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)

No problem then Skinny -): 100p by 8.05am.

Oops. Wrong thread.

Loads more shares in issue, collapse of the branch sale, four days 'til trading update and yet the sp moves up! Currently 53.4p.

Harry, In some quarters the thinking is that an IPO may now be a positive thing.

Clearly shareholders are happy about the collapse of disposal.

The branches worth more, and HSBC has been a buyer from the start ...

Ah, I see now that they are probably going to spin off the branches under the TSB brand. As you say Stan, an IPO the last option.

From this week's IC Trading page:
"LLOY share price enjoys good underpinning on it's daily chart, says Zak Mir. It is well above it's 200 DMA at 43p, as well as it's rising lower trend channel at 48p. My reading of the set-up is that 60p should be seen over the next 2-3 months, especially as long as the support level at 49.8p remains intact."

He obviously doesn't take any notice of the 'go away in may' advice. No complaint from me though, as 60p would get me back to about breakeven!

60p would make me rather happy.

26th April Deutsche Bank Buy 52.61 64.00 64.00 Retains

Might be a good week for LLOY. According the the press today, consensus forecasts are expecting £649m post tax profit for Q1. For the full year they are expecting pre-tax profit of £1.6bn. Also talk of divi being restored in 2014. Looks like A H-O is keeping his head down but delivering the goods!

SALE OF RETAIL BANKING OPERATIONS IN SPAIN

Lloyds Banking Group plc (the Group) is today announcing that it has agreed to sell its Spanish retail banking operations, including Lloyds Bank International S.A.U and Lloyds Investment España SGIIC S.A.U, to Banco Sabadell, S.A (Banco Sabadell).

The sale comprises the Group's retail and private banking business and the local investment management business in Spain. The business being sold consists mostly of retail mortgages and deposits, with a large portion of non-resident clients. The Group's Spanish corporate banking operations, serving business clients, are not included in this transaction and will continue to operate as usual.

To ensure continued support for our customers in the Spanish market and in conjunction with the sale, the Group is also developing a collaboration agreement with Banco Sabadell which it is expected would involve exploring potential business opportunities in areas including retail, commercial, private banking, asset finance and asset management.

Under the sale agreement, the Group will receive shares equivalent to approximately 1.8 per cent of the total issued share capital of Banco Sabadell as part of the consideration for the sale. The Group intends to be a supportive shareholder of Banco Sabadell and has undertaken to retain the shares received under the sale agreement for a period of at least two years.

Total consideration will be payable in a mix of shares and cash. At completion Banco Sabadell will deliver 53.7 million ordinary shares out of their treasury holding with such shares being valued at €84 million (£72 million1) by reference to the volume weighted average share price on 26 April 2013. An additional consideration of up to €20 million (£17 million1) may be payable in cash within the next five years dependent on mortgage book margins.

As of 31 March 2013 the total assets of the sale were approximately £1,517 million, comprised almost entirely of customer lending, and customer deposits were approximately £670 million. The business reported a loss of approximately £43 million in 2012, which included an increase in the impairment provision as a percentage of impaired loans to approximately 90 per cent. The sale of the business is currently expected to lead to a loss on disposal of approximately £250 million1 in the Group's accounts.

The sale is in line with the Group's strategy of rationalising its international presence and ensuring best value for shareholders. The current senior management employed by Lloyds Bank International S.A.U and all of the staff of the Spanish retail operations will move across with the subsidiaries on sale. Any cash proceeds of the sale will be used for general corporate purposes.

The sale is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete in 2013.

Numis Buy 53.39 63.00 63.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Buy 53.39 64.00 64.00 Retains