Barclays reported a 5% fall in net profit for the first quarter, hit by a sharp fall in revenue at its investment-banking unit.

The UK-based banking giant said net profit for the period was £1.01bn, compared with £1.07bn a year earlier, but helped by a credit on the value of its own debt. Pretax profit, a figure closely tracked by UK analysts, fell 9% to £1.66bn from £1.82bn in the first quarter of 2010.