3rd Aug 2015 06:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - The UK government has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group PLC, meaning it now owns 13.99% of the FTSE 100 bank, according to a stock exchange filing on Monday.
The government had previously owned 14.98% of the bank, which it is returning to full private ownership after taking a 43% stake in the lender through a GBP20 billion bailout in the global financial crisis of 2007-09. The share sale means the government has sold about 10% of the bank's shares since February.
UK Chancellor George Osborne said the government has now raised almost GBP14 billion by selling shares in the bank, with the proceeds to go towards reducing the national debt.
The news comes after Lloyds reported earnings for the first half of 2015 on Friday last week. The bank's bill for the payment protection insurance scandal increased by GBP1.4 billion to GBP13.4 billion, and took the shine off a 38% increase in pretax profit to GBP1.19 billion.
The group's return to paying dividends for the first time since the crisis has also helped the government's move to offload its share in the bank. Lloyds declared an interim dividend of 0.75 pence per share, and said it will consider special dividends or share buy-backs in future.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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