Banking giant Barclays (LON:BARC) topped the Footsie leader board as first half results came in slightly better than expected.
There was a 12% fall in the group's adjusted income to £13.32bn against consensus of £13.23bn.
The group said strategy measures to simplify and refocus the group across the board announced in May were beginning to bear fruit.
Chief executive Antony Jenkins noted that profits before tax in Personal & Corporate Banking and Barclaycard were up 23% and 24% respectively.
Meanwhile, Africa Banking also delivered a good performance with profits increasing 13% on a constant currency basis.
However, performance in the investment bank - a side of the business much in the press in recent years - was affected by the repositioning underway as well as difficult trading conditions in the quarter, said Barclays, which added it was "where we expected it to be at this point".