Barclays PLC, a leading financial services provider, had a successful trading session yesterday. The company’s shares rose 0.62% to £1.55, while the FTSE 100 Index also saw an increase, rising 0.40% to 7,361.31.
Despite the positive performance, Barclays PLC is still slightly below its 52-week high of £2.20, which was reached on January 14. Trading volume for the company was 14.3 million, lower than its 50-day average of 36.2 million. Overall, it was a strong day for the stock market and for Barclays PLC specifically.
Barclays has announced plans to increase its investments in climate-tech startups through its Sustainable Impact Capital portfolio. The bank’s investment mandate will increase from £175m ($237m) by 2025 to £500m by 2027.
The focus of these investments will be on decarbonization technologies that are helping to transition carbon-intensive sectors, particularly in areas where Barclays has significant client exposure, such as energy and power, real estate, and transport. In particular, the bank will focus on carbon capture and hydrogen technologies.
The announcement follows Barclays’ decision in February 2022 to make capturing opportunities from the transition to a low-carbon economy a strategic priority. In the last two and a half years, the bank has invested £84m in innovative start-ups, helping them to scale solutions to environmental challenges and fill their growth stage funding gaps.
These investments have supported various aspects of climate-tech innovation, including property retrofit solutions, long-duration energy storage, and hydrogen technologies. Barclays has already surpassed its 2018 target of delivering £150bn of social and environmental financing by 2025 and is on track to meet its goal of delivering £100bn of green finance ahead of the 2030 target date. As a result, the bank has set a new target to facilitate $1trn of Sustainable and Transition Financing between 2023 and the end of 2030.
This will encompass the long-term green, social, transition, and broader sustainability-linked financing requirements of clients, including corporates, governments, and consumers. The bank will continue to invest in its product platform to facilitate this financing, including expanding sustainable debt financing and equity capital markets activity.
Barclays’ focus on sustainable finance and investment in climate-tech start-ups is likely to have a positive impact on the bank. By investing in decarbonization technologies and facilitating sustainable and transition financing, Barclays is positioning itself to capture opportunities in the transition to a low-carbon economy and meet the increasing demand for sustainable finance from its clients. This focus on sustainability is also in line with broader societal and regulatory trends toward addressing environmental issues, which can help the bank to maintain its reputation and compliance with regulations.
Additionally, by setting clear targets for its sustainable and transition financing activities and being transparent about its progress, Barclays is demonstrating its commitment to sustainability and may be able to attract more socially responsible investors. This could help to improve the bank’s financial performance and increase its long-term shareholder value.
Yesterday’s 0.62 price gain was a reversal from last week’s 3 percent drop and a resumption of a long-term bullish trend that has seen the Barclays share price surge by over 20 percent since the start of October.
Looking at the chart below, it is likely that we might continue to see Barclays share price growing for the next few trading sessions. As shown from the fundamental analysis above, the company is continually making efforts to address its problems, which most investors are taking note of. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that we might see its prices hitting the 170p price level in the next few trading sessions. A drop beow the 150p price level will invalidate my bullish analysis.