Today they have fallen 22% to a new low of 223p ..are they another Marconi..?



The chart looks like one long suicide note.

FTSE down 205 at start today things look very bad

banks have stabilised though. the fall amongst miners has been far greater the last 2 mnths.

God we need some good news.

Well at least retard Rooney did well yesterday

were all doomed !!!! Well LSE are I've just gone into them!

Will they reach 49p someday its hard to say but its having a good try.

down 10% today nearing final capitulation.

another new low...

HBOS what went wrong next Thursday on BBC tv.

Thanks mitzy that will be a good one to watch.

what went wrong is that halifax took over the bank of scotland.......and peter burt was only banker on the board back in 2001...........now on the hbos board there are no bankers. they have no experience and seem to pick young fly by night guys as CEO. old fashioned banking was done away with.

Up 1p on the day still they managed to saty in the blue for a change which is good news.

Agree with you geordie re the lack of banking experience on the Board.

RNS Number : 1957H
Dept for Business, Enterprise & Reg
31 October 2008


31 October 2008

PETER MANDELSON GIVES REGULATORY CLEARANCE TO LLOYDS TSB MERGER WITH HBOS

Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson has today given regulatory clearance to
the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS plc after
concluding that the merger is in the public interest.

Lord Mandelson will not refer the proposed merger to the Competition Commission for
further investigation, as the possible
anti-competitive effects identified by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are outweighed by the
public interest in preserving the stability of
the UK financial system.

POintless RNS - IMHO.
We knew this - and, what's it to do with Mandy?

Anyone watch yesterday's programme about HBOS?
Sadness that Execs are only interested in satisfying their greed.

BBC news: European bid for HBOS!!!

Sky news confirms counter bid.

Without trawling through all the previous posts, can someone tell me please what the original offer price/deal was? There is probably a counter bid coming:
"Scots entrepreneur Jim Spowart believes a European financial services company is interested in taking over the troubled bank.

No detail about the new bid nor the identity of the foreign bank has been given but the interest is "genuine", according to Mr Spowart.

The news comes a day after the UK Government gave Lloyds TSB's planned merger with HBOS the green light.

Mr Spowart is meeting Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy to discuss the possibility of a second bid for the troubled bank. (BBC News)"

government body also stated concerns about hbos-lloyds merger deal esp with significant jobs going.

think price was 113 point something pence.
original price was 232p i think

if i got this wrong sorry but i'm new to this but been watching stockmarket with interest this year and trying to learn.
if anyone can advise any good share tips or advise when its right when to buy back in again into shares.

the original offer was 0.83 LLOY shares for every HBOS but there have long been rumours that this will be reduced to 0.6, or even that one party or the other would walk away.

at friday's close, LLOY was near enough 200 and HBOS 100, so make of that what you will

The offer was changed on 13th October due to unprecedented volatility in global markets, the revised terms agreed with HBOS are that HBOS shareholders will receive 0.605 Lloyds TSB shares for every 1 HBOS share.

As for the rumoured interest from a European Bank, when you think HSBC were willing to pay 0p for hbos, I can't see another bank paying more than Lloyds.

One other tiny fly in the ointment is that according to this w/e's FT, HBOS are due to write down another 5bn in the second half of their financial year, connected to treasury assets rooted in the U.S. sub-prime market.
Just on rumour this may well be worth a quick punt on monday, imo. In & out though pdq!