Boston, MA 05/22/2014 (wallstreetpr) – It is no longer business as usual for many businesses around the world amid rising costs of doing business. At least that is the case at Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS), a global provider of financial solutions.
The company is battling rising costs amid dwindling business fortunes as it meets competition left, right and center. Like its peers in the financial sector, intense regulatory measures have not made things any better for Barclays.
The first three months of 2014 saw the bank reporting profit decline and more so in its investment bank division. Therefore, looking to cost measures comes as second nature for the seemingly besieged financial provider.
Among the key costs adjustments that Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) intends to make is ending its sponsorship of the English Premier League (EPL). Though it first started as a rumor that the bank would not renew it sponsorship of ELP at the end of its current contract that runs until 2016, Barclays seems to have now decided on the matter, and the decision is that it will not renew its sponsorship.
The bank has a yearly £40 million deal with EPL, and it has been a key sponsor since 2001.
Zero sum business
According to sources, Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) thinks its sponsorship of ELP is fast becoming a zero sum game in the UK. At the center of the concerns by the bank’s top brass is that the high costs of sports rights is likely, as already shown by many indicators, to lead to big demand by ELP than in the previous arrangements.
The fast-rising costs for sports rights have been linked to the red-hot battle for television rights between BT and BSkyB and things seem headed to become increasingly unfavorable for Barclays.
Lackluster financial data
In the first three months of the year, Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) saw its investment bank profits down 49 percent and 5 percent overall. It was only the street division that helped matters with a 20 percent increase in profit in the first three months to March.
