International arm helps Barclays post solid first-quarter

LONDON (AP) - Britain's Barclays Bank says its international operations helped shore up the company during the first quarter.

The London-based group said Friday net income from its core businesses rose to 1.18 billion pounds ($1.53 billion) from 950 million in the same period last year.

Barclays International, which includes corporate and investment banking, was a key ingredient behind the increase - its pretax profit jumped 32 percent to 1.36 billion pounds.

Barclays is reorganizing to focus on consumer, corporate and investment banking in New York and London, while shedding riskier assets. Including losses from non-core assets, net income fell 56 percent to 190 million pounds.

CEO Jes Staley says the restructuring is two months from completion and "there is further good reason in this quarter's performance to feel optimistic for our prospects."