Barclays reports 188 percent rise in second quarter profits year-on-year

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays <BARC.L> second quarter pretax profits have almost trebled compared with a year ago, the lender said on Thursday, beating analysts' expectations as it avoided the heavy restructuring and legal costs that blighted past results.

Barclays reported pretax profit of 1.9 billion pounds for the three months from April-June, up from 659 million pounds a year ago.

That was higher than the 1.46 billion average of analysts' estimates compiled by the bank.

(Reporting By Lawrence White and Emma Rumney, editing by Sinead Cruise)