Further re Final Results - 1

Barclays PLC
15 February 2000

Further re Final Results - 1

                                BARCLAYS PLC
                    RESULTS FOR YEAR TO 31 DECEMBER 1999

-    Operating profit up 49% to £2,942 million from £1,971 million

-    Operating income up 13% to £8,364 million from £7,416 million

-    Earnings per share increased by 59% to 142.8p from 89.6p

-    Post tax return on equity up to 25.0% from 17.3%

-    Dividend up 16% to 50p per share for the year from 43p
                                      

Operating profit shown above excludes the 1999 restructuring charge.  In
1998, operating profit excludes residual losses of the former BZW businesses
and are stated prior to the write-down of leases as a result of the Finance
Act 1998.  Profit and loss items reported above are on a similar basis.  In
addition, earnings per share and post tax return on average shareholders'
funds reported above exclude exceptional items and write-down of fixed asset
investments.
                                      
          
CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT

Commenting on the results, Barclays PLC Group Chief Executive, Matthew
Barrett said: -

'1999 was an excellent year for Barclays.  Profit before tax was £2.46
billion, a 30% increase on last year.  Earnings per share were 117.5p and
our post-tax return on equity was 21.2%.  These achievements, and our
underlying strengths, give me confidence that Barclays has enormous
potential for future growth.  With this in mind the total dividend payout
for the year is 50p, a 16% increase over 1998.

Certainly we start from a very sound base, as our 1999 figures demonstrate.
Retail Financial Services, which represents some 60% of the Group's
operating profit, increased profit by 16% to over £1.7 billion.  All the
major retail businesses performed well and present significant growth
opportunities.  Corporate Banking achieved operating profit of nearly £1
billion.  We have a first-class middle market business, which is a UK
leader, and around one quarter of UK companies bank with us.  Barclays
Capital achieved a complete turnaround with a profit of £316 million and
made significant progress in extending its franchise, while taking less
risk.  Barclays Global Investors' operating profit was £43 million, and
reflected increased investment in a number of strategic programmes.  Assets
under management grew by over 30% to £486 billion.

While I am pleased with these achievements, I am also convinced that the
Group can raise performance to even higher levels and meet a target of
doubling economic profit every four years.  Many of the elements and
initiatives to get there are already in place, but we must accelerate the
pace and sharpen our focus.

In addition to targeting traditional areas of growth, my colleagues and I
intend to get there by transforming our management framework and approach,
setting our priorities for top-line growth, re-engineering our technological
infrastructure and aggressively seeking improved productivity.  We will do
all this by having committed employees and by ensuring our customers
associate our brand with the highest quality of professional service.  We
will do it, too, within the strong capital and risk management framework for
which Barclays is known.

Implementing a rigorous, value-based management framework

Our guiding focus will be the creation of value for our shareholders, using
the management framework called value-based management or VBM.  Its
yardstick of economic profit, that is, profit after deducting the cost of
capital employed, enables management to compare the relative performance of
all our lines of business.  Once VBM is up and running, all our lines of
business across the Group will be judged by the standard of their potential
to double economic profit every four years, calculated on a rolling basis
across the business cycle.  Performance management and incentives will also
be aligned to economic profit.  We believe this framework will allow us to
unlock the hidden value of our capital, skills and reputation and meet our
overarching goal of maximising shareholder value.

VBM favours three major pillars of financial discipline: revenue growth,
higher productivity, and tight capital management.  These three are
interdependent and when properly handled, they are mutually re-enforcing.
Barclays has already made good progress on cost-control and capital
management, although we have more to do particularly in terms of costs.  Now
we are developing significant opportunities for growth across the Group,
both in traditional revenue streams and in new e-commerce initiatives.

Portfolio mix and growth opportunities

In Retail Financial Services we aim to bring our market share of savings,
investments and domestic mortgages more in line with our share of current
accounts.  Barclaycard is the leading European card brand with the potential
to extend its market still further.  In Wealth Management, where we already
have several strong businesses and large customer bases, we believe we can
be a European leader in this attractive market.

In Corporate Banking we will build on our leading position in the UK middle
market as well as the substantial cross-border trading between the UK and
continental Europe where our presence in nine European countries gives us a
competitive advantage.

For Barclays Capital there are growth opportunities in the European markets
as the sophistication of European corporates and investors increases.  The
bond market in Europe is underdeveloped relative to North America, giving us
plenty of room to grow.  Our debt-focused model has already yielded strong
results.

Barclays Global Investors continues to invest, recognising the need to
maintain its strong global position.  BGI has developed a new generation of
higher-margin products and is now making progress in high growth markets
such as defined contribution pensions and exchange traded funds.

Transforming our technology infrastructure

Our plans for accelerating the technological transformation of Barclays
offer the greatest opportunities, both to grow traditional revenues and
especially to win a large share of the business currently passing under the
heading e-commerce.  Five years from now, there will be no distinct
e-businesses or dotcom companies; only companies that have learned how to
change their business model and survived, and those that have fallen by the
wayside.  A bank with the brand value of Barclays, 300 years of trust and
integrity, and a customer base that a dotcom business would envy, is
particularly well placed to take advantage of this new economy.

We are also, however, well aware of the pitfalls.  We do not plan to buy
market share by sacrificing margins but to introduce new technology in step
with our customers' willingness to pay for it.  Our long record of firsts in
information technology proves, in our view, that big banks can be leaders in
this field and make profits in it.

Already, we are pioneering customer applications in e-commerce across all
our businesses.  In internet banking alone, we are the UK leader by a
considerable margin, with 500,000 customers at the end of last year and
plans to have more than one million by the end of 2000.  In January alone
100,000 new customers took advantage of our internet offering.  Our multi-
delivery channel approach, which gives customers a choice of internet
banking, telephone banking or a branch, will enable us to compete on service
and value and not just on price.  I believe this will be a major competitive
advantage in profitable market segments over virtual-only new entrants.  In
Corporate Banking, around 30,000 customers use our electronic banking
products, up 44% within 12 months.

Improving our productivity

Higher productivity is essential to build profitability, to fund future
investment and to allow us selectively to compete on price.  Costs were flat
in 1999, but we need a permanent commitment to productivity, in effect a
whole new way of running the bank.  We have identified potential savings by
aggressively targeting three areas:

-    The continuing transformation of our distribution network
-    The re-design of back-office systems
-    Streamlining our administrative and support overheads

Our objective, by the end of 2003, is to offset inflationary and volume-
related cost increases by reducing run-rate costs by £1 billion.  This will
assist us in reaching our target of doubling economic profit every four
years.

Investing in our employees, customers and brand

Value based management will demand large resources of professional,
dedicated management.  It is well known that staff numbers are declining
across the financial services industry and this trend will continue as our
customers shift from capital-intensive distribution channels.  On the other
hand there are many more opportunities opening up for truly challenging and
rewarding careers in our industry.  If we offer our people the chance to
acquire the skills, experience and attitudes they need to build successful
careers at Barclays, we will be acting in the best interests of the Group
and our staff.  Motivated employees can give our customers what we owe them
first and foremost - professional service, along with choice, reliability
and security.

Barclays name is one of the best known for integrity and trust in the UK and
around the world.  Barclays today, however, is also about value, size,
innovation and diversity.  Our challenge is to take these strengths both new
and old and make them relevant to our customers' needs as they perceive
them.

As we do these things, we are taking long strides toward our vision of being
one of the premier financial service companies in the world.'

Matthew W. Barrett
Group Chief Executive

For further information, please contact:

Leigh Bruce, Group Corporate Communications  Maria Darby, Group Media
Relations
Barclays PLC                       Barclays PLC
Tel: [phone]                 Tel: [phone]

Photographs of the Barclays Chairman, Sir Peter Middleton and Chief
Executive, Matthew Barrett will be available to download through
www.newscast.co.uk from approximately 1pm.

Internet: www.investor.barclays.com

          
                                                           15 February, 2000
                           BARCLAYS PLC - SUMMARY

                    RESULTS FOR YEAR TO 31 DECEMBER 1999

                                         1999          1998
                                           £m            £m
                                                           
Operating profit before provisions*     3,564         2,539
                                                           
Provisions for bad and doubtful         (621)         (492)
debts
                                                           
Provisions for contingent                 (1)          (76)
liabilities and commitments
                                                           
Operating profit*                       2,942         1,971
                                                           
Restructuring charge                    (344)             -
                                                           
Exceptional items                       (138)             1
                                                           
Former BZW businesses                       -          (33)
                                                           
Write-down of leases                        -          (40)
                                                           
Write-down of fixed asset                   -           (4)
investments
                                                           
Profit before tax                       2,460         1,895
                                                           
Tax charge                              (649)         (533)
                                                           
Profit attributable to shareholders     1,759         1,317
                                                           
Earnings per share                     117.5p         87.2p
                                                           
Earnings per share (based on           142.8p         89.6p
operating profit above)*
                                                           
Dividend per share                      50.0p         43.0p

* Operating profit shown above excludes the 1999 restructuring charge.  In
  1998, operating profit excludes residual losses of the former BZW
  businesses and is stated prior to the write-down of leases as a result of
  the Finance Act 1998.
                               

Profit and loss items reported below are on a similar basis.  In addition,
earnings per share and post tax return on average shareholders' funds
reported below exclude exceptional items and write-down of fixed asset
investments.

-    Operating profit rose 49% to £2,942 million (1998: £1,971 million).
  
-    Operating income increased 13% to £8,364 million (1998: £7,416
  million).  Operating costs at £4,800 million (1998: £4,877 million) were
  tightly controlled.
  
-    Earnings per share increased by 59% to 142.8p (1998: 89.6p).
  
-    Post-tax return on average shareholders' funds improved to 25.0% (1998:
  17.3%).  The Group's target post-tax return on equity in the short term is
  at least 20% per annum.
  
-    The dividend increased by 16% with a second interim dividend of 32.5p
  (1998: 27.5p) making 50p per share for the year (1998: 43p).  The Group
  maintains a progressive dividend policy, to achieve a cover of at least two
  times earnings, on a maintainable basis.
  
-    Economic profit, including exceptional items and restructuring charges
  but excluding the charge for the write-back of goodwill on disposals,
  increased to £986 million (1998: £471million).
  
-    Assessing businesses on the basis of economic profit imposes a strong
  capital management discipline.  The Group's aim is to maintain a minimum
  tier 1 ratio of 7% and risk asset ratio of 10%.
  
-    Shareholders' funds were £8.5 billion at 31st December 1999 (1998: £7.8
  billion) and the tier 1 ratio was 7.5% (1998: 7.3%).  The Group's economic
  capital requirement is estimated to be around £7.0 billion to support its
  current business requirements and to allow for future growth.
  
-    Share buy-backs will continue to be used as an efficient and flexible
  capital management tool.  They allow for tier 1 capital to be reduced and
  surplus funds to be returned to shareholders.  In 1999, the Group returned
  £500 million of capital to shareholders.
  
-    Retail Financial Services increased operating profit by 16% to £1,713
  million (1998: £1,477 million).  Net interest income improved by 5%
  reflecting strong volume growth in UK consumer lending and extended credit
  balances at Barclaycard.  Net fees and commissions grew 3% predominantly
  within Wealth Management.  Total costs at £2,723 million (1998: £2,852
  million) benefited from greater efficiencies and the impact of the 1999
  restructuring programme.
  
-    Corporate Banking produced a good underlying performance.  Net interest
  income rose 5% after adjusting for a £20 million debt recovery in 1998.
  Fees and commissions increased 13% as a result of increased lending related
  fees and foreign exchange related income.  Total costs were maintained at
  1998 levels.
  
-    Barclays Capital operating profit of £316 million (1998: operating loss
  of £270 million) reflects a strong performance and the return to stability
  in the financial markets.  Both the Rates and Credit businesses performed
  well despite a more challenging trading environment in the second half of
  the year.
  
-    Barclays Global Investors operating profit was lower at £43 million
  (1998: £52 million) as a result of increased investment in the business.
  Total assets under management rose strongly to £486 billion (1998: £370
  billion).
  
-    The restructuring charge of £344 million for 1999 primarily relates to
  Retail Financial Services and Corporate Banking.  Gross reduction in job
  numbers of 7,500 has been achieved from the 1999 restructuring programme and
  the Barclaycard change programme.
  
-    Total provisions for bad and doubtful debts rose by £129 million to
  £621 million, mainly as a result of higher levels of new and increased
  provisions reflecting strong volume growth within Retail Financial Services.
  This was offset partly by the absence of new and increased provisions of
  £153 million charged in 1998 in respect of Russian counterparties.  Releases
  and recoveries also fell by £61 million to £250 million.
  
-    The exceptional loss of £138 million is mainly in respect of the loss
  on the sale of Merck Finck and Co, which included £138 million of goodwill
  previously written-off to reserves.

The information in this announcement, which was approved by the Board of
Directors on 14 February 2000, does not comprise statutory accounts within
the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985.  Statutory accounts,
which are combined with the Group's annual report on Form 20-F to the US
Securities and Exchange Commission and which contain an unqualified audit
report, will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies in accordance with
Section 242 of the Companies Act 1985.  The 1999 Annual Review and Summary
Financial Statement will be posted to shareholders at the beginning of March
and the Group's annual report will be posted to shareholders who have
requested it towards the end of March 2000.
This document contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 1995 with
respect to certain of the plans of the Group and to the Group's current
goals and expectations relating to its future financial condition and
performance.  By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and
uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that
will occur in the future, many of which are beyond the Group's control.  As
a result, the Group's actual future results may differ materially from the
plans, goals, and expectations set forth in the Group's forward-looking
statements.

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