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Govt bank investment improving?

The loss on bank shares has improved from £18.1bn to £10.9bn since February, some welcome good news.


http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/090713/140/ins99.html
'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
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Comments

  • mbga9pgf
    mbga9pgf Posts: 3,224 Forumite
    Yeah, and is set to get much worse towards the end of this year through to the end of 2011.

    Markets dont move in simple ups and downs.
  • StevieJ
    StevieJ Posts: 20,174 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    It is just reporting the current state of play icon7.gif
    'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
  • mbga9pgf
    mbga9pgf Posts: 3,224 Forumite
    Yep. One thing we can agree on!
  • Generali
    Generali Posts: 36,411 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    StevieJ wrote: »
    The loss on bank shares has improved from £18.1bn to £10.9bn since February, some welcome good news.


    http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/090713/140/ins99.html

    Hmmmmm.
    70% stake in RBS and 43% of Lloyds

    Placing that sort of stake in the market is likely to move prices a little I would guess.

    It's good to hear that the holders of the stock on behalf of UK taxpayers are "completely focused" and I'm sure that all those who are UK resident for tax purposes will be glad to know that the challenge faced by UKFI is "challenging".

    It's just as well that the press release issued by UKFI is full of platitudes that our friends at Yahoo have copied out in their very bestest hand writing.

    Many years in financial circles have taught me that the ability to soft soap is directly correlated to the ability to make money.
  • StevieJ
    StevieJ Posts: 20,174 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    It said that as the economy comes out of the sharp declines of late last year and early 2009, "opportunities for us to sell the government's shares might emerge."
    However, UKFI said the bulk of the sales are likely to take place when the economy is in a fuller recovery and bank shares have "performed robustly.

    In its briefing document the UKFI said it envisions a series of transactions to exit the stakes, which could include public share offerings, private placements, exchangeable bonds and private placements.


    John Crompton, UKFI's head of market investments, said the timing of the sales and the outcome for U.K. taxpayers remains "unknowable," but that there is confidence the taxpayer can recover its investment.
    'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
  • Mr_Mumble
    Mr_Mumble Posts: 1,758 Forumite
    £25bn loss if you include B shares. Oddly the press aren't picking up on that (Hanlon's razor I presume as the press are undoubtedly stupid ;) ).

    Breakeven point for ordinary shares is 120p for LBS and 50p for RBS. At one point in April UKFI were making a paper profit. Of course any attempt to sell the shares will see a fall in prices so it was very much theoretical.
    "The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else." -- Frederic Bastiat, 1848.
  • Generali
    Generali Posts: 36,411 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    StevieJ wrote: »
    but that there is confidence the taxpayer can recover its investment.

    Not from me! Not overall.
  • mbga9pgf
    mbga9pgf Posts: 3,224 Forumite
    Yep, the only thing that caused the recent green shoots was over-egged sentiment. Just going to make things worse once the investors realise there was nothing to back up their hoped for recovery.
  • bendix
    bendix Posts: 5,499 Forumite
    mbga9pgf wrote: »
    Yeah, and is set to get much worse towards the end of this year through to the end of 2011.

    Markets dont move in simple ups and downs.


    It's a moot point anyway. The UKFI which holds those bank stakes are hardly likely to be spending time looking at the share prices, hoping to dripfeed shares back into the public domain and sell down the holdings. They are actively talking to any number of potential buyers at any one time (including overseas banks, sovereign wealth funds etc) who will pay what they feel is the right price.

    THIS potential sale price will affect the stock price of those banks, NOT the other way round.
  • Masomnia
    Masomnia Posts: 19,506 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Could the shares not be sold straight back to the bank for cancellation?

    That way it would affect profitability, but the existing shares wouldn't necessarilly decrease in value as they come to represent more of the company.
    “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” - P.G. Wodehouse
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