100p now sayS NOMURA .........

Lloyds Banking upgraded to buy from reduce at Nomura, target price increased to 100p from 58p.

BREAKING NEW GROUND and into 82p a few minutes ago

Charts are looking very positive

New Chairman. Is he a WINner?! ;o)

73/09 27 July 2009

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP APPOINTS A NEW CHAIRMAN

Lloyds Banking Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Sir Win Bischoff as Chairman, following the decision earlier in the year by Sir Victor Blank to retire. Sir Win will take up the position of Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group from 15 September 2009.


Sir Win Bischoff is a senior banker with many years experience both in the UK and overseas. Sir Win spent most of his career with Schroders and was appointed Chairman of that company in 1995. Following the acquisition of the Schroders investment banking business by Citigroup in 2000, Sir Win assumed the role of Chairman of Citigroup Europe and was a member of The Management Committee of Citigroup Inc. He served as Chairman of Citigroup from December 2007 until early 2009.

Sir Win was appointed following a comprehensive search process. Sir Julian Horn-Smith, one of the Group's senior non-executive directors, led the process, supported by a committee consisting solely of other independent directors and with assistance from executive search consultants JCA Group. A number of candidates from the UK and overseas were interviewed by the committee and the decision was taken by the Board, on the recommendation of the committee. The board, led by Sir Julian Horn-Smith and Lord Leitch, the Group's Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director, also consulted with its major shareholders, including UKFI. The FSA has approved this appointment.

Sir Victor said: 'I am pleased to hand over to Sir Win Bischoff following his appointment as our next Chairman. Sir Win has a wealth of senior banking experience which will be very valuable to the Group in the future as the two banks are integrated to create the success the board envisages.'

Sir Win Bischoff said: 'Lloyds Banking Group has a proud history and an excellent customer franchise, and I am both honoured and pleased to accept the Chairmanship of its board. Short-term we face many challenges but, in the longer term, the Group is well positioned to deliver significant benefits to its customers, shareholders, employees and the public.'

Eric Daniels, Chief Executive, Lloyds Banking Group, added: 'Sir Win brings great knowledge and insight to the Group as we build the UK's leading financial services provider and I look forward to working with him. The board and I are immensely appreciative of the leadership and vision Sir Victor has provided during a time of great change for the Group and the financial services industry in general.'

Digitallook - Japanese brokerage Nomura has upgraded part-nationalised bank Lloyds Banking Group ahead of the UK banks interim results season.

As substantially all the highest-risk assets are believed to be included in the APS [asset protection scheme], we believe Lloyds' TBVPS [tangible book value per share] has among the least downside risk of major banks, after the first loss piece is exhausted, said Nomura analyst Robert Law.

83.8p closing price - up 3.1% - still going north!

It did reached 87p yesterday intraday, but then everything on the FTSE went down

Should be nudging 95p+ next week - after interims on 5 Aug. Still holding for the longer term (and the Divs if I live long enough!!). LOL

Chart looking - Good !

I understand that our shares stand in the Treasury books @ 120p .. now I and many others bt for income why can't HM govt allow Lloyds to promise say a 10% final which could easily be paid even if losses are still shown in the full year accounts the resultant share price would enable the share holding to be sold on the open market, probably even showing a profit.

After all Mr Darling the govt does owe Lloyds one or more!

Tipton11

Lloyds Banking Group does NOT owe the Govt (or taxpayer) anything. The 4bn loan + Interest was paid back in full following the recent Open Offer. Admittedly, the Treasury holds 43% of the Bank's equity, on behalf of the taxpayer, but it is simply a shareholder stake like any other, albeit the largest. The Bank is able to now pay Divs if it so chooses, and I dare say the Treasury would just love to see some further return on its investment, and as quickly as possible. I think next Wednesday, when the Interims are announced, we could see a modest "profit" thanks to some creative accounting. A promise of Divs for 2010 would see a surge in share price too! Still looking for 95p by end of next week IMHO.

Oh LLOY shareholders may be in denial, that (the purchase of HBOS) was the single most stupid piece of Banking, done over a weekend (so it seemed!).

LLOY is still not clear, as many expect a further write-off, when the Markets have sufficient bouyancy. It seems difficult to understand how the new group has gone from dire-loss to "profit" as described here.
As to the Government holding - I thought we taxpayers had been swapped for we holders.....so, no change there.
As to creative Accounting - wasn't it actions like this that created the Banking Crisis in the first case - Banks must not be allowed to resort to this, ever again.

Like it or not, creative accounting makes the world go round - same as bankers & politics. Remember, just because figures are released, they do not have to be accurate. Indeed, the Office for National Statistics subsequently amends its own figures months down the line. Today, the USA saw GDP fall 1%, against a forecast of 1.5%. So far so good 'eh. Then, in the small print the US Commerce Dept revised its figures for the whole of 2008, saying the recession has been deeper than previously estimated!! Hmmm - you mean the little buggers were lying before - you bet they were !! Still betting on a modest profit for LBG on Wed - even tho' the figures will be rigged. Sell on the rumour? I'm holding for the longer term as shareholder confidence will boost the sp - specially if promises of Divs materialise. As a 43% shareholder I'm sure the Treasury will use its votes wisely and accept the Divi Cheque. LOL

The OBSERVER says :

Lloyds Banking Group's attempts to sell a 6bn Bank of Scotland portfolio of loans have been unsuccessful

High st banks to write off further 32bn but Lloyds is due to forecast that worst is over

THE INDEPENDENT says:

Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland in spotlight as banks issue first-half results

European banks see some light

ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - Rising profit from Standard Chartered and BNP Paribas raised hopes that European banks were over the worst of the financial crisis, and even a big loss from UBS masked its best underlying performance in two years.

The biggest concern for UBS was another heavy outflow of 39.4 billion Swiss francs (22 billion pounds) from its wealth and asset management divisions, but a bigger-than-expected net loss of 1.4 billion francs was mostly down to one-off charges.

Sarasin analyst Reiner Skierka said UBS's overall results were "quite good," but he remained cautious on the bank's future until it could reverse the outflow of clients' cash.

BNP Paribas , France's biggest bank by market value, posted a 6.6 percent rise in net profit, while Asia-focussed Standard Chartered (STAN.L) revealed a record pretax result.

StanChart also announced a $1.7 billion (1 billion pounds) fundraising so it could take advantage of opportunities in China and India as their economies recovered.

"It's about staying ahead of the game," Chief Executive Peter Sands said. "Given that we see Asia having a shorter and shallower recession than other parts of the world, our clients are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel."

BNP Paribas's CEO also sounded a more confident note.

"I am relatively positive about the markets," he said.

Other European banks have also recently reported profits to the end of June, including HSBC (HSBA.L) and Barclays (BARC.L) in Britain and Switzerland's Credit Suisse .

WINNERS AND LOSERS

UBS was not the only European bank announcing losses on Tuesday. Northern Rock , a victim of the credit crunch that was nationalised by the British government in early 2008, said its first-half losses had grown by a quarter.

The bank said it was hit by rising funding and hedging costs and said mortgage arrears were still growing despite an improvement in early-stage arrears.

CEO Gary Hoffman said the bank was constrained by capital, and future developments hinged on unemployment levels and a revival in property prices.

VTB , Russia's second biggest lender, also reported a bigger-than-expected net loss of 20.5 billion roubles (389 million pounds) for the first quarter as loan provisions rose faster than expected. The bank said it did not expect to return to profit this year.

Part-nationalised British bank RBS (RBS.L) on Tuesday agreed to sell some of its Asian assets to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for $550 million, as the bank shrinks its global footprint and retreats to its core markets.

Banking shares were mostly lower, with the DJ Stoxx banking index down about 0.9 percent.

UBS and VTB were down more than 4 percent, while BNP Paribas was up 0.15 percent. StanChart was also down more than 4 percent, but traders put that down to the fundraising, which will involve placing 4 percent of its stock.

RBS shares were higher after news of the asset sale to ANZ.

*
Pro-forma loss of 4.0 billion for the first half (2008: 2.8 billion profit).
*
Statutory profit before tax of 6.0 billion (2008: 0.6 billion) includes an 11.2 billion acquisition-related negative goodwill gain.
*
Resilient core businesses performance despite margin pressure and weak economy. 18 billion of gross mortgage lending: a 27 per cent share of gross lending and 37 per cent of net new lending. 60,000 new commercial accounts: a 24 per cent share of start-ups.
*
Integration ahead of schedule and on track to deliver over 1.5 billion run rate by end 2011. Over 100 million of cost synergies realised in the half. Annualised run-rate savings of around 700 million expected by the year end.
*
Total impairments significantly higher at 13.4 billion but expected to peak in first half. Impairments expected to peak in first half reflecting prudent valuation of HBOS's commercial property related assets. HBOS legacy assets account for 80 per cent of first half charge.
*
Robust capital position and strengthened funding profile. Core tier one capital at 6.3 per cent in line with pro-forma opening position. Wholesale funding more than one year increased from 44 per cent to 47 per cent.
*
Outlook: economy expected to stabilise, with weak upturn in 2010. As previously announced, expect to report a loss before tax for 2009 (excluding acquisition related negative goodwill gain). Continued pressure on margins more than offset by lower expected impairment charges in second half.
*
Medium term goals reflect economic outlook and significant opportunity to leverage relationship-led model across enlarged business base. High single-digit income growth within two years. Continued reduction in cost:income ratio. Run-off of around 200 billion of lower return assets to reduce the balance sheet and invest in core relationship businesses.

They certainly appear to have been well received,up 5 in early trade.

Also large volume - 33m @8:15.

Already up 8% on 4bn loss!!! Funny old world!
(Taylor Wimpey debt hugely reduced in today's figures & the sp drops.)
All about expectations I susupect.

Yes,I agree.It all seems a lot like Blind Mans' Buff,or is the word "bluff".
I keep hearing though about a mountain of money on the sidelines with nowhere to go. Perhaps this has a lot to do with it.