Barclays followed its US rivals in reporting falling investment banking revenues in a tough first three months of the year but investors welcomed signs of resilience under new CEO Jes Staley.
The lender also said today that it was in discussions to sell its French retail banking operations to AnaCap Financial Partners.
This comes as part of its efforts to shed "non-core" assets to cut costs and restore profits.
Barclays had already announced plans in March to sell its 62% stake in Barclays Africa Group over the next two to three years, leaving the continent to focus on Britain and the US.
The bank said its first quarter pretax profits fell to £793m, below the average forecast of £846m from analysts polled by the company.
Stripping out a €109m accounting charge for swings in the value of the bank's own debt, pretax profits were 7% higher than forecast, partly due to higher than expected income and lower impairments.
US investment banks last week reported much sharper revenue declines, with Goldman Sachs falling 40%year-on-year.
Barclays had already indicated earlier this month that it expected weak results in investment banking compared to the same period in 2015.
Its core units Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate and International performed strongly, with an aggregate 9.9% return on equity, driven by the UK business, which posted a 20.5% return.
"The core return of 9.9% is very close to the double digits that we have been targeting," Staley, who took over the role last December, told reporters.
His comments came the day after a top Bank of England official warned investors may have to accept lower bank profits than in the past as they shift to less risky models.
Analysts warned of tough times ahead, pointing to the potential for a spike in credit card impairments risk, weak investment banking performance and the uncertainty of disposals that Barclays is betting on to shore up its capital.
Total income at the bank's Consumer, Cards and Payments unit increased 24% to £917m, reflecting continued growth in Barclaycard US and Germany.
Barclays' French unit had 1,243 employees and made a loss of £76m on turnover of £225m in 2015, according to company data.
Barclays said it would keep the investment banking unit of its French business if a deal goes through.
The bank's common equity Tier 1 ratio - a key measure of financial strength - fell to 11.3% in the first quarter from 11.4% at the end of 2015.
