Bought some more this morning at 76.8 Not sure whether to trade them or leave them as a long term investment

1st Quarter Results

Continued improvement in financial strength and performance
· Underlying profit of £2,178 million, an increase of 21 per cent on the first quarter of 2014
· Total income up 3 per cent to £4,644 million
- Net interest income of £3,021 million, up 7 per cent, primarily driven by margin improvement to 2.65 per cent
- Other income of £1,623 million, down 6 per cent on the first quarter of 2014 due to business disposals in 2014 and lower Retail fees and commissions, but up 5 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2014
· Total costs flat year-on-year with increased investment in the business; cost:income ratio of 47.7 per cent (Q1 2014: 49.3 per cent)
· Impairment charge reduced 59 per cent to £177 million; asset quality ratio improved 20 basis points to 0.15 per cent
· Profit before tax and the sale of TSB up 37 per cent to £1,874 million
· Loss relating to TSB sale of £660 million
· Underlying return on required equity of 16.0 per cent, up 3.0 percentage points on the first quarter of 2014
· Strong balance sheet and liquidity position with a CET1 ratio of 13.4 per cent, up 0.6 percentage points in the quarter;
a total capital ratio of 22.6 per cent; and a leverage ratio of 5.0 per cent (31 December 2014: 4.9 per cent)
· Reported statutory profit before tax of £1,214 million
· Tangible net assets per share increased to 55.8p (31 December 2014: 54.9p)

Strong start to next phase of strategic journey; continued focus on supporting customers and the UK economy
· TSB sale will enable the Group to meet its commitment to the EC ahead of the mandated deadline
· Creating best customer experience through multi-channel, multi-brand strategy; increased investment in digital
· Continue to become simpler and more efficient through process redesign and automation
· Delivering sustainable growth in key customer segments
- Net lending of £1.1 billion to SMEs over the last 12 months, up 4 per cent in a declining market
- UK Consumer Finance lending growth of 17 per cent over the last 12 months
- Continue to target mortgage growth in line with the market; £2.2 billion lent to first-time buyers in the first quarter, providing one in four mortgages
· UK government stake reduced to 20.95 per cent (as at 23 April 2015)
· Continue to support our communities with contributions through our Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Foundations, which gave over £19 million in grants to charities in 2014
· As part of our Helping Britain Prosper Plan we have committed to give at least £100 million to the Foundations by 2020 to support their work across the UK

Guidance for 2015 improved or reconfirmed. Well positioned for further progress in 2015
· Expect net interest margin for the year to exceed original guidance of around 2.55 per cent
· Expect other income to be broadly stable in 2015
· Full year asset quality ratio for 2015 now expected to be around 25 basis points (previously around 30 basis points)
· Full year cost:income ratio targeted to be lower than 2014 ratio of 49.8 per cent


more....

15 month high.

Today's guesses :-

01 May 15 Numis Buy 83.07 97.00 97.00 Reiterates
01 May 15 Investec Hold 83.07 84.00 - Upgrades
01 May 15 Goldman Sachs Neutral 83.07 - - Retains

Nice day for me on these. Sold 75% of those I bought yesterday at 79.99 this morning but still got my core holding.

Now can it drag RBS up as I appear to have 5 times as many of those as I have LLOY.

Well done CC I closed a largish SB @82.7 earlier - I still have a largish SIPP holding currently op 56% and an ISA RBS holding which has been in and out of profit of late - currently down 3.6%.

YES!!

Deutsche Bank Buy 81.25 94.00 97.00 Reiterates

Nomura Buy 81.25 90.00 95.00 Reiterates

Jefferies International Buy 81.25 88.00 102.00 Upgrades

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 81.25 95.00 95.00 Reiterates

Might see 18 bob today .,.

Cazenove note:
"The UK 2015 elections are most likely to result in a Conservative-led government in our view, which alleviates a number of uncertainties impacting the UK banks including 1) Further rise in the UK bank levy, 2) Market share test and pressure for forced disposals, 3) Bank Bonus tax, 4) Mansion tax. We still expect uncertainty from an EU referendum to remain an overhang on the sector, but believe that risks from such an event are materially lower than the sector experienced during the Scottish Referendum last year. Overall, we view the election results as helpful for UK banks relative to Europe as political uncertainty has been a key overhang for the sector in 2015. Our top pick in the UK remains Lloyds, where we reiterate our OW."

I took a fairly large 2 day SB gain on these on Friday and they are now my 4th biggest holding by value - its been worth the wait!

The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury Below 20%

BlackRock above 5%

Lloyds plans to pay half-year and full-year dividend in 2015

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) plans to pay an interim and final dividend for 2015, having announced its first payout for over six years in February, Chairman Norman Blackwell told the bank's annual meeting.

"The resumption reflects the transformation of the business over the past four years," Blackwell said.

Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio told the meeting the bank was well placed to benefit from the continued strength of Britain's economy, enabling it to return value to shareholders.

Post apocalyptic high @89.07 today.

Up over 10% since I got back in last Friday.

I used to love trading these before the banks collapsed. My first venture back into these since I think , chucked some in the SIPP.

How are you doing DIl - I'm 68% up on my main SIPP holding, have them on a long term SB and have bought a few in the ISA recently.

I went with Barclays after the crash and made about 80% but sold a couple of years ago.

Markets been boring me for last year or so but started to get back in slowly. Still got my RECI and have had BT. from about 140p but dumped everything else I held and spread 50% over a number of unit trusts .... so relaxing :-)

Probably become more active in the autumn.

Keep up the good work I still pop in most days to catch up on things.

I still hold RECI, but sold BT recently hoping for a pull back - but I had them from just under a quid.

GACA is the best of my boring yielders atm.

Cheers mate I'll take a look.