Barclays 2006 Annual Report Download - page 11

Operating review
1
Barclays PLC
Annual Report 2006 7
Chairman’s statement
An excellent year with total
shareholder return of 25%
Delivering growth
Marcus Agius Chairman Barclays PLC
On the non-executive side, Fulvio Conti joined the Board as previously
reported. Fulvio is Chief Executive Officer of Enel SpA, the Italian energy
group. Sir David Arculus retired from the Board after serving for nine
years. Bob Steel resigned as a Director, following his appointment as
Under Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America.
Finally, Chris Lucas will be joining the Group and the Board on
1st April 2007 as Group Finance Director. Chris was previously with
PricewaterhouseCoopers and has worked across financial services for
most of his career. He will succeed Naguib Kheraj who will be leaving
the Board on 31st March 2007. Naguib has made an outstanding
contribution to Barclays, for which we are most grateful. We wish him
well for the future.
Responsible banking
A key objective of the Board is for Barclays to be a leader in the area
of corporate responsibility. 2006 saw significant progress towards
this objective.
We continued to give high priority to financial inclusion and improving
access to banking services and affordable credit. The number of UK
Cash Card accounts designed for low income and vulnerable people
increased by 22% to 464,000, while Absa remains the leading bank
provider of Mzansi basic bank accounts and launched an innovative
new service to help beneficiaries of social grants.
In terms of environmental management, Barclays UK operations are
now carbon neutral. Our involvement in the Business Leaders’ Initiative
on Human Rights continues and we retain membership of the Dow
Jones Sustainability and FTSE4Good ethical indices. We achieved
third position in the Business in the Community Corporate
Responsibility Index.
Full details are contained in our eighth Corporate Responsibility report,
and at www.barclays.com/corporateresponsibility.
Marcus Agius
Chairman
arclays had an excellent 2006. Profit before tax rose by 35%,
with outstanding performances from Barclays Capital and
Barclays Global Investors. Of particular note is the continued
turnaround in UK Retail Banking, which this year delivered
very strong growth along with UK Business Banking. We also
saw a very strong performance from Absa in its first full year
contribution and are ahead of plan in delivering the income and cost
synergies from the acquisition.
Profit before tax at Barclaycard decreased as good income growth was
offset by higher impairment charges and increased costs from the
continued development of the international businesses. We started to
see in the second half of 2006 the benefit of the actions taken to address
the deterioration in the UK consumer credit environment.
The Group declared a final dividend for the year of 20.5p per share,
making a total payment for the year of 31p, an increase of 17%.
We delivered a total shareholder return (share price appreciation
plus reinvested dividend payments) of 25% for the year.
The strong performance for the year is a tribute to the immense
contribution made by my predecessor, Matthew Barrett, initially as
Chief Executive and subsequently as Chairman. Profit before tax
increased from £2.5bn to £7.1bn during his time with the Group and
Barclays would not be in the strong position it is today without his
contribution. I look forward to working with the Board and the executive
team to build on this platform and continue to take Barclays forward.
Corporate governance
As Chairman, it is my responsibility to ensure that the highest
standards of corporate governance are in place and I am committed
to maintaining Barclays strong reputation in this area.
2006 saw a number of Board changes. On the executive side, Frits
Seegers joined Barclays as a Director and Chief Executive of Global Retail
and Commercial Banking in July. Gary Hoffman, who was Chairman
of UK Banking and of Barclaycard, was appointed as Group Vice
Chairman. He is accountable for a range of issues, including corporate
responsibility, public policy and equality and diversity. David Roberts,
previously Chief Executive of International Retail and Commercial
Banking, left Barclays at the end of the year. I would like to thank David
for his significant contribution to the Group.
B