British banking group Barclays has posted attributable loss of £1.21bn for the first half of 2017, compared to a profit of £1.11 a year ago.

The loss mainly reflected losses from the sale of the Africa business and £700m for payment protection insurance (PPI) charges.

The banking group’s annual pre-tax profit for the period ended 30 June 2017 stood at £2.34bn, up 13% from £2.06bn in the year ago half.

Net operating income dropped 3% to £9.82bn from £10.08bn a year ago. Total operating expenses remained almost flat £7.73bn.

Barclays UK – the division that includes the bank’s personal banking, card and wealth management businesses in UK – posted attributable profit of £185m for the first half of 2017, a 70% slump compared to £608 in the same period a year ago.

The division’s pre-tax profit dipped 41% to £634m from £1.08bn a year earlier, while total income dipped 2% to £3.66bn from £3.74bn a year ago. Operating expenses at the unit increased 14% year-on-year to £2.63bn.

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Barclays International division posted attributable profit of £1.65bn for the first half of 2017, a fall of 5% from £1.74bn in the previous year. The unit includes the banking group’s corporate and investment bank, and consumer, cards and payments.

Compared to the year ago period, the unit’s pre-tax profit dropped 5% to £2.61bn and total income increased 3% to £7.75bn. Operating expenses at the division increased 10% year-on-year to £4.72bn.

Barclays CEO Jes Staley said: “The second quarter saw us complete two critically important planks of our strategy; both of them ahead of schedule. First, we reduced our majority shareholding in Barclays Africa Group Limited to a level which allows us to apply for regulatory deconsolidation, and we expect to achieve that in 2018. We have permission to apply proportional consolidation to our reduced shareholding, which means that our CET1 ratio stands at 13.1% today, within our end-state target range. We will realise a further c.26bps uplift resulting from the sale.

“Second, we completed the accelerated rundown of our Non-Core unit to below our target of £25bn in Risk Weighted Assets, allowing us to close it 6 months early and incorporate the residual assets back into the Core. Accomplishing both of these milestones marks an end to the restructuring of the Barclays Group, and brings forward the date when our shareholders can benefit from the full earnings power of this business.”