The British-based bank Barclays today reported positive earnings for the first quarter of 2010.

Total revenue in the first quarter of 2010 increased 4-percent year-over-year (YoY) to £8.07-billion as the company saw significant growth in its investment banking division were pre-tax profits in the division increased by 62-percent to £1.47-billion

The top bank reported before tax profit of £1,820-million, an increase of 47-percent from the same quarter in fiscal 2009.

 Net earnings were £1.07-billion in Q1 of this year, compared to only £826-million in Q1 of 2009.

EPS in the quarter was up by 35-percent to 9.3 and risk weighted assets (RWA) also grew at 8-percent to £415-billion.

Core Tier 1 ration in Q1 2010 was 9.8-percent for Barclays.

The company CEO John Varley said today in regards to the first quarter, “I am pleased with the strong growth in profits,”

Barclays also saw a significant decline of 35-percent in provisional losses indicating the European economy is showing signs of improvement.