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."

Chart of the week: A 'very formidable' barrier for Lloyds Bank shares

What surprises me is the trading on LLOY B/S against SP.

Although there was a dump on the 31/05.

? ready for bounce?

Lloyds Banking Group ORD (LLOY) Trades
68.23
-0.36 (-0.52%)
live: 12:14PM BST
Buy Volume 93,373,657 Trade Low 67.63
Sell Volume 40,562,943 Trade High 68.60
? Volume 1,776,277 VWAP 68.05
Total Volume 135,712,877 Prev day Vol 0
Status: Connected
(Pause Streaming)
Time Price Qty Type Bid Offer B/S Total Buy Total Sell
12:15:25 68.2600 2,949 AT 68.2600 68.2700 Sell 93,450,707 40,581,985
12:15:25 68.2600 1,025 AT 68.2600 68.2700 Sell 93,450,707 40,579,036
12:15:25 68.2600 1,538 AT 68.2600 68.2700 Sell 93,450,707 40,578,011
12:15:25 68.2600 1,062 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,450,707 40,576,473
12:15:25 68.2600 1,800 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,449,645 40,576,473
12:15:25 68.2600 2,300 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,447,845 40,576,473
12:15:23 68.2600 2,800 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,445,545 40,576,473
12:15:19 68.2700 1,000 AT 68.2500 68.2700 Buy 93,442,745 40,576,473
12:15:18 68.2600 3,867 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,441,745 40,576,473
12:15:14 68.2600 6,711 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,437,878 40,576,473
12:15:14 68.2600 10,000 AT 68.2500 68.2600 Buy 93,431,167 40,576,473
12:15:11 68.2344 8,979 NT 68.2400 68.2600 Sell 93,421,167 40,576,473

RE - ? ready for bounce? 68.75p

no, no and no .... until I say so

around 66p would be the right price at this stage of the game ( cycle )

Why Lloyds Bank shares are a post-election 'buy'

David Brenchley must be a bright guy!

8-)

now @ 67p

needs to lose another penny

66.43p

and now another 1/2p, and could be some support around

Has bounce back from a low of 66.04p

Job done

--