According to BBC news this evening, HMG sold it's remaining shares today, so onwards & upwards......hopefully!

Though, according to Reuters:
"Britain is set to sell its remaining stake in Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) on Wednesday, making the lender the first to re-emerge from British state ownership in a symbolic step for the country's recovering banking sector.

The sale will draw a line under one of the largest bailouts from the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. This involved Lloyds, Britain's biggest retail lender, being rescued after an ill-fated government-brokered takeover of rival HBOS.

The takeover of HBOS in 2008 caused Lloyds to suffer more than 25 billion pounds in losses and the bank's subsequent rescue cost the British government more than 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) and left it with a 43 percent state shareholding.

This holding has gradually been sold back into the market over and now represents less than 1 percent of Lloyds shares. About half of the 137 billion pounds of direct cash injected into Britain's five bailed-out banks has so far been recovered.

Britain will make at least a 500 million pound profit from its bailout of Lloyds, the bank's chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said last week."

Also Reuters - Lloyds new era begins as government sells off final shares

Britain has sold its last remaining stake in Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), making the lender the first to re-emerge from British state ownership in a symbolic step for the country's recovering banking sector.

The sale draws a line under one of the largest bailouts from the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. This involved Lloyds, Britain's biggest retail lender, being rescued after an ill-fated government-brokered takeover of rival HBOS.

more.....

António Horta Osório interview on Bloomberg shortly.

11 month high @71.37p

Nice to see the sp increase, it should continue to do so in the coming years as PPI drops off and interest rates slowly rise. I hold LLOY for the divi which should also increase over time.

I agree with that.....barring any nasty surprises within the banking industry. I see the US are trying to push for less regulation within their banking industry......amazing how short some memories can be!

A link to the earlier interview :- Lloyds CEO Says Still 'Much More to Do' at Lender

slightly late in the day, but have sold HFD from my sipp and put most of that money into topping up LLOY

Investec comment today:
"As widely anticipated, the UK Government has now completed the selldown of its £20.3bn (43.3%) “investment” made during 2009, to zero. As discussed in our report, Glad it’s all over? (16 May), in practical terms, this immediately removes the technical drag on the share price of Government share sales of up to 15% of the average daily volume. We do not anticipate any consequential change in strategy. Lloyds is already a “recovered” bank with significantly enhanced dividend-paying capacity. Let the good times roll!

We believe that Lloyds’ strategy and outlook is set fair, irrespective of its evolving ownership or management. In balance sheet terms, we continue to see it as a “no growth” bank, albeit this conceals an ongoing positive mix effect as it rebalances the composition of its lending portfolios. We see the acquisition of MBNA, expected to complete in Q2 2017, as a clear positive in this regard.

Lloyds shares have enjoyed a tailwind over the past ten months as consensus expectations in relation to NIM, impairment and DPS have started to catch up to a (pretty glorious) reality. However, following a 10% beat vs u/l PBT consensus in Q1 2017 we see this upgrade cycle as “unfinished business”. Our EPS forecasts of 5.5-6.7p through 2017-2019e remain ahead of Bloomberg consensus (5.3-6.5p) while our DPS forecasts of 4.5-5.5p through 2017-2019e are seemingly further ahead; Bloomberg consensus has 3.8-4.7p.

Lloyds trades on 1.2x Q1 2017 tNAV for ROTEs of 10-11% through 2017-2019e, supplemented by a prospective dividend yield of 6.4% in 2017e, rising to 7.8% by 2019e. Our Buy recommendation and 75p target price are both reaffirmed.

Back in the channel.

What the English channel?..sorry I digress -)

A new channel has been pointed out to me!

Stan,

A stumbling block for little englanders.

(:-(

Plenty of those around Fred as we know.

Although I've been following LLOY, Barclays and other banks I just can't bring myself to trust them enough to trade them anymore.

Stan,

I have too many Barc and too few Lloyds.

Sold and bought the latter, but expect (hope) for at least 75p and ?78p in short term.

Bought a few SBs in Barc today. Not sure, hoping on monthly charts 280, eps would support it, but a juicy yield would be better.

Yes difficult to assess.

sold DOM and HFD this afternoon and bought more LLOY + FRES and HOC
on my trading a/c i shorted further both Dow and Dax - hence i am smiling

Barclays Capital Overweight 71.64 77.00 77.00 Reiterates

Lloyds Banking Group today announces that it has completed the acquisition of MBNA Ltd (MBNA), a UK consumer credit card business, from FIA Jersey Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America, following receipt of regulatory and competition approval.

The transaction is consistent with the Group's stated strategic ambitions of growing in Consumer Finance and will enable the Group to enhance its position and offering within the UK prime credit card market through the MBNA brand. The purchase terms are in line with those previously disclosed and the purchase is expected to deliver strong financial returns including:
· an underlying Return on Investment that exceeds Cost of Equity in the first full year and increases to c.17% in the second full year following the acquisition
· c.3% and c.5% statutory EPS accretion in the first and second full years following the acquisition
Given the transaction will enhance Group net interest margin by c.10bps per annum there will be a c.5bps benefit to net interest margin in 2017. The transaction has been funded through organic capital generation with c.80 basis points of Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital retained on the Group's balance sheet since the end of 2016.

Commenting on the transaction, António Horta-Osório, Group Chief Executive, said:
"The acquisition, which is funded through strong internal capital generation, increases our participation in the UK prime credit card market, where we were underrepresented, and strengthens our position as a UK focused retail and commercial bank. The MBNA brand and portfolio are a good fit with our existing card business and we will focus on providing its customers with excellent service and value. Our proven integration capabilities and low cost to income ratio will deliver significant synergies and value to our shareholders."