LONDON (AP) — Shares in Barclays PLC surged more than 70 percent yesterday after the bank said it expects pretax profits for 2008 to be well over £5.3 billion ($7.3 billion), despite £8 billion worth of asset write-downs at its investment banking division.

In a joint letter to reassure investors, Barclays' chairman Magnus Agius and chief executive John Varley said 2008 profits would be "well ahead" of market expectations and that the bank did not need any more capital injections to cover potential losses associated with the global financial turmoil.

"These figures demonstrate that, although we have been heavily impacted by the credit crunch, our income generation was at a record level in 2008 and has enabled us to withstand this impact and still produce strong profits," Agius and Varley said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Investor relief was evident in the sharp rally in Barclays' share price. The stock rose 37.5 pence, or 73.2 percent, to close at 88.7 pence yesterday.

Other British bank shares rose too, with Lloyds Banking Group PLC up 19 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC 15 percent higher. Unlike Barclays, Lloyds and RBS accepted a government capital injection last October in return for an equity stake. In the case of RBS, the government is set to own 70 percent of the company's stock.

However, given the extreme volatility in financial stocks over the past few months, analysts said Barclays wasn't in the clear yet.