I worked briefly for the Midland in the 1970s when the managers really were still like Capt Mannering and to be feared. When I left, I remember my mum being horrified that I was leaving a job with prospects(I was doing the AIB exams) and a job for life.

Those days went some years ago and the banks are now terrible places to work. I have a relation who is in the management side of LLoyds and frankly, cannot wait to leave.

Skinny,

I hope he can afford to retire.

Halifax,

When a buyout occurs it is generally viewed that the purchaser can run the "failing company" more efficiently, ie, strip out its labour force and flog off or close failing areas of the business.

As has been expected, that is what is being done.

Now wait 12-18mnths for the UK company shares to be on the market at knock down prices.

Long term hold.

Fred,LLOY interim results due in a few weeks from now, if the bank shows signs of improving performance then that will be the signal to buy.2012 should see a return to dividend payments and a sp north of 100p.

daniels in headlines the man is a disgrace to all that is wrong with the uk.
he should be in prison

Well regardless of anything else - its been a stonking trading share this week.

interest rates are going to rise very soon and will go back to 5% within 18 months

when they have sold off the branches do not forget they still have 69b shares
consolidation must happpen

Comment from Merrill Lynch:
In our view yesterday was a milestone event, not just for Lloyds, but for RBS and Barclays too. The new CEO of Lloyds has publicly endorsed the provisions and risk weights of previous management, shown how they do not need to start a deposit war to fund themselves, take further big hits to book value and generate normalised EPS of 10-12p (even after adjusting for the dilution of the branch sales).

Whilst this will not lead to overnight miracles as the new CEO goes out to see investors, this should bring some well needed confidence back to the sector and importantly show that all the bank managements are singing off the same hymn sheet. It might be in a different tune, but the words are definitely the same - "the banks can get back to ROE > COE by 2013/14"

The irony of the new P&L and ROE targets for Lloyds is that the top end positions Lloyds EPS back into line with some of the most bullish forecasts of 6 months ago (i.e. 13p undiluted for branches). Lloyds are on the same journey but a different road.

Are Llloyds worth a buy..?

not at the moment but later in the year maybe.

sale of 632 branches "Project Verde" closes for bids tomorrow.

thanks for that.

Sub 40p sometime this week..?

Buying time soon

Hard to believe it was 50p last week and now look at it the chart is a disaster.

It gets hit on any general weakness atm - its become a trading share with massive daily volumes, so the action is hardly suprising.

directors buying shares all 20 pounds worth brill is it not the ceo has not spent one penny of is own cash

Seymour Pierce note:
Irish debt downgraded to junk

Moody's lowered the rating on Irish sovereign debt to non investment grade, saying the country is likely to need further bailouts. This is the third euro area country to be downgraded to junk (following Greece and Portugal). European politicians are threatening the ratings agencies but rising bond yields have already signalled problems are far from over. Lloyds and RBS have Irish banking businesses. Lloyds has already written down commercial property exposure and 14bn or 53% of the 27bn Irish loan book is impaired, of which 8bn has already been provided for versus tangible book of 42.5bn FY 2010. Lloyds has minimal exposure to Irish or other troubled Eurozone government debt.

It is worth bearing in mind the skewed size of Eurozone economies. The top three countries Germany, France and Italy, make up 66% of economic output, which means that we should perhaps focus on whether any other countries look as if they have unsustainable debt burdens. If either Spain or Italy is the next problem country, Barclays holds 14bn of these two countries Government debt at fair value, plus 35bn of retail loans (at amortised cost) to Spain and Italy versus tangible book of 42.1bn FY 2010. Banks look very cheap on a price to tangible book basis - yet it is hard to say what level of "contagion" is currently being priced in.

Worth keeping an eye on this week depending how the right shoulder develops.

there are NO bidders for loys branches they have all withdrawn from bids

lloys to float a new bank .spliting lloys into two banks