of
global
businesses