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From The Times -- May 23, 2009
Black horse shares can ride out storm.
But should investors take their little purse of monies and run? Hindsight shows that investors would have been better off ignoring the received wisdom on previous occasions, and shunning previous calls. Thoughts now might turn to piling in when everybody seems to be wanting you to do the opposite.
Why should investors subscribe for the new shares? Because it is possible to see recovery coming, and having endured so much financial pain it seems right to grab as much of the upside as possible. You could take 250 now. But if things continue to settle, that 250 could become 500 in as little as 12 months.
The Government is doing shareholders a substantial financial favour. The 4 billion raised by Lloyds will be used to repay preference shares, bought by the Government, that were issued only relatively recently. Because the preference shares are counted as debt, their existence weakens the Lloyds balance sheet. Shares aka equity count on the other side of the ledger so an equity-for-debt substitution does the books a double favour. Lloyds, moreover, is on the hook to pay 480 million a year in dividend interest on the preference shares. If they are replaced with ordinary shares, that drain disappears. It also means that the company will resume paying dividends on ordinary shares sooner rather than later. And while the Government is reclaiming its 4 billion of preference-share cash, it is reinvesting nearly half that sum back by buying new ordinary shares. In the process, it is set to maintain its 43 per cent shareholding in the bank.
If Lloyds can keep its act together, it will emerge as a powerful player in the financial services sector. That brings the risk it will become complacent, and idly fail to win the big operating cost advantages that are in the offing. In time, also, competition authorities may seek to dilute the monopolistic power it might enjoy. But that is not something shareholders necessarily have to fear, especially if division comes through demerger. Who knows, the black horse bank, a lumbering old faithful, could deliver one, or more, lively foals.
There is, of course, no certainty that new dosh invested will grow in value, while there is a calming certainty about taking cash when it is offered. Lloyds continues to mutter darkly about the state of the lending markets, and its bad debts, while doubt hangs over the exact cost, and extent, of the government-backed debt insurance scheme the crucial government asset protection scheme, or, to use its alarming acronym, the Gaps. Meanwhile, European authorities might throw a spanner in the works with rulings about unreasonable and unallowable, state aid. And the resignation this week of Sir Victor Blank, the chairman, while not unduly worrying, is hardly an indication of internal management strength.
And OK, so the banking sector recommendations in this column over the past 18 months are not blemish-free. It has been suggested that investors should support cash calls in the past, and it is true that shares could have been bought at substantially better subsequent prices. That said, analysis in this space at the time of the Lloyds-HBOS link, which suggested the deal was good for HBOS as it ensured its survival and bad for Lloyds as it saddled the black horse with a beastly burden stands the test of time. And as long as the banks do not go belly up, time may also prove that investors were right to provide them with the help. There was always a social responsibility to be met. Eventually, it may bring sound financial reward. Subscribe in full.