This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/28/george-osborne-postpones-sale-sell-off-last-publicly-owned-lloyds-bank-shares
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| George Osborne postpones sale of last publicly owned Lloyds Bank shares | George Osborne postpones sale of last publicly owned Lloyds Bank shares |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| George Osborne has postponed the sale of the last taxpayer-owned tranche of Lloyds Banking Group shares this spring, blaming “market turbulence”. | |
| The chancellor pledged in last year’s election manifesto to sell the remaining stake in the bank – just under 10% of the company – to the public this spring. | The chancellor pledged in last year’s election manifesto to sell the remaining stake in the bank – just under 10% of the company – to the public this spring. |
| However, he decided to delay the sale following the sharp sell-off in stock markets in recent weeks. The sale will not happen until after Easter, it is understood. | |
| Osborne said: “I want to create a share owning democracy. It’s also my responsibility to ensure economic responsibility, so with these turbulent financial markets now is not the right time to have that sale. | |
| “We will sell Lloyds to the British people, but we will do so when the time is right.” | |
| Several indices, including London’s leading share index, entered bear market territory earlier this month. There was panic selling as crude oil prices slumped to fresh 13-year lows and investors fretted about China’s economic slowdown and the state of the global economy. The FTSE 100 index has recovered this week and hit a three-year week of 6012.4 on Thursday before falling back again, and global equity markets remain volatile. | |
| The Lloyds share price has dropped more than 10% below the price at which the government would make a profit from the share sale. | The Lloyds share price has dropped more than 10% below the price at which the government would make a profit from the share sale. |
| We'll build a share owning democracy. So British people can buy Lloyds shares but we'll only sell when turbulent markets have calmed down | We'll build a share owning democracy. So British people can buy Lloyds shares but we'll only sell when turbulent markets have calmed down |
| Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This will be a big disappointment for the hundreds of thousands of investors who had queued up for a chunk of Lloyds, but taking a big loss on selling shares when markets are low was always going to be a bridge too far for the chancellor. | |
| “The fall in the Lloyds share price has left them around 10p below what the government thinks it needs to break even, and together with the planned 5% discount and bonus share scheme would have meant the chancellor putting his hand in his pocket, so now he looks to be pinning his hopes on a recovery in markets later in the year.” | |
| It is yet another U-turn on a manifesto pledge, following Osborne’s change of heart over tax credit cuts in the autumn statement. | |
| A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson noted that the government had progressively reduced its stake in the group from 43% to just 9%, returning over £16bn to taxpayers at a profit. “This reflects the hard work undertaken over the last four years to transform the group into a simple, low-risk and customer-focused bank. | |
| “The timing of any future retail sale is a matter for the government. Our focus is on moving the group forward so that it can continue to be profitable and deliver sustainable returns to all our shareholders.” |