Lloyds Banking Group to sell 20pc stake in St James's Place

The sale will bolster Lloyds’ capital levels just weeks before regulators are due to publish a report on the health of Britain’s largest banks, which is expected to show capital shortfalls on the balance sheets of some lenders.

Lloyds said it would retain a 37pc holding in St James’s Place, but that following the sale it would no longer consolidate the business’s financial results into its own accounts.

Selling the 102m shares is expected to bring in about £350m to £400m for Lloyds depending on the eventual sale price. Based on these proceeds and the change in accounting for the remaining stake, the bank is expected to recognise a gain of about £600m, increasing its core capital by 0.2pc, taking its core Tier 1 ratio to 12.2pc.

Investec has upgraded its recommendation for UK banking group Lloyds from 'sell' to 'hold' and lifted its target price for the shares from 46p to 50p.

The broker said that Lloyds' share price has delivered a "useful" 10% correction over the past two weeks after the company's full-year results. "Alongside modest forecast revisions, this prompts an upgrade to 'hold' (from 'sell'). We still advise relative caution on Lloyds, but we now recommend the closure of naked shorts," said analyst Ian Gordon.

In terms of the wider view held by the City, Broker Forecasts consensus data shows that only 23 per cent of broker continue to recommend the stock as a sell versus 46 per cent who have a buy rating in place.

"Lloyds has placed part of its stake in wealth management firm St James's Place at 510p a share, bolstering its capital position and making a profit on the sale of £400m"

...but are Lloyds going to be allowed to keep all this profit? maybe the EU will declare it too much and decree Lloyds must pay some back!

Looking good now after the retracement. Share price bouncing from lower Bollinger Band
I add some at 50.52p earlier

------------------------ 3 months with Indicators 15 minutes delay-----------------

Goldman Sachs Neutral 49.42 48.63 57.00 60.00 Retains

FPC announce UK banks require additional £25billion in capital to be raised by end of 2013, individual bank capital requirements not yet calculated apparently!

ref post 4299
bollinger bands follow price movement. so price movement comes first.and bollinger follows.
buying on lower bollinger band level only without further confirmation from other indicators and other reasons is not to be recommended in my opinion.
regards
and good luck to all
jkd

Lloyds hires advisers on possible asset manager sale - sources

LONDON | Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:46pm BST

(Reuters) - British bank Lloyds has hired advisers for the possible sale of its Scottish Widows asset management arm, as it prepares for a likely regulatory demand to raise more capital, sources said.

UK banks are having to consider further disposals after the Bank of England said they must raise a total of 25 billion pounds of extra capital by the end of the year, to be in a position to absorb future loan losses.

RNS LLOY call general meeting to approve issuance of capital convertible shares.

ALLOTMENT AND ISSUE OF NEW ORDINARY SHARES

Further to the decision of Lloyds Banking Group plc (the "Company") to issue new ordinary shares to fund discretionary payments on tier 1 hybrid capital securities to be made during 2013, as announced in the 2012 Results News Release published on 1 March 2013, the Company now announces the allotment and issue of 712,973,022 new ordinary shares (the "New Ordinary Shares") of the Company at a subscription price of 49.090216488 pence per New Ordinary Share.

Based on the subscription price, the gross proceeds of the issue are GBP 350 million. The New Ordinary Shares being issued represent an increase of approximately 1.013 per cent. in the Company's current issued ordinary share capital. Admission is expected to take place, settlement to occur and dealing in the New Ordinary Shares to commence at 8.00 a.m. on 23 April 2013

Investec Hold 49.18 50.00 50.00 Reiterates

Shore Capital Buy 49.18 - - Retains

RBC Capital Markets Outperform 49.18 69.00 65.00 Reiterates

Lloyds Banking... Morgan Stanley Equal weight 49.18 - 53.00 Retains

Investec has kept its 'hold' recommendation and 50p target price for UK banking group Lloyds, saying that it unwilling to turn positive on the stock ahead of its first-quarter trading update on April 30th.

"Near-term, the dilutive trickle of new equity issuance continues, while the medium-term revenue/return on equity (RoE) outlook is too weak to support a price objective beyond 50p."

Harry next weeks IMS will determine the direction of their sp over next 3 months.

sp over 50p again.

Deutsche Bank Buy 49.84 49.13 64.00 64.00 Retains

See Chart Attack thread.

Lloyds' sale of bank branches to Co-op collapses - report

Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:52am BST
(Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group's planned sale of over 600 bank branches to the Co-operative Group has collapsed after the latter decided it could not proceed with the 750-million-pound deal, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the situation.

The deal was meant to lift the Co-op's share of Britain's bank branch network to 10 percent from less than 4 percent and equip it to take on the country's "Big Four" lenders - HSBC, Barclays Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds itself.

Both Lloyds and the Co-op were unavailable to comment on the report.

SP back down expected after that news.

The official view :- LLOYDS BANKING GROUP UPDATE ON EC MANDATED BUSINESS DISPOSAL (PROJECT VERDE)