Diamond hails success of Lehman buy

The top brass at Barclays were today toasting the decision to snap up the US arm of hobbled rival Lehman Brothers after investment banking profits doubled.

Profits at Barclays Capital leapt from £524 million in the first half of 2008 to £1.05 billion this time around after another bumper performance in April, May and June.

The unit benefited from the bold $1.75 billion acquisition of the US arm of Lehman Brothers following the dramatic collapse of the Wall Street bank in September last year.

At the time, Barclays Capital boss Bob Diamond said it was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Barclays". It certainly appeared that way today. Diamond said: "The Lehman acquisition was clearly a strong, strategic move. We are getting the benefits already." Barclays chief executive John Varley said: "It is working well. We have saved four to five years of organic development. It is a very high-quality business."

The Lehman deal doubled the size of the Barclays Capital business in the US and it now does 40% of its business in America. City commentator David Buik, of BGC Partners, said: "The brave decision by the management of Barclays to buy a trashed and downtrodden Lehman Brothers US operation was inspiration personified.

"Barclays inherited a very strong equity operation in New York and at the same time enhanced its reputation in bond issues, foreign exchange and fixed-interest dealing. Profits from Barclays Capital were outstanding."

They were driven by "excellent results" in fixed income, currencies and commodities.

Ralph Silva, banking analyst at Tower Group, said that not accepting Government money contributed to Barclays Capital doing so well. "Investment banking is back," he said. "If you are a big company you are going to gravitate towards the banks that have not received government funds."