PwC agrees to bring forward Barclays 2008 results

Barclays has said it will publish its 2008 results earlier than expected after reaching an agreement with its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The high street bank's chairman Marcus Agius and chief executive John Varley made the announcement in an open letter to customers and shareholders.

The letter is a response to mounting speculation that Barclays will be forced to raise fresh capital amid mounting writedowns of assets.

Barclays shares have lost more than two thirds of their value over the past two weeks as the banking crisis has intensified in parallel with the economic slowdown.

Barclays said it expected to report a 2008 pretax profit of more than £5.3bn, which would include the impact of £8bn pounds in gross writedowns.

'Our starting point is that Barclays has £36bn of committed equity capital
and reserves; we are well funded, and we are profitable,' the letter said.

'However, we know that our stakeholders want to see the detailed figures for 2008 as quickly as possible. To enable that, we will bring forward the release of our 2008 financial results, as agreed by our auditors, to Monday, 9 February.'