London  - Britain's Barclays Bank Monday reported pre- tax profits of
6.08 billion pounds (8.9 billion dollars) for 2008, a drop of 14 per
cent compared with the previous year.

The figure exceeds expectations in the City of London, and include an
"accounting profit" of Barclays' acqisition of assets of collapsed US
investment bank Lehman Brothers of 2.4 billion pounds.

Barclays, which has declined to take up the British government offer to
recapitalize the banking system, has insisted that its finances are
sound.

Last year, it attracted 7.3 billion pounds of investment from Middle
Eastern investors from Abu Dhabi and Quatar. However, its share prices
has fallen by about 80 per cent over the past months. (dpa)