Lloyds Banking Group Finals

[idpickering]

Significant business progress with strong start to the Group's latest strategic plan

· Strong start to the next phase of our strategy with increased strategic investment

· Achievements during the year include the launch of Open Banking, Single Customer View, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, the wealth management partnership with Schroders and enhanced customer propositions

· The Group will continue to Help Britain Prosper whilst delivering strong and sustainable returns for shareholders

· Total ordinary dividend of 3.21 pence per share, up 5 per cent on 2017, and a proposed share buyback of up to £1.75 billion representing a total capital return of up to £4.0 billion (2017: £3.2 billion), increase of up to 26 per cent

Div 2.14p, Ex Div 4 Apr 19, paid 21 May 19
https://www.investegate.co.uk/lloyds-ba ... 00035398Q/

[monabri]

Snippet from an Alliance News Detail

"The reported pretax profit fell short of market expectations by 6.9%. Analyst consensus saw Lloyds achieving pretax profit of GBP6.4 billion."

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exc ... 28600.html

Still, we've had an increase in the dividend.!


I noted a comment elsewhere that they'd increased their provisions for PPI further....let's hope that they are just being cautious and the money won't be needed.

[idpickering]

That was chatted about on Bloomberg earlier this morning. I expected Lloyd's to fall on market opening, but they're up 1.5% as of now!

What do I know?

Ian.

[blobby]

PDF of the results on Lloyds website here:

https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/glob ... esults.pdf

All looks to be going in the right direction to me. Must be one of the best value HYP shares available at the moment.

[daveh]

In addition, the Board has announced its intention to implement a share buyback programme of up to £1.75 billion, equivalent to 2.46 pence per share, up 76 per cent from last year.

I'd have preferred that paid as a special, but I'll give the directors the benefit of the doubt as I consider the shares undervalued at the moment and if a company is going to buy back its own shares that's the time to do it. Lets hope that, with fewer shares in issue, future years dividends can be higher.

[Walrus]

PDF of the results on Lloyds website here:

https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/glob ... esults.pdf

All looks to be going in the right direction to me. Must be one of the best value HYP shares available at the moment.

Agree, these and Tobacco look good bets to me

[Dod101]

Was that pyad I heard, armed with a pithy comment re the proposed share buyback?

It may be that the shares are good value but the problem is that it is a company almost totally focussed on the UK, admittedly with a decent yield. I do not hold.

Dod

[andyalan10]

And the 66th and 68th of 68 mentions of dividends in the release:-

Ex dividend 4th April, Payment 21st May.

3.21p 2018 compares with 3.05p 2017 and 3.05p 2016, so very slow dividend growth over the last 2 years. Also if 40%ish of the shareholder returns are in the form of buybacks what does that say about management's view of the sustainability of current profits?

Small holder, wondering whether to sell and top up HSBA to simplify things.

Andy

[idpickering]

And the 66th and 68th of 68 mentions of dividends in the release:-

Ex dividend 4th April, Payment 21st May.

3.21p 2018 compares with 3.05p 2017 and 3.05p 2016, so very slow dividend growth over the last 2 years. Also if 40%ish of the shareholder returns are in the form of buybacks what does that say about management's view of the sustainability of current profits?

Small holder, wondering whether to sell and top up HSBA to simplify things.

Andy

I hedge my bets between them, just about equally weighted in capital value terms, in my HYP.

Ian.

[kempiejon]

And the 66th and 68th of 68 mentions of dividends in the release:-

Ex dividend 4th April, Payment 21st May.

3.21p 2018 compares with 3.05p 2017 and 3.05p 2016, so very slow dividend growth over the last 2 years. Also if 40%ish of the shareholder returns are in the form of buybacks what does that say about management's view of the sustainability of current profits?

Small holder, wondering whether to sell and top up HSBA to simplify things.

Andy

From 3.05p to 3.21p is some 5%, ahead of inflation, there's no special though which was a nice touch for previous years but if those "specials" are now "normals" and above inflation increases continue that's enough for my HYP. HSBA has been static for 4 or 5 years on the income front but is the higher yielder. Like Ian having the pair is a valid strategy I think.

[Arborbridge]

Like others, I have split my main bank holdings between HSBC and Lloyds - and a good thing too in view of the history.

Having endured years of pain, I'm not selling just as we get some small comfort, no. With an almost goldilocks yield, 5 years of dividend growth and low p/e, it would be counter intuitive to sell out - in fact Lloyds would sooner or later be in the running for further tops ups except that I feel I've sunken enough capital there already.

Like my Aviva shares, this has been a long term Pyadic HYP type experimental holding and it will stay that way for the foreseeable.

Arb.

[idpickering]

Having endured years of pain, I'm not selling just as we get some small comfort, no. With an almost goldilocks yield, 5 years of dividend growth and low p/e, it would be counter intuitive to sell out - in fact Lloyds would sooner or later be in the running for further tops ups except that I feel I've sunken enough capital there already.

Arb.

Having topped up my Lloyd's holdings on 28 Oct 2018, in order to bring them up to that equal weighting with my HSBC holdings, I too have sunken enough capital into Lloyd's shares.

Ian.

[johnhemming]

I am not quite sure what the value per share of the equity capital in Lloyds is. I think it is around the same as the market price which is signficant as to the impact of the buy backs on the corporate accounts although it will still take cash off CET1.

[blobby]

I am not quite sure what the value per share of the equity capital in Lloyds is. I think it is around the same as the market price which is signficant as to the impact of the buy backs on the corporate accounts although it will still take cash off CET1.

Thanks for that thought John. I can't quite get my head around it though. If they buy back the shares and keep them in treasury would there be no effect on CET1?

[johnhemming]

I would not think that their own stock would count for the same value as cash.

[scrumpyjack]

At least the 'Jam tomorrow' may be a bit nearer now with the August deadline for claims. Incredible that they've managed to pour nearly £20 billion down that black hole.

[tjh290633]

Was that pyad I heard, armed with a pithy comment re the proposed share buyback?

It may be that the shares are good value but the problem is that it is a company almost totally focussed on the UK, admittedly with a decent yield. I do not hold.

Dod

Not only him. What is the objection to increasing the dividend? We had a special dividend and they want to use our money to buy back shares. There seems to be a pathological objection to increasing dividends, which would have a far better effect on the share price. Are they trying to keep it down?

I think that we should know.

TJH

[idpickering]

This from TMF;

This is what I’d do about the Lloyds share price right now

Over the last 10 years, Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) has worked hard to rebuild its reputation as a low-risk income stock.

In this piece, I’ll give my verdict on today’s 2018 results and explain whether I’d buy the bank’s stock.

A solid performance

The bank’s after-tax profits rose by 24% to £4.4bn last year, while revenue rose by 2% to £17.8bn.

Lending growth slowed and both mortgage and credit card lending was broadly unchanged last year. However, lending to small- and medium-sized businesses grew, as did motor finance. The group also reported a sharp increase in loans to wealthy customers.

https://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2019/0 ... right-now/

[johnhemming]

I am quite happy if they buy back shares. I hold Lloyds.

[Arborbridge]

At least the 'Jam tomorrow' may be a bit nearer now with the August deadline for claims. Incredible that they've managed to pour nearly £20 billion down that black hole.

Me too. I can't help thinking those claims were all some sort of trick to punish the bank. It reminds me of the claims against BP which were much of the time fabricated. £20billion! quite a ridiculous con of Lloyds shareholders.

It seems that today we look for someone else to blame and sue instead of thinking "I was a right idiot signing up for that" and learning from the mistake.

Arb.