TODAY'S PAPERS

FINANCIAL TIMES

Citigroup looks to slash tech costs - Integration could save more than $1bn

Global electricity use forecast to fall - First decline since 1945, says IEA

China has long way to go to dislodge dollar - Beijing hopes to see US currency replaced

Lex: GMAC - Barely a whimper greeted reports the US stands poised to inject more than $7bn into GMAC as part of a new aid package that could reach $14bn

US unemployment - Forget lagging indicator nonsense, rising joblessness risks wreaking real economic havoc soon

Share issuance - There are many reasons to suspect that the current stock market rally is unsustainable, particularly if companies have to raise more equity

Chinalcos concession - Chinalcos concession on the terms of its rescue deal, allowing Rio Tintos investors a slice of the convertible bond, is a deft piece of legerdemain

Cable & Wireless - Now the incentive scheme has started to pay out, care is required to ensure managements incentives remain broadly in line with those of shareholders -

Sterling - The pound has had a good run this year, rising 9% since December, but the UKs currency was due for a correction, or at least a pause

British Land - One of the UKs largest real estate investment trusts hopes to be among the growing crowd of bottom-fishers looking to hook bargains

Singapore and Taiwan - Have we entered a period of Hedonomics, where all news is good news? Asian equities have added almost 60% in three months

Sony Corp - The consumer electronics and entertainment group plans to halve its roster of suppliers, but will it be able to make the changes quickly enough?

THE TIMES

Two investment consultants were arrested yesterday by police investigating an international fraud involving potential losses of 250m

UK credit rating threatened as debt hits 8.5bn

US to steer General Motors to bankruptcy

Premium Bars investors face Reuben wipeout

Former Xerox trainee takes over company

Art lovers swarm to pick up heirlooms sold off by victims of Bernard Madoff

Bank of England warns that lending to large and small companies remains weak

Bramdean starts countdown to break-up

Retail sales rise but job fears spell caution

Scottish and Southern calls for monopoly referral of Centricas plan to buy 20% stake in Britains nuclear industry from EDF

Tempus says hold SSE; buy Investec; Shanks Group has further to run

Comment:
Tullow Oil up on bid talk

Speculation that Avanti Communications will win a grant to design a satellitefrom the European Space Agency

Bet of the day: British Airways

Tiddler to watch - Western & Oriental

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Britain's prized AAA rating placed under review

Standard Life boss to join RBS board

Greenspan's fears ring true as BankUnited collapses

Rio Tinto investors call for changes to Chinalco deal

British Land suffers 4bn loss

TNK-BP profits fall $1.5bn after oil price collapse

QinetiQ cuts 400 UK jobs after drop in MoD budget

Apple's 'tablet' to rival Amazon's Kindle

Questor: Cape shares are up 143% but still look undervalued; time to move on from Gazprom, for the time being; SSL expansion plans mean the shares are a buy; JP Morgan offers a promising passage to India

THE INDEPENDENT

UK falls out of premier league of economies - In a humiliating move, Britain has been relegated from the premier league of economies by one of the world's leading credit agencies.

Police raid scheme accused of 50m 'scam'

Clarke quits M&B over hedging disaster

Restructuring firm reviews Borders UK's store portfolio

Writedowns and ad slump push Daily Mail group to 239m loss

Sunshine over Easter boosts retail sales by 3%

Rio deal takes another turn as Chinalco reviews its options

Horlick fund posts defence against rebels

THE GUARDIAN

Ratings agency downgrades outlook for UK economy

'Brutal' economic slump will slow UK recovery, says EIU - Housing market set to slow further and unemployment could rise to 11%

Mortgage lending decline dashes hopes of property market recovery

Retail sales rise 2.6% in year

Birthdays chain goes into administration

JJB may just survive 'against the odds'

Mitchells & Butlers boss quits as disastrous deal costs company 96m

Ryanair's Michael O'Leary calls for Aer Lingus to slash boardroom pay

Liddy quits as AIG boss

Rio Tinto hints at U-turn over China

Staff outraged as QinetiQ cuts 400 jobs

ICAP share sale nets 73m

DAILY MAIL

China JV speculation stimulates Altona Energy

SHORTERS

Where have they gone - to the bonfire burn, burn "hlyeo98" u scumbag

.............

" What amuses me is that in a share that regularly trades tens of millions of shares every day that doom mongers
like "hlyeo98" think they can affect the price of the shares.

What I do find troubling though is that there might be people out there who might believe and act on his "advice".
People like that should be banned, though it's gone downhillover the last year or two the Motley Fool was always
quite proactive in banning people like him and preventing them from panicking inexperienced investors into
selling when it was against their interest. "

Share price now 70p. When was the last time you could pick up Lloyds @ 38p? Take up the entitlement in full !

I'll second that, money in the bank and not too long to wait for it. It may take a month or two or three, but it will still be there. imo.

For those interested in making a few bob quick, PHTM is the share for today

Master RSI - 22 May'09 - 11:53 - 294 of 294 edit
KEEP AN EYE

PHTM 14 / 14.50P

Volume picking up with the share price rising aswell
Due for a turn around on the trend
Strong order book bid 1.1M offer 138K

Intraday Chart

3 month

5 days

3 month

Then post on the proper thread. Nothing to do with LLOY. Another pump & dump ?

He must be really bored.........

HARRYCAT

Maybe you should be a "PUSSYCAT" by the content you Biografhy instead of HARRYCAT.

You commented yesterday about something not conected to you, and again today

Keep your comment for your Household if you have one.
when it was a good TIP for you. 'Get rich quick' brigade.

HARRYCAT - Biography
Regular online private investor.
50% in low risk companies.
50% actively traded in high risk companies.
Heavy subscriber to the 'Get rich quick' brigade.

Just call me Harry>>>>>>>>> I will call you PUSSY on anymore of you outburst

Keeps the lending going and extract more income from it ...........


Lloyds Extends Banking Facility To Blacks Leisure

Blacks Leisure has put out an optimisitic note saying that it is engaged in discussions with Lloyds Bank regarding provision of a financial structure which will enable the Group to accelerate both the exit of the loss-making Boardwear business and the development of the Outdoor store portfolio.

The Company adds that the Bank is to continue to provide a 35m banking facility until 31 August 2009 whilst working towards an appropriate long-term financing solution.

The share price rose 5p , up 12.5% to 45p.

Bank stress test release rejected
Fri 22 May,

LONDON (Reuters) - Revealing the results of confidential government studies into the financial health of major British banks could cause uncertainty in financial markets, a Treasury spokesman said on Friday.

The Treasury said on Friday that it had rejected a request made under freedom of information legislation by news agency Bloomberg for publication of stress tests conducted by the Financial Services Authority earlier in the year.

"The information was withheld on the grounds of a number of exemptions, including that disclosure of such information may lead to uncertainty in the financial markets, either in relation to specific institutions or more generally," the spokesman said.

So far Barclays (BARC.L) is the only major bank to have said that it passed the FSA's stress-testing process, despite others such as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) being tested around the same time.

The Financial Times said the stress-testing included looking at whether banks would have enough capital to survive a 50 percent crash in house prices and a two-year recession.

An FSA spokesman said it had also turned down a freedom of information request from Bloomberg. "If we did release any specific information on stress testing it would be as an announcement to the market via (press release news wire) RNS, so it's not something I can comment on at this stage," said Joseph Eyre, press officer at the Financial Services Authority.

The United States has already published the results of its stress tests, saying it would boost financial market confidence -- a position supported on Friday by the Dutch financial market regulator AFM.

"Everybody is talking about a level playing field. There is an increasingly unlevel playing field between investors in American financial stocks and in European financial stocks," said AFM chairman Hans Hoogervorst.

"Investors in European financial stocks remain much more in the dark and there has not been -- and I don't think it's going to be very likely -- transparency in stress tests in the banking sector in Europe," Hoogervorst told a meeting of the Financial Crisis Advisory Group, which he co-chairs.

"This pressure is mainly exerted by bankers and ministers of finance, who are all bankers now, and obviously they have no natural interest in transparency," he said.

'A PUSY' eh MRSI??? You have just embarrassed yourself, again.

Who cares you are the same "barking mad, but no bite" theme

A double SS matches the double RR and the total of letters

HARRYCAT
PUSSYCAT

i bet there are a few buying this at 68p today...what a bargain!

SUNDAY MAIL

Midas Column: Steer clear of the Lloyds cash call

I ONLY CAN SAY MIDAS LOST THE TOUCH SOME TIME BACK.
Now is a question if the economy is recovering soon after the record low interest rates,
the green shoots are apearing here and there at the moment.

Midas: Steer clear of Lloyds cash call
Midas is edited by Joanne Hart -- 24 May 2009

Last spring, HBOS was struggling so it asked shareholders for help. The bank had made so many bad lending decisions that it needed 4bn to put it on an even keel.

Many shareholders bought the story, expecting the company to prosper. Instead, the bank went from bad to worse, ending up in the arms of Lloyds TSB.
Until then, Lloyds shareholders were doing relatively well as the bank was not saddled with bad debts. HBOS changed all that and the combined business, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), had to go cap in hand to the Government. It received more than 10bn in cash and the Government took a 44% stake

The Government then gave it a further 4bn and in return received preference shares that gave it a dividend of 480m a year.

Even that was not enough and earlier this year LBG applied to join the Government's Asset Protection Scheme. The details are still being hammered out but the Government will effectively insure 260bn of bad debts, most of which were made by HBOS.

In return, the Government has told Lloyds to redeem the preference shares - in other words pay back its 4bn. The bank still needs that money, so it is asking shareholders to stump up.

This time, chief executive Eric Daniels wants to raise the cash through a placing and compensatory open offer. This is like a rights issue but it is quicker.

Investors will receive documents this weekend offering them about six new shares for every ten they hold, at 38.4p per share. The offer closes at midday on June 5, so anyone wanting the extra shares must act fast.

LBG has 2.8m shareholders who own an average of 550 shares each. They have three options - take up the full entitlement, some of it, or do nothing. The first option would cost about 130 for the average of 340 new shares.

Those who do not take up the full amount might receive a small windfall. Any shares not taken up by shareholders will be sold in the open market at a discount to the prevailing-price but at a premium to the 38.4p offer price. Any excess will be handed to investors.

When this placing was hammered out with the Government, LBG shares were 42p. Today the price is 68.6p. If it stays at this level till the offer closes and the shares not taken up are sold at 60p, non-subscribers will receive about 20p per share - 60p minus 38.4p, plus a little for costs.

In practice, the shares are likely to drift lower over the next two weeks but some small compensatory payment is still a possibility.

So what should shareholders do? At first glance, investors may be tempted to buy the new shares as they are heavily discounted. But this is not the best way to make a judgment. The most important point to consider is the group's prospects. Is LBG going to do well over the coming year and beyond or not? Will the board manage to knit together Lloyds TSB and HBOS to make a great and powerful British bank or will HBOS simply drag its new parent down?

The early indications have not been good. Lloyds TSB did not realise what it was taking on when it bought HBOS and it has been forced to reassess its position repeatedly. Chairman Sir Victor Blank, once a darling of the City, decided last week to quit early after consistent criticism from key shareholders.

Another factor affecting the group's future is the EU. The bank admitted last week that it could be forced to sell off parts of the business if the European Commission does not approve the HBOS takeover.

It is also possible that the shares will take a beating over the next fortnight and fall below 38.4p. In that case, most investors would not take up their entitlements. The Government will buy any shares that no one wants so, at worst, it would end up owning 65 per cent.

Midas verdict: When HBOS asked shareholders to subscribe for the rights last year, the market price was 495p and the rights were 275p. When Lloyds first bid for HBOS its shares were about 300p and HBOS was about 200p. Shareholders have had a torrid time and the outlook is uncertain-Unless they have a real yearning to own more bank shares, they are best off waiting for a compensatory cheque in late June.

From the TELEGRAPH

Lloyds to auction HBOS company stakes

Llloyds Banking Group has stepped up its efforts to offload its shareholding in more than 60 of Britain's largest companies including coffee chain CaffNero and David Lloyd Leisure, the health and fitness group.

UBS, the investment bank, is working on plans to auction the stakes, inherited from HBOS. The combined value of the investments have more than halved to 600m since last June. The auction process could begin in July, City sources told The Sunday Telegraph.

A number of potential financial bidders are understood to have expressed an interest in the stakes, which range from Polypipe, a pipe manufacturer, to Sunseeker, the yacht builder, as well as a number of smaller companies such as Aberdeen-based oil industry specialist Red Spider Technology and Leaseway Vehicle Rental.

The integrated finance division's larger real estate investments, including retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone and Crest Nicholson, are not part of the planned UBS auction.

Neither is the bank's 8pc stake in Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group, which is held outside the division. Sir Philip said on Sunday that he had no plans to buy back the stake. "They are quite happy with me. Why should I buy it?" he said.

Lloyds has wanted to sell the equity stakes since it acquired HBOS in September and has sought advice from both
NM Rothschild and UBS. HBOS had previously paid UBS to assess private investor interest to acquire part of the portfolio.

The sale process concerns some of Lloyds' largest corporate customers, which had relied upon HBOS to provide a wide range of debt and equity banking services. Some had HBOS executives on their boards. Eric Daniels, Lloyds chief executive, has said there would be no "major wrenches" as part of the sale process. "We are going to be very careful," he said.

Last week, Lloyds announced that the former HBOS integrated finance, joint ventures and fund investment operations would "no longer be open to new business''.

Balerboy

re - He must be really bored.........

Threat your words with care, there are posters that do the research and others that just take it IN ( you could very easy be one of them just being lazy).

For the last 9 years I have been opening a Weekly thread somewhere else, so I keep myself busy over there, where I keep in touch with the rest of the Financial World not just LLOY.

This week thread..............

SHARES STRONGLY UP week starting 26/05/09 (UPS)

And as a lat comment I will add, I can give you a lesson on dancing for FREE, if you change you nickname to - Balletboy


                               

"For the last 9 years I have been opening a Weekly thread somewhere else"
Please go back there, permanently.

PUSSYCAT

I am there that is the last recomendation to make you boil to the point of explosion, but do not get sick yet
there is no hopital bed left for you at your area.

PHTM 14.75p

Reason: Share bouncing from 200 days MA with volume last Friday after retracement. Ex - CEO have increased stake to 22%
and 2 weeks ago got back to the board. Shareholders equity was 24p on last statement and gearing reduce to 33% from 57%.

PUSSYCAT

A got a remedy for you irritation " Stinging nettles " your psycho-sexual implications could be satisfied well,
and you could make a "cup of tea" with the left overs. When dried, the leaves make a damn good tea, with a rich,
indescribable flavor, nettles pack a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, and are perhaps the vegetable with the
highest protein content (10%).