9th Mar 2015 07:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - The UK government has sold off a further 1% stake in Lloyds Banking Group PLC under a trading plan managed by Morgan Stanley, meaning the UK taxpayer now owns 22.98% of the bank's equity.
News that the government's stake has been further whittled down comes just over one week since Lloyds resumed dividend payments for the first time since receiving state aid in the financial crisis of 2007-09.
On February 27, Lloyds said it had made a GBP1.8 billion pretax profit in 2014, compared with a GBP415 million pretax profit in the prior year, which cleared the path for it to pay a symbolic dividend of 0.75 pence per share for the year.
Resuming dividends was seen as a useful lubricant to the trading plan, as funds that look to generate income for their shareholders are now more able to buy shares in the bank.
The bailout of Lloyds Banking Group had given the government more than 40% of the bank, but improved earnings and the resumption of dividends has enabled the process of returning the bank to full private ownership to accelerate.
UK Financial Investments, the body that manages the government's holdings in the bailed out banks, is yet to sell any of the taxpayer's 80% in Royal Bank Of Scotland Group PLC, which reported a net loss of GBP3.47 billion for 2014 and revealed that it will no longer operate a standalone investment bank.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has since told the Financial Times that he wants to sell the stake held in RBS as quickly as he can if the Conservative party is still in power following the UK General Election in May.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Lloyds