Lloyds shares reach breakeven point

Perelandra

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in state-backed Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY.L - news) rose above the level which the government sees
as its break-even price after its 20.5 billion pound ($31.4 billion) rescue of
the bank, raising hopes of a sale this year.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/shares-lloyds-hit-government-break-104443444.html

Interesting; hadn't realised it was that close.

purch

If the Government wants to sell it's stake and "break even" then the share price will have to be a lot higher than it is now.

Camdoon

Unless it wants to give a little sweetener to voters.

michaels

Camdoon wrote: »

Unless it wants to give a little sweetener to voters.

Would certainly get my vote if they gave these away as if they sell them and use the money on general expenditure I certainly won't see any of it.

marathonic

I reckon the price is held down a little by the fact that people know that there's going to be a lot of selling on the pipeline.

If the government started selling in small chunks later this year, they mightn't do too badly.

Edit: I like the following idea:

"It could also look at a structured transaction in which shares are sold at a future date at a predetermined premium to the current share price."

dryhat

Meanwhile in the real world...

Lloyd's shares, just like every banks' shares, are actually worth zero.

Masomnia

michaels wrote: »

Would certainly get my vote if they gave these away as if they sell them and use the money on general expenditure I certainly won't see any of it.

General expenditure, we can but wish. It'll just mean less borrowing.

grizzly1911

Masomnia wrote: »

General expenditure, we can but wish. It'll just mean less borrowing.

Would it really have any effect? I thought the bank stuff was in some kind of holding account and not included in the "general" defecit.

As it's a kind of pretend money they simply tear up the pretend IOU? The debt never crystallised.

michaels

dryhat wrote: »

Meanwhile in the real world...

Lloyd's shares, just like every banks' shares, are actually worth zero.

Great, if you happen to have any of the worthless shares be a good chap and send them to me, I'm happy to cover your postage....

grizzly1911 wrote: »

Would it really have any effect? I thought the bank stuff was in some kind of holding account and not included in the "general" deficit.

As it's a kind of pretend money they simply tear up the pretend IOU? The debt never crystallised.

All true - but what are the odds that if they do start selling some of the shares Labour will suggest the proceeds could be spent on 'youth unemployment' or similar even though the debt isn't currently in the accounts....

IronWolf

They could just sell the shares in private placements, that way the share price wont be affected. Im sure they can find a few saudi royals to take them off our hands

chewmylegoff

dryhat wrote: »

Meanwhile in the real world...

Lloyd's shares, just like every banks' shares, are actually worth zero.

I think you've confused the words "the real" with the words "dryhat's drug addled".