Their current price makes me wonder - particularly foreign institutions wanting a big fat foothold in the UK?

R.

I don't think so. The stories going round not so long ago was that Lloyds were going to cut dividend, and although they actually increased the dividend in the end, the results weren't that good. And off course they are now ex dividend. These are the factors that have pushed the overall price down. (Not that any of the banking sector is particular high at the moment - Barclays has droped too, and they went ex dividend today, with OK results.)

Are these shares too cheap when considering the yield?
Anybody know when the most likely Xdiv date is?!?!!!

Little Woman,

you say Lloyds are ex dividend, I thought the results weren't out yet, 8 May? When were the results?

Why buy Lloyds ?
rgfs aj

The results are out ? 8/3/2004. But I would like to know the likely date of X.div.

As fancy doing something a little different with the few coppers I have in Lloyds.

But being greedy still would like to have the dividend.

results out 8 March, ex-divi on 17th March. See lloydstsb.com investor relations.

Thank you

They should have been reported and ex-div by now but for some
reason they have stalled this year - possibly due to change of
chief financial officer/director Ceefax have the report due
on 8th March - way late compared to the other banks! Thanks to
Namreh3 for ex-divi date - saves me going looking for it!!

stockbunny........They'll save quite a bit of dosh by delaying the divi. makes the year 54 weeks long.

Good point.....

I could be fibbing, stockbunny. as always DYOR!! (as if i would fib!)

Yup.. thanks for the tip..But if the results are late it figures...

The potential for an overseas bidder to come in must put a strong base on the price at around these levels.

Quite possibly, it's curious the whole sector is pretty average
share price wise yet the results all round are pretty impressive!!
Personally I'm interested in seeing what the results bring...

I'm in for the divi at these prices, 23.5p is over 5% and (if it's held) there must be some pretty active buying prior to ex-div date later this month especially by the income funds. I'm hoping to get in at this level (I bought again at 437 the other day) and pick up the divi and sell again near or even above this level in the next three months. Of course the best laid plans....

Sounds good to me - be lucky!!!

This all sounds peachy but just a few short weeks ago LLOY were hovering around the 400p mark. These levels (10%) uplift seem expensive even if divi factored in. Perhaps at 400p they were extremely cheap and now just moderately so. Any more thoughts ?

Some Income funds are ditching these shares as divis are tipped to be cut signicantly. Capital is needed to grow the business!

Clapp Trapp........Dad. Divi will be held as long as its covered 1.5 times which it is. They've got plenty of capital following NZ sale.

DAVES DAZZLERS, 04 MARCH 10.00AM WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME ANY OF YOU WALKED IN TO THE BANK THERE EMPTY ,ENOUGH SAID ,TAKEOVERTARGET,YOU BETTER BELIVE IT?...

LLOYDS TSB DOWN THE PAN?. 04 MARCH.

such fantastic insight from DD. Happy LLOY up substantially this am. More pearls of wisdom please.

nemreh, having been in this buisness eight years and my i say done good,i think my statement is spot on,having recently been part of a group of investors who bought lloyds tsb purely as a growth stock for 3.66,15 months ago we feel a bit disappointed at the current shareprice of 4.40 as we are looking for a 45% / 55% premium on the bought price,we are not intrested in big divi payers, if we where we would go off shore,,,,i am sure there will be more pearls of wisdom regards dd.............................................................

But in the meantime as we wait for the price to rise, 500p would
do me nicely, (lol) it is nice to soak up the dividend....

Absolutely SB. Do you consider LLOY to be potential buyer for EGG from PRU?

Maybe...not really convinced one way or the other to be honest on who
would take on egg, OK it's an internet bank, but so are many others and
all the big high street banks operate on the web themselves anyway. Plus
it's in the red isn't it - hardly a carrot to buy it - a bank in this
consumer spending environment that isn't making a profit! As the same could
be said for LLOY, depending on how you choose to read the figures today, I
can't see it being worth their while. I'd expect them to try and buy
something larger in the domestic market, if they really want a challenge
they could always go for ANL!!!!!

Would such a bid get past the regulators? I can see lots of cost savings merging ANL mortgages with LLOY's C&G but reducing competition on the High St -still viewed negatively. ANL still loss-suffering, has worse reputation than EGG which does not have traditional high 'customer interface' overheads and appears to be tinkering at the margins with the 're-launch' "ABBEY". ANL would be too expensive IMHO.