re -LIES, LIES and more LIES

I do feel better, cos I know your game too well .

re : Have to dash

and 45 minutes later you are back

What about ..... If really sold, why wait till 10.13am to say so instead of the 1st post this morning?

I can not see a propper answer.

I do, cos at the opening was the high and when you post saying sold was at lowest point this morning



re - the fact is, I am Considerably Richer than You are

You wish, ....... only a cock ( with no willie ) would post that

sp 74p - only 11p to go now! LOL Must go - off to the pub for lunch. Doh! I mean the Cocktail Lounge

Harry Enfield I Think it was Me Old Son , But I am Considerably richer than You are - you peasant ! And I'm so sorry I didn't know I was only allowed to pop on here when you decide , not me ! Knob Head, go post some more pictures it seems its all your good at. Smarty - If you want to take my bet your welcome - and I'll do it for either the Aston Martin or the Ferrari. I doubt you could afford the Dut Caps but Hey Oh ! I'll take your money with pleasure.

After a period of calm on this thread we seem to be back to character assasination again by some - and one of them I thought had been banished forever by Bullie?

Bit like the teenage lad (burglar) from Essex on today's news. Give him a chance at changing his ways & it lasts only a couple of months & then back to the usual cr*p. Some people just can't be changed.

use the squelch that's what it's for!

norda pene

Not it was a B@stard that is calling Herself - Ali Ali Akbar -
you must be a "Travesty" by now and like it UP there also

Hey presto CHARLATAN
I heard that BEFORE, all those taking about money falling of their pockets and Ferraris, I can figure it out,
my contact in England or the UK have said: still living with the mother ( not able to afford accomodation ) and she has a book
that says: council flat.

Wow - Nord throwing his toys out of the pram again! One of my best days this year; LBG with fantastic results, made lots of money & the future is sure looking bright. Can't see how Nordy can be so upset as he tells us he sold up at top of the market today at 75p - about 08.01 when I was still dunkin' me biscuits.

Going places this morning with 77.38p at the moment,
wonder if investors are selling BARC and buying LLOY? I might be right

Master - Charles Stanley saying this am that Barclays figures indicate better value could be obtained elsewhere - so some switching into LBG is likely. Expect another rise tomorrow after RBS Results. Only 7 1/2p off the magic 85p !!

Morgan Stanley's view:

We prefer RBS to LLOY (UW) due to better asset
quality and funding profile and see RBS as an
appealing recovery story. We calculate a potential of
~20bn of surplus capital by 2013, which is more likely
to come back to shareholders after the delay and dilution
of the Basel proposals, but at 8.1x 13e EPS and 1.0x
10e TNAV, we still prefer Barclays (OW) with
underappreciated operating leverage on 6.4x 13e EPS.

WOT A LOAD OF OLD TOSH!!!!!!!!!!

did you hear that big bang !!! Its was Lloyds going POP

FROM THE telegraph

Saturday 7 August 2010

Lloyds' quiet American tells Damian Reece why a purchase that cost the bank billions will turn out to be a 'very, very good deal'

Eric Daniels, the American chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY.L - news) , has led the company back to profit 1.6bn in the first six months of the year. Some analysts reckon he could be reporting up to 4bn for the year as a whole and are forecasting the bank will have accumulated a massive cash pile of 10bn by 2012.

It's a startling performance for a bank which, after its controversial acquisition of HBOS completed in January 2009, seemed to be heading for the knacker's yard, with the share price plunging to just 19p in March and investor anger rising in a crescendo of indignation. Lloyds lost 6.3bn for the whole of 2009.

"Why am I not apologising about HBOS? Because I believe this will turn out to be a very, very good deal," says Daniels, sitting in his City office in Gresham Street overlooking St Paul's Cathedral.

He's surrounded by the past: two oil paintings in ornate frames of the bank's bewigged founders, Samson Lloyd and John Taylor, dominate one wall. But he's keen to talk about his and the bank's future, something encapsulated by a lucky potted plant he moves around his office. Given to him by a friend and former colleague years ago, its continued leafy greenness is a superstitious link to success. As long as it's growing, his winning streak will continue. "It's like the ravens in the Tower of London," he explains.

Wednesday's interim results seemed to confirm what Daniels has always stubbornly contended, despite the criticism, that he's created a force for good for customers and shareholders alike. The combination of Lloyds and HBOS, itself a merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has established a business that will dominate the British banking scene with 3,000 branches on the high street and online services that Daniels intends to invest more in. It was brokered at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, when HBOS looked like following Northern Rock into nationalisation.

"I think we did the country a great service [buying HBOS] by not costing the taxpayer a bomb," says Daniels. The 20bn that taxpayers pumped into Lloyds for a 40pc stake is now breaking even, with Lloyds' shares ending the week at 73.75p compared with the 73.6p they originally cost.

The HBOS deal will always define Daniels' time at Lloyds (he joined in 2001, running the retail bank, and became chief executive in 2003). But it will also remain a hot political issue for some time as the Coalition's Independent Commission on Banking, chaired by Sir John Vickers, prepares its policy recommendations for the Chancellor, George Osborne, due next summer.

The Commission has been asked to formulate policy recommendations with a view to promoting competition in banking, among other things. It's possible that with numerous banks having been subsumed into their larger brethren in recent years, the mega-deal Daniels struck at the height of the credit crunch comes to be seen as a step too far, restricting competition, not encouraging it.

Daniels is clear he doesn't think this is going to happen. "The truth is we were given reassurances that we would not be broken up in future, that this would be cleared by the Secretary of State and that we would be permitted to hang on to HBOS in return for the short-term pain that we knew we were going to take."

It's certainly true that Lord Mandelson cleared the deal back in 2008 and competition waivers were granted at the time. But the Office of Fair Trading still has the power to revisit the transaction and the current Secretary of State for business, Vince Cable, is far from convinced that Lloyds enjoys any special privileges.

"I'm not aware of any such reassurance," says Cable. "If Lloyds has it in writing, I would like to see it. That would change the framework we're operating under. It's never been raised with me, either by Lloyds Bank or anyone. This needs clarifying.

"My position is that the Banking Commission will operate from a clean sheet of paper and produce a set of proposals to make a safer banking system and provide maximum competition. If Daniels says he has an agreement, he's got to produce some evidence."

Daniels knows all too well that apparent assurances given by officials at different times during the crisis have proved to be no more than financial ephemera. He recalls the infamous October weekend in 2008 when the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) were demanding banks raise new capital. He said the FSA gave him the choice of raising cash through the equity markets (impossible, as they were closed to such business) or accept the Government's recapitalisation programme and allow the taxpayer to take a stake.

"At the time we understood that several banks would be in the government programme. We were given this assurance and given an assurance that the state aid requirements would not be onerous. This had been very clear. But it turned out not to be the case. There weren't several banks and state aid turned out to be more onerous."

Daniels assumed the markets would be told that most, if not all, banks had agreed to accept government money as part of a new prudent regime, thus avoiding the stigma of being singled out as a "bailed-out bank", which Lloyds has been saddled with since. Instead, it was Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) that most famously escaped taking public money with John Varley, its chief executive, stubbornly refusing to leave his Canary Wharf eyrie that weekend for talks with officials at the Treasury. In contrast, Daniels entered his counterpart's lair in Whitehall where a recapitalisation plan was hammered out.

Something similar happened the following March when the Government launched its Guaranteed Asset Protection Scheme (GAPS) to insure banks against losses, which Lloyds was "strong-armed" into, according to Daniels, "at a considerable cost of 2.5bn". Again, Barclays escaped the emergency scheme.

So was he misled by the Treasury and FSA? "I wouldn't say misled. We entered into it [the recapitalisation scheme] on the understanding that there would be multibanks involved. The same assertion was made at the time of GAPS. Things didn't turn out as they were presented."

The HBOS deal has long been shrouded in myth. Was it really agreed between Gordon Brown, desperate to keep the stricken bank out of state ownership, and the then Lloyds chairman Sir Victor Blank? Was it rushed through without proper due diligence?

"There wasn't pressure. There was a negotiated deal," says Daniels. "We wanted to buy HBOS and the full board was behind it. They [the Government] knew perfectly well that if HBOS fell into the arms of the taxpayer, the value destruction would have been enormous."

Daniels feels it's significant that neither Brown nor Sir Victor have tried to claim credit for the deal over the past 18 months. "I've always been steadfast and straightforward. I will take the brickbats as well. This was my deal. If shareholders want my head, I won't shy away from my responsibilities."

But was it a rush job that has since cost Lloyds' long- term shareholders a packet? Daniels says his team completed 5,000 man-days of due diligence, which was the maximum they were allowed to do as one public company acquiring another. Competition and client confidentiality rules would not allow any more.

But Daniels reveals his team actually had even more "advantaged" information within the law on which to base their decision. Andy Hornby, then HBOS chief executive, had already approached Lloyds and other banks asking to be lent money to keep HBOS going. This Lloyds did, but the cash was advanced only when secured against large parts of Hornby's own loan book.

"We knew the quality of their loan book because they were putting up so many of their loans as their collateral. The myth about the due diligence came from the subsequent Treasury Select Committee (TSC) hearing. Andrew Tyrie [now chairman of the TSC] asked me a hypothetical question about what would have happened if there were not restrictions? I said we would have done three to five times more. Of course we would, but that's like asking if beer was free would you drink more? Of course you would. I would because I like beer."

So what about the future? How long will it take long-term shareholders to see the benefit of the HBOS acquisition? Essentially, if in September 2008 you had chosen to buy 1,000 old Lloyds shares as the banking crisis escalated, they were at 280p a share. If you hung on and invested in the subsequent capital raisings (bar the first, which was above the market price and only taken up by the Government) you would have invested 3,882 at an average price of 99p a share, compared with about 74p now. But if you allow for the 17.7pc general fall in all banking stocks, the average price paid falls to 81.4p. So old Lloyds shareholders are still in the red but moving in the right direction.

Daniels clearly expects to be around to see most of his shareholders back in the black.

Returning the bank to profit has silenced those seeking his head. But the succession is a topic Daniels' own chairman, Sir Win Bischoff, knows he must get right. Daniels will be 59 this month but doesn't intend to retire at 60. "Despite having lived in the UK for more of my adult life than anywhere else, I'm still American. I have American roots. The 60 thing is more of a British thing than an American thing." But neither does he measure progress in terms of years, rather he looks at achievements.

By the annual results of February-March 2012 he will be able to declare the HBOS integration complete and a cash-rich Lloyds' return to paying dividends. An obvious time to take the applause and exit stage left. The succession gun will probably have been fired by Sir Win and the neatest governance trick would be to announce a name, if not before, then at the same time as Daniels' triumphant 2012 results. The leading internal candidate is Helen Weir, another retail bank head, followed by Mark Fisher who is masterminding the HBOS integration. Sir Win would probably see it as a serious failing to announce his own retirement as chairman in the autumn of 2012 without a successor sorted.

Daniels is now off on a family holiday to Panama, where his wife comes from, clearly relishing the next few years as he strives to leave his mark on British banking as the not-so-quiet American.

The Times -- 7 August 2010

Personal Investor: Robert Cole says hold Lloyds Banking Group as the results suggest genuine reasons for optimism, although there is a long way to go before shareholders can be confident about their investment.

Sunday Times

Lloyds Banking Group may be in a position to pay out 15bn or more in dividends in 2012 as a result of the recovery in fortunes for the banks who a year ago were reporting record losses. Lloyds is prevented by the EC from paying dividends at present as the price paid for approving state support after the HBOS takeover. But the bank's improved financial position could now see the Treasury sell its 41 per cent stake sooner than expected. Meanwhile, the bumper profits unveiled by all the leading banks last week has led to increased criticism about their alleged lack of lending to business.

DERAMPERS BEWARE!

From the FT.com .........

Online chatroom rumours under scrutiny
By Miles Johnson -- August 9 2010 03:02

Two UK-listed companies have launched investigations into rumours spread in online investment chatrooms, highlighting the influence of bulletin boards on the smaller end of the London stock market.

Online bulletin boards such as ADVFN and iii attract thousands of posts each day from a dedicated audience of retail investors fiercely debating their portfolios.

Nighthawk Energy, an Aim-quoted oil company, is considering launching legal action against anonymous bulletin board users whom the group claims have used multiple accounts to spread false rumours about its solvency and management team, people close to the company said.

The investigation would not target the bulletin board operators, which were assisting with the probe, and was likely to focus on the use of multiple accounts by one person who repeatedly posted claims.

Nostra Terra Oil and Gas, another Aim-quoted oil company, has also begun an investigation into bulletin board posts which made claims about its chief executive.

Under Financial Services Authority rules, the distribution of false rumour with the aim of driving a companys share price down constitutes market abuse.

The investigations come after rumours on bulletin boards have triggered flash crashes in the share prices of small-cap companies this year.

In June shares in Rockhopper, the Aim-quoted Falkland islands oil explorer popular with retail investors, fell by more than 50 per cent in an afternoon after rumours appeared on bulletin boards questioning the quality of its oil.

The company was forced to release a statement to the stock exchange saying that it knew of no reason for the fall. The shares subsequently recovered in value.

Operators of bulletin boards can use data protection laws to decline to disclose information about their users.

Londons hundreds of small natural resources companies are among the most popular shares with private investors due to rising commodity prices and the potential for quick returns.

Data from TD Waterhouse, the online stock broker, shows that Aim-quoted oil companies such as Gulf Keystone Petroleum and Petro Matad are consistently in the top 10 of shares bought and sold by its clients.

Big Upgrade by this Broker........

Lloyds Banking Group FTSE 100 Financial Buy 140 75.16 86.3% Societe Generale

140p SP target 86.3% upside.

did you hear that big bang? SP 75p - champagne corks popping!!!

Except your target price is 85p, not 75p. Suggest you re-cork & hope the fizz doesn't dissipate!