From SKY news...............

The agreement would involve the sale of Lloyds TSB Scotland, Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) and Intelligent Finance (IF), it is understood.

This could affect thousands of customers at C&G's 164 branches, Lloyds TSB's 185-strong network, plus internet account holders with IF.

The EU competition watchdog has been scrutinising Lloyds' business to ensure the bank, which was bailed out by the UK government last year, has not gained an unfair advantage over its competitors.

The news follows a Lloyds statement updating the markets on the bank's ongoing attempts to withdraw from the Government's toxic asset insurance scheme.

Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman said: "I understand that Lloyds is close to an agreement with Brussels to sell its Lloyds TSB branch network in Scotland, the Intelligent Finance online banking subsidiary and the Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network.

"In Lloyds' statement, it did not name those particular assets but it has said it does not believe that any potential disposals will have a material affect on the group's finances.

"This will be seen as good news by Lloyds investors as it makes it more likely that Lloyds will be able ultimately to escape the Government's Asset Protection Scheme."

On Wednesday, EU regulators paved the way for part of Northern Rock to be sold off - with the likes of Tesco, Virgin Money and National Australia Bank thought to be interested.

Any sell-off would lead to a major shake-up of high street banking in the UK - but Kleinman said it was too early to say whether there will be job losses.

Kleinman added: "The Government and Brussels are trying to encourage more competition in the UK retail banking sector.

"This means if you carve out Cheltenham & Gloucester, Intelligent Finance and and TSB in Scotland, you've got a potentially powerful competitor that could be taken over by one of the aspiring newcomers in the UK banking market.

"It's too early to say what this will mean to staff and customers given it's not yet a formal agreement between Lloyds and the European Commission."

From the Wall Steet Journal

The Deal to Save Lloyds

BY SIMON NIXON
Nearly there? Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed it is now a whisker away from pulling off a Houdini-like escape from the U.K. government's asset protection scheme. If it succeeds, it will be a triumph of high finance, low politics and the determination of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lloyds boss Eric Daniels to avoid unpicking the disastrous takeover of HBOS they agreed at the height of the financial crisis last year.

Key to the Lloyds escape strategy has been an intense rearguard action to prevent the European Union forcing the sale of its Halifax branch network. Without the Halifax ...

What could be left with

Lloyds TSB
A business with 17m personal customers, 2000+ high-street branches, 800,000 business accounts and nearly 70,000 employees.

Halifax and Bank of Scotland

Scottish Widows

Birmingham Midshires

Advisory Sales

Bank of Scotland Investment Service

esure

HBOS Financial Services

Clerical Medical,

Stal

From Reuters update ............

Lloyds finalises $33 bln capital plan, shares jump
29 Oct 2009 - 16:26

By Myles Neligan and Douwe Miedema

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group Plc inched closer to plugging a capital gap of more than 20 billion pounds ($33 billion), boosting the British bank's shares on prospects a deal could happen before the year end.

In a sign it is getting more confident, Britain's biggest retail bank said it was in "advanced discussions" with regulators to stay out of a government-backed scheme to insure bad debts, sending its stock up 8 percent.

The bank for the first time confirmed widely reported details of its ambitious plans -- including one of the world's largest-ever rights issues and a debt swap -- to help it avoid harsh European Union anti-trust sanctions.

"The comments today provide comfort that the group will not be broken up and that any restructuring initiatives will not be particularly material to group earnings or capital," said Joe Dickerson, an analyst at brokerage Execution.

The bank is keen to announce its plans to raise capital at the same time as any sanctions it faces from the EU, after the UK scooped up a stake of 43 percent in the bank in last year's bailout, sources close to the situation have said.

Sky News reported that the bank was close to agreeing a deal with the EU to to sell its Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network. The deal would also involve Lloyds TSB Scotland and internet bank Intelligent Finance, Sky said.

Lloyds's comments came as Ireland's finance minister sought to downplay worries about a delay to his 54 billion euro bad bank plan, saying it could still proceed on schedule unless parliament gets bogged down in a lengthy debate. [ID:nLT287293]

Lloyds shares had lost ground this week as the market feared an order from Europe's anti-trust regulators for Dutch bancassurer ING to break up its business after receiving state aid set a harsh precedent for the British bank.

By 1309 GMT, Lloyds stock was up 7 percent at 85.62 pence, outperforming a 3.5 percent rise in the DJ Stoxx European banking sector index < .SX7P> and rebounding from Wednesday's lowest close in more than three months.


FINAL DETAILS

Lloyds hopes to launch its plans next week, if it gets approval, Reuters reported last week, quoting sources close to the situation. That would enable it to raise the money before Christmas, its preferred time schedule. [ID:nLN139980]

On Thursday, sources familiar with the matter gave new details of Lloyd's campaign to stay out of the APS.

It has lined up a mandatory convertible bond of 2 billion pounds and a series of actions agreed with the Financial Services Authority, they said, such as cost cuts and a reduction of risk-weighted assets.

It also plans a rights issue of 12 billion pounds and contingent capital -- "top up" hybrid capital that changes into equity if the bank hits trouble -- of 7 billion pounds, bringing the total to well over 21 billion pounds.

Lloyds declined to comment.

The bank has yet to receive the green light from regulators to stay out of the APS plan and absorb any further losses on toxic assets without state aid. It said in March it wanted to insure 260 billion pounds worth of assets under the scheme.

"There can be no certainty at this stage that any alternative to (the government insurance scheme) will proceed. All options remain open," Lloyds said.

A Treasury official likewise said talks with Lloyds were continuing and no decisions had been made.

The Treasury has given Lloyds the go-ahead to explore market sentiment and reassure it that private investors are willing to bear the risk of its massive capital addition, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

And more ..............

Update: Lloyds soars on fundraising talks

Rhian Nicholson

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) soared by as much as 11% on Thursday after the group confirmed it is in "advanced discussions" with the government and regulators over alternatives to its participation in the Asset Protection Scheme (APS).

The bank, which is 43% owned by the taxpayer, is looking to raise around 25 billion through a rights issue of around 12 billion and a debt swap.

These alternative proposals would meet the FSA's requirements for stressed economic conditions.

"There can be no certainty at this stage that any alternative to (the government insurance scheme) will proceed. All options remain open," Lloyds said in a statement.

Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics says: "It is clearly encouraging that conditions have improved sufficiently that the banks no longer think that they will make significant losses on their toxic assets. It is also positive that markets' risk appetite, as
well as confidence in the banking system, has increased enough potentially to support such a large fundraising."

Analyst Nic Clarke of Charles Stanley adds: "Although we do not know what path Lloyds will eventually take the very fact that it has been able to gain sufficient provisional support from the market to launch a massive rights issue does show just how far the banking sector has come in a matter of a few months.

"Indeed, the fact that the fees for the APS insurance are deemed to be 'too expensive' reflects the improvement in the so called 'toxic' asset pools. But if Lloyds does not participate in the Government APS then it does shift uncertainty and therefore potential volatility back to the banking sector, given the unclear economic outlook, which the APS was designed to sterilise," he concludes.

If Lloyds does not enter the government asset protection scheme it will be expected to pay the Treasury a fee in recognition of the value of the implicit guarantee Lloyds has benefited from since the toxic asset scheme was announced.

The bank has also announced that it is in advanced discussions with the European Commission over the terms of a restructuring plan to address the 17 billion of state aid received by the group.

It says it is confident that "the final terms of its restructuring plan, including any required divestments of assets will not have a material impact on the group".

Sky News reports suggest that the agreement could involve the sale of its 185-branch Lloyds TSB Scotland, its 164 branches of Cheltenham & Gloucester and Intelligent Finance.

Mounting concerns

Lloyds' share price has been hammered in recent weeks by concerns that the European Union could impose severe restrictions on Lloyds in return for its state aid lifeline following the harsh penalties imposed on Dutch banking group ING earlier this week.
Commissioner Neelie Kroes has demanded that ING, which received a EUR10 billion hand-out from the Dutch government a year ago, sell its insurance business, slice 40% off its asset base and launch a 7.5 billion rights issue - a decision which shocked investors.

Lloyds' rights issue would therefore shore up its finances and prove it has sufficient capital to avoid the government's asset protection scheme, which could put it in a more favourable light in Brussels when it comes to imposing penalties.

Paul Mumford, senior fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management, believes that shareholders and institutions will be "broadly supportive" of a Lloyds rights issue.

"Given Europe's tough stance on ING and concern over banks in receipt of state aid, a rights issue at Lloyds may help soothe some of the fears the Commission has on competition grounds. Some threat still remains, due to the sheer size of the newly merged Lloyds/HBOS, yet investors are likely to respond favourably to the opportunities the rights issue may present for the future.

He says the move could pay dividends in the long-term. "By avoiding the APS, Lloyds could find itself in a position of considerable flexibility and strong capitalisation. In time, that excess could be put to good use, enabling the bank to reduce the state's holding by buying out all or part of its stake," he adds.

My dear Gays,
Please push the price down, my limit is not filled!

My dear " ahoj " real name "A H"

Phone your brokers and tell them to raise you limit before is too late

Lloyds upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse, TP raised to 95p from 55p.

Lloyds mulls 12 billion cash call -- Fri 30 Oct, 2009 12:09
By Myles Neligan and Raji Menon

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) was on Friday talking with key shareholders to gauge investor appetite for a potential 12 billion pound cash call, one of the biggest on record.

The part-nationalised lender approached its shareholders on Thursday, investor sources said, and hopes to complete the bumper rights issue before the Christmas holiday.

One top ten Lloyds investor said the participation and scrutiny of the government, which owns a 43 percent stake in Lloyds, made it more likely the fundraising would succeed.

"We have to assume they would have passed it by the FSA (regulator), by the Treasury and got it approved by the Bank of England, and the government is putting its hand in its pocket, so there is a high degree of testing by interested parties who wouldn't want egg on their face," the investor said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


The share sale would have to be priced at a discount of at least 40 percent, given the amount of capital being raised and uncertainties over the bank's future prospects, analysts said.

"What I'm hearing is it will be at least 40 percent," said one analyst who asked not to be named.

"It would have to be a big discount for such a huge amount of capital, and given all the uncertainty around it. So I think 40 is a reasonable number, it might be a bit more than that."

The country's biggest retail lender needs the money to fund its exit from a costly government scheme to insure it against credit losses that the bank hopes will prove unnecessary following an improvement in market conditions since the asset protection scheme was drawn up in March.

In all, the bank is looking to plug a capital gap of more than 20 billion pounds using the rights issue, fresh hybrid capital and a convertible bond. It said on Thursday that talks on exiting the protection scheme were well advanced.

Lloyds shares were up 4 percent at 89.4 pence by 11:10 a.m. British time, extending Thursday's gains of around 8 percent after the bank said EU regulators investigating its reliance on state aid would not impose draconian penalties.

Lloyds is close to a deal with the European Commission under which it would sell Lloyds TSB Scotland, its Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network, and internet banking unit Intelligent Finance, two sources familiar with the matter said.

"There's a bit of relief in there. It's a clear story now: The Commission won't require as much in the way of disposals as feared," the analyst said.

The EU-mandated break-up of Dutch bancassurer ING earlier this week stirred fears that it might be forced to dispose of its much bigger Halifax mortgage business, triggering a steep fall in its share price.

The shareholder who spoke to Reuters said that despite the amount of capital being sought by Lloyds there was a case for investing, particularly if one believes the economy is stabilising.

"It has a good franchise, good brand, it is well-placed to benefit from the turnaround," the shareholder said, but cautioned nobody yet knew what the likely extent of losses on bad loans would be.

"If anybody thinks they can guess impairments with any certainty, then they have an insight into the future."

thanks for all the info, master

FTSE well down now by 30 points and LLOY loosing much of the early gains, though still on the blue

Intraday
               
1 month
               

                       AFTERNOON FUN

       

Hi all
A couple weeks ago I said something about a FANTASY PORTFOLIO - BIG GAINS FOR 2009 A thread that I started back in February and finished end of July with the selection of 10 shares.
As at the end of each month I look at the valuation and posted at the Thread, I decided to posted here aswell, just in case you have nothing to do, so you have the time to look at and maybe complain about not doing good enough.

VALUATION at 30 OCTOBER FANTASY PORTFOLIO - BIG GAINS FOR 2009 1 BVC 41,450 53.50 22,175 + 121.75 2 LLOY (1)19,172 87.03 16,685 + 66.85 3 SPT 24,922 91.75 22,865 + 128.65 4 BP. 2306 572.30 13,197 + 31.97 5 AFR 67,226 87.00 58,486 + 484.86 6 INCH 55,555 29.35 16,305 + 63.05 7 SKR 63,795 33.00 21,052 + 110.52 8 RCG 18,735 81.25 15,222 + 52.22 9 CFM 91,954 19.75 18,160 + 81.60 10 YELL 36,866 51.25 18,893 + 88.93 TOTAL 100,000 223,045 + 123.04 (1)Ajusted for cap. and placing

Below is how started

FANTASY PORTFOLIO - BIG GAINS FOR 2009 (PORT) Add Favourite
Master RSI - 05 Feb'09 - 22:25 edit
During the near future I will be selecting a number of shares, most likely 10 that will be the base for the Fantasy Portfolio Year 2009 1 - There will be a spread of shares selected from different sectors of the Industry. 2 - The selection will be of shares considered as undervalued, by growth or PE 3 - Every share will be invested in 10,000 at middle price. 4 - The total amount most likely will be 100,000 5 - Any bid for a company the total amount from it can be reinvested on another share

Portfolio Selection 2009 1 BVC 24.125 41,450 10,000 Technology 5 February 1 2 LLOY 65.40 (1) 19,172 10,000 Banking 13 February 3 3 SPT 40.125 24,922 10,000 Technology 24 February 4 4 BP. 433.625 2,306 10,000 Oil 2 March 7 5 AFR 14.875 67,226 10,000 Oil 16 March 10 6 INCH 18.00 55,555 10,000 Motor 22 April 15 7 SKR 15.675 63.795 10,000 Mines 24 April 17 8 RCG 53.375 18.735 10,000 Software tech 4 May 21 9 CFM 10.875 91,954 10,000 Mines 6 July 34 10 YELL 27.125 36,866 10,000 Adverts 23 July 44 TOTAL 100,000 Cash from dividends 08 june BP. Q1 2,306 9.584 221.00 221.00 20 july BVC Half 41,450 0.69 27.94 248.94 08 sept BP. Q2 2,306 85.03 196.07 445.01 17 sept SPT Half 24,922 0.55 137.07 582.08 00 dec BP. Q3 2,306 8.512 196.28 778.36

(1) LLOY gave an Scrip issue 1 for 40 shares held after Interims = 382 shares bought 15,290 + 382 = 15,672 total LLOY, has gone X-compensatory offer @ 38.43 on the 0.6213 shares for 1 share held, entitlement of 9499 shares at 29.57p (68.00 - 38.43 ) = 2.808 +11.783 ( @ 68 )= 14.591 LLOY premium of 21.57p over the 60p offer price entitlement 9737 shares @ 21.57p = 2,100But decided to sell enough so I can take the rest for freeSold 6237 @ 21.43p = 1345Buy 3500 @ 38.43p = 1345 new shares 3500 @ 60p = 2,100total shares at LLOY after offer taken 15,672 + 3,500 = 19,172

And below the process of SELECTION

Master RSI - 5 Feb'09 - 22:47 - 1 of 72 edit
No. 1
BVC price 24.125p (spread 23.75 - 24.50p)
Buy 41,450 shares @ 24.125p = 10.000

Background
BATM Advanced designs and produces broadband data and telecommunications solutions geared toward the needs of enterprises, corporate and Telecom networks.
BATM has excelled in the design and manufacture of innovative high-performance communications equipment.
Its leading edge technologies include fiber optic networking, multi-service transport, access solutions, and integrated IP voice, video and data services. BATM develops and produces an extensive line of all layer routing IP switches and muxes. Advanced optical solutions are integrated in many of those switches.

Facts
BVC had a very sucesfull 2008 growing at a rate of 60% at the Interim stage, much is expected for the full Year due on the 17th March 09 as the company already said at the update last Month.

Forecast / valuation
My Forecast is for $30.3M and 8.07c equivalent to 20.8M and 5.54p at today price of 24.125p gives a very low PE of 4.3. Is expected to declare a dividend over the last Year 1c and has cash of $60.1M ( 10.6p)

Reason for share price falling
The share price has fallen from 61p during the last 4 month, from what it seems there was a force seller, is now recovering very slowly as some Institutions have been buying again at this low prices, Indicators are at a point of oversold.

Why is undervalued
The P E for a company on the TECHNOLOGY business, making large profits paying dividend and having a large cash is well undervalued, as this type of stocks on normal times are price on PE of 16 to 18


Master RSI - 13 Feb'09 - 15:17 - 3 of 72 edit
No. 2
LLOY 65.40p (65.30 / 65.50p)
Buy 15,290 shares at 65.40p = 10,000

Today's trading statement saying that the last adquisition HBOS will be hit by 8.50M loss, but LLOY traded profitably and satisfactorily in 2008 and expects to report a profit before tax from its continuing businesses, including the impact of approximately 1.3bn from market dislocation, of some 2.4bn.

The Group's Core tier 1 capital ratio at 31 December 2008 will be within the range of 6.0 - 6.5 per cent, which is significantly in excess of its regulatory capital requirements.

Valuation
The mark down looks overdone after the large fall already for such a long time, the tier of 6 / 6.50 is reasonable


Master RSI - 24 Feb'09 - 13:25 - 4 of 72 edit
No. 3
SPT 40.125p (40 / 40.25p)
Buy 24,922 shares at 40.125p = 10,000

Supper Year results from the company today with EPS of 6.24p meaning the shares sell on a PE of 6.4, paying dividend of 1.10p for the year a 2.74% yield .

The revenues, pretax profits and EPS, have been growing at the last Quater also from the 3er one.

Company has been buying its own shares for a long time now and on the last 14 month was 200 Millions, using tender at times.


Master RSI - 2 Mar'09 - 12:40 - 7 of 72 edit
No. 4
BP. 433.625 ( 433.50 / 433.75 )
Buy 2306 shares at 433.675p = 10.000

Share price has been weak recently as the OIL price has come down from its hights last year and the stock market has once again come further down during the last month.
Last results from the company has been good though the last Q have suffered due to the oil price, but the cash flow is strong and the cash is building once again as at the moment the share buyback of the last 2 years have finished for the moment being.
Maybe some opportunities on the Takeover front will be more interesting for the cash.
A very high Yield on the dividend front, is interesting on those days of low interest on the banks.


Master RSI - 16 Mar'09 - 13:05 - 10 of 72 edit
No. 5
AFR 14.875p ( 14.75 / 15p )
Buy 67,226 shares @ 14.875p = 10.000

A very undervalued share, if we go by the posible profit forecast and the strong cash flow fom the different producing fields mainly Ebok
Company has hedge againts the oil price at a much higher prices than the low price know.

Some recent emails from the company to investors
10 March 09
Thank you for your recent enquiry submitted through the Afren website.

In order to best respond to your questions I feel that it may be
beneficial to firstly update you on Afren's operations and activities
and then provide thoughts on the exogenous factors that are impacting
not only Afren but the sector as a whole.

Okoro

We successfully completed development work at Okoro in Q4 2008 and are
now producing profitably at a stable rate of approximately 22,000 bopd
from all seven wells. This marks a significant out-performance versus
the 15,000 bopd volume we previously guided towards. The project was
successfully delivered within two years from announcing the initial
agreement with our local partner, an exceptionally short lead time by
industry standards and an achievement of which we are proud.


Master RSI - 22 Apr'09 - 16:35 - 15 of 72 edit
No. 6
INCH 18p (17.75 / 18.25p)
Buy 55,555 shares at 18p = 10,000

The largest motor dealer on the UK has recently made a very large Righ Issue at a very discounted price 9 for 1 @ 6p to among other things ..........
* reduce the Group's gearing;
* decrease the Group's total finance charges and costs otherwise payable on its existing finance facilities;
* provide the Group with increased headroom to the only financial covenant
(adjusted interest cover) contained within its existing borrowing facilities;
* delay the Group's refinancing requirement to the end of 2012;
* better position the Group to gain market share during the current downturn and to take advantage of growth opportunities when the market recovers

Today's announcement on the budget of car scrappage - 2000 discount for new cars when trading in a car over 10 years old, sales can be boosted 10 to 15% by this and EPS be lifted by double the porcentage of sales.

The low interest rates lately plus today,s scheme could be the turning point for the fortunes of the company


Master RSI - 24 Apr'09 - 22:23 - 17 of 72 edit
No. 7
SKR 15.675p (15.255 / 16p)
Buy 63,795 shares at 15.675p = 10,000

Floated at 120p on June 08 raising 33.6m to fund the development of a fertiliser factory, has used $5.9m for adquisitions last September and said it still had $33.9m left at the time.

The company has a phosphorous rock deposit in Kazakhstan totalling 800 million tonnes capable of producing fertilisers for the next 56 years.
The deposit lies in a flat lying position on the Kazakh steppes close to surface so will be cheap to mine and the world still needs fertilisers.
Positive points
1. Shallow - 1 to 3m depth. Ultra low cost to extract.
2. Close to Tengiz oil field which has high sulphur content, hence cheap source of sulphuric acid.
3. Located at junction of two main railway lines giving direct access to Russia/China.

Sunkar is suppose to be one of the lowest cost producers in the World at sub $125 per DAP (die-ammonium phosphate) tonne. The average is circa $200 with some producers as high as $300.
The case for phosphate deposits is population growth means more agriculture means more fertiliser needed in the future.


Master RSI - 4 May'09 - 17:41 - 21 of 72 edit
No. 8
RCG 53.375p (52.50 / 44p)
Buy 18.735 shares at 53.375p = 10,000

Last March results were strong considering the weakness of the HK$
Cash flow still strong at 60% in H2008
The business still enjoying some growth momentum,
* Net cash forecast at 31/12/09 of 40.7m GBP
* 2008 NAV 92p per share and forecast to grow to 121.2p in 2009

Pay a dividend by way of a scrip share issue
Investec has 50.1m and 18.8p EPS pencilled in for 2009 prior to March results.

Trading on just 3 x 09 PE (135p), based on a 6 x 09 PE rating.


Master RSI - 6 Jul'09 - 11:02 - 34 of 72 edit
No. 9
CFM 10.875 ( 10.75 / 11p )
Buy 91,954 shares at 10.875p = 10,000

A copper, cobalt and platinium exploration company, last month discovered bauxite resource of about 439 million metric tons in Mali.

Today has entered into a long-term sales agreement with Galico to deliver its entire annual production of an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in concentrate form, at prevailing market prices, from its Mukondo Mountain cobalt operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo contained in concentrate form, at prevailing market prices, from its Mukondo Mountain cobalt operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Has three strong streams of revenue to provide a solid foundation for growth.


Master RSI - 23 Jul'09 - 10:35 - 42 of 72 edit
No. 10
YELL 27.125p ( 27 / 27.25p )
Buy 36,866 shares at 27.125p = 10,000

Announcing Q results today as it seem they have turn the corner

" Yell Group reported revenue and EBITDA slightly ahead of guidance for the quarter to end-June.
Adjusted EBITDA was down 8% to 148m; down 17.7% at constant exchange rates.

Revenue was up 1.5% to 475.3m; down 10.4% at constant exchange rates.
Online revenue was up 21% at constant exchange rates to 21% of total revenue.
Operating cash flow was up 27.6% to 205.1m; up 10.9% at constant exchange rates.
Free cash flow before payments of exceptionals was 129.6m (2008 - 85.4m.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share weredown 43.2% to 4.6p; down 49.0% at constant exchange rates
John Condron, CEO, said: 'In what remains a very difficult economic environment, our trading continues to outperform others in the media sector, reflecting the cost-effectiveness of our services in each of our channels.

'Despite the recession, our internet usage and revenue continue to grow strongly, with the internet now 21% of our total Group revenue in the quarter with the UK even higher at 28%. We continue to drive traffic through search engine optimisation, marketing and enhanced service features.

'In print, the economy is clearly placing pressure on customers' total spend but loyalty rates remain at a high level. We continue to expand our 'proven value' programmes, demonstrating to customers the true benefit of using Yell's advertising channels.
'Our relative resilience, increased market share and operating efficiency position us to benefit from economic recovery when it eventually arrives.' "

From THE TELEGRAPH ..........

Only radical thinking can fix the banks

Telegraph view: When it comes to breaking up RBS and Lloyds, the devil will be in the detail

Next week, the Government will take its first tentative steps to extricate itself from the banks that it nationalised during the credit crisis of 2007 and 2008. They were taken into public ownership, and provided with colossal sums of taxpayers' money, in order to prevent them from going bust and causing a collapse in the credit system. The bankers' bad decisions led to the disaster, but the rest of us were handed the cost of bailing them out.

As we report today, the plan is to break up Lloyds TSB, Northern Rock and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Lloyds will have to sell at least two of the companies it took over during the boom years, TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester. Northern Rock will be split into a "good bank" with viable assets, which will be sold; and a "bad bank" containing the toxic debt, which the Government will continue to hold. RBS will be required to sell hundreds of branches and dispose of the insurance companies that it owns, which include Direct Line, Churchill and Green Flag. It may also be forced to dispose of its investment banking arm although its chief executive, Stephen Hester, has said that this will destroy the bank, as it produces 70 per cent of RBS's profits.

The sell-off has been prompted by Neelie Kroes, the EU competition commissioner, who has set demanding conditions for any European bank to qualify for state aid. Breaking up RBS contradicts what had been the Government's policy up until now: supporting the bank's expansion so it could make as much money as quickly as possible, and thereby repay taxpayers. The Government is doing its best to put a positive spin on the change of direction, insisting that a banking sector made up of smaller, more traditional banks that do not engage in risky bets with their depositors' money is essential to restoring health to Britain's economy and ensuring a steady flow of credit. There is certainly something in that argument and in the point that more competition in high-street banking, whether from these new entities or others, will be of great benefit to consumers. The problem is finding a way to make it work. In a global banking market, bigger banks have an enormous competitive advantage over smaller ones and the normal workings of that market mean that the minnows are quickly swallowed up by the sharks.

There are other critical problems that the Government will have to solve to ensure the new banking sector does not simply repeat the mistakes of the old. It will have to tackle "moral hazard": bankers taking enormous risks because they know the state will bail them out. And, as ever, the devil is in the detail. Whether these proposals work depends largely on how they are executed: Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling will be attempting simultaneously to establish a stable yet vigorous banking system, to claw back the maximum amount for taxpayers, and to prove themselves right to have committed billions to the bailouts (and the Tories wrong). But beyond the petty politicking, fixing the financial system is going to require some very radical thinking. As yet, there is depressingly little sign of it.

TUESDAY is Right Issue day .............

Lloyds Banking Group will on Tuesday unveil twin sweeteners to persuade existing bondholders to exchange their bonds for riskier investments that could convert into equity the most innovative, and closely guarded, element of the part-nationalised banks 25bn recapitalisation programme.

Alongside plans to raise up to 13.5bn in a deeply discounted rights issue to be revealed on Tuesday, Lloyds is aiming to raise 7.5bn of so-called contingent convertibles, or Cocos. These are bond financing that would count towards core tier one capital and convert into equity in a stress scenario.

The measures are part of Lloyds attempt to come up with an alternative refinancing programme that will let it avoid the governments asset protection scheme, drawn up in the spring to take on the risk of 260bn of the banks toxic assets. Lloyds is already 43.5 per cent owned by the government and is keen to minimise its reliance on bail-out money in part to mitigate the penalties demanded by European Commission state-aid authorities.

Until now, it has been unclear how the Cocos would work and whether their structure would be sufficiently attractive for bondholders to sign up. Although shareholders have been consulted informally for weeks about their willingness to back the rights issue, bondholders complain that their views have been neglected. Some say they would refuse to switch holdings, deterred by the fact that Cocos behave like bonds until the bank finds itself in a crisis situation, at which point they convert into equity.

According to people involved in the restructuring, the instruments main attraction will be that they escape the ban on paying coupons that the Commission will impose on existing bonds. But one person said that, in addition, the bank would offer slightly more of the new securities to each bondholder, implying a yield up to 40 basis points, or 2-3 per cent, higher than existing bonds.

The inducement would not be huge but it would be meaningful enough to make the bondholders want to switch, the person said.

A definition of a stress scenario that would trigger the instruments conversion would be Lloyds core tier one ratio falling below about 6 per cent, according to one person briefed on the plan far below the 8-10 per cent level that Lloyds is expected to command following its rights issue.

The instruments adapted to each class and issue of bond are expected to carry the same coupons and market values as the securities they replace.

Lloyds contingent convertible transaction is likely to be closely watched by other banks, particularly Royal Bank of Scotland, the other part-nationalised UK bank, which is also set to announce details on Tuesday of its European Commission state-aid penalties.

What the hell is that woman playing up. this nellie krolls or whatever she is called is starting another banking crisis by carving up a bank on the verge of recovery. And labour is standing idly by. How does the goverment expected to get taxpayers money back if the bank is left with no businesses to make money. Crazy

its uk taxpayer for british banks.......nothing to do with some stupid dutch idiot.......oh, her dutch bank went tits up last monday (no pun with her being a tit and an ugly haggard one at that).

can we not get someone to shoot her........that baldy right wing guy in her country got that several years ago i think

Well, it's obvious if you want to live in UK, you got to live under the order of krolls...SELL LLOYDS.


The Chancellor has agreed to spend about 25 billion buying more shares in Royal Bank of Scotland and 5.5 billion on new shares in Lloyds Banking Group.

The new bailout is the equivalent of 500 for every person in the country and will almost double taxpayers investment in banking shares following last years dramatic rescue package.

Public anger growing at 'irresponsible' banksIt will increase the total direct public outlay on the banking bailout to more than 65 billion. Hundreds of billions of pounds in taxpayer-backed guarantees have also been granted to the banks.

Alongside the new bailout expected to be announced tomorrow, Mr Darling will also set out proposals to create three new high-street banks by breaking up Lloyds, RBS and Northern Rock.

The new banks formed from parts of the existing banks - will be sold off within the next five years to firms such as Virgin, supermarkets or to foreign banks. It is hoped that the money raised from the sales will be used by RBS and Lloyds to buy back the Government stakes in their businesses.

Ministers hope that the new bail-out of the banks will be the last and will pave the way for RBS and Lloyds Banking Group to finally recover from the global credit crisis. RBS announced the biggest corporate loss in British history of 24 billion earlier this year.

The latest rescue deal has been thrashed out between Treasury officials and bankers over the past six months.

The huge sums of money involved will lead to increasing concerns among opposition politicians over the future of banking in this country.

Mark Hoban, the shadow financial secretary, said: The Government are not being straight with people. Alastair Darling failed to mention the extra capital that the taxpayer is apparently going to inject into Lloyds and RBS. He must be more honest with the taxpayer. The Chancellor needs to tell people the full story because the failure to do so undermines confidence and delays recovery.

Ministers have also agreed to underwrite more than 250 billion worth of so-called toxic assets currently held by RBS. The Government provisionally agreed to the deal earlier this year although the scheme will be introduced this week.

RBS was expected to pay the Government about 6.5 billion for the toxic-assets insurance scheme. The bank would then only be liable for up to 40 billion worth of losses from its toxic assets with the taxpayer covering greater losses. Ministers were also intending to buy about 19 billion worth of additional RBS shares.

GOOD for the economy GOOD for LLOY..........

UK PMI rises to 53.7 in OctOBER at highest level since Nov 07

Confidence is starting to return to UK manufacturing sector with the Purchasing Managers' Index ( PMI) moving up to 53.7, its highest level since November 2007.

The 3.8 monthly gain in the PMI from September's revised figure of 49.9 was the third largest gain in the history of the series.

Underlying the improvement were marked rebounds in the rates of expansion for both production and new work received. Output increased to the greatest extent since November 2007 as growth of new orders hit a sixty-nine month peak.

Companies indicated that higher levels of new business encouraged the restart of some production lines. There were also reports of market conditions starting to improve, despite remaining tough overall, and clients moving closer to restocking following a sustained period of inventory depletion.

The level of new export business rose slightly for the third month running in October, partly reflecting the weak sterling exchange rate but also improving overseas markets.

Looking ahead, the new orders-to-stocks of finished goods ratio which tends to move in advance of the trend in production rose to its highest level since data were first collected in January 1992.

Staffing levels fell for the eighteenth successive month in October. Companies linked lower employment to cost control initiatives and redundancies. Although the rate of decline was rapid it was the slowest since June 2008.