Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

With each month that passes the release of the minutes of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) become more eagerly anticipated, as the consensus view of the rate-setting committee starts to fragment.The Bank of England's quarterly inflation report on Wednesday conceded that the central bank's inflation forecasts have been on the optimistic side, and in the view of some pundits the introduction to the report suggested that the Bank had become more open to the possibility of raising interest rates; those pundits were quickly slapped down by the Bank's governor, Mervyn King. "Some people are running ahead of themselves," King said in response to comments that the latest report may augur higher interest rates.It's a safe bet that MPC member Andrew Sentence voted for a rate rise, as he has done every month since June last year. On Thursday, he accused the MPC of being "over optimistic" about the outlook for inflation. "My judgment is that the upside risks to inflation are understated," he said in a speech at the Institute for Economic Affairs in London. "Monetary policy would most likely need to be tightened faster and by more than the markets currently expect to bring inflation back to target," he added.The question is, how many of his colleagues on the MPC are coming round to his view? For a long time Sentance was a lone dissenter to the Bank's policy of keeping the Bank's key lending rate at its historically low rate of 0.5%, but in January he was joined on the hawks' perch by Martin Weale.The minutes are scheduled to be released at 9:30 on Wednesday.Thursday is the big day for results next week with the likes of British American Tobacco, Capita, Centrica, National Express, Royal Bank of Scotland, RSA Insurance and St. James's Place all updating. Lloyds Banking Group follows on Friday.Results from state-owned banks Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are sure to garner plenty of coverage, both on the front pages and the City pages.Nomura Securities is predicting total 2010 operating profit for RBS of £2.4bn, and pre-provision core profits of £11.4bn, down from £13.0bn in 2009, with the shortfall largely due to the Global Banking and Markets (GBM) division."RBS is relatively geared towards capital markets, with its GBM division accounting for one third of group risk weighted assets (more under Basel 3)," the Japanese broker notes. "We expect an even weaker trading quarter for GBM in the fourth quarter (19% down on an already subdued third quarter). The dominant part of revenues relates to Fixed Income Clearing Corporation [FICC] trading, which has been down quarter-on-quarter on average circa 30% across global peers in the fourth quarter," Nomura added."Unlike for Lloyds, we see top-line growth as required to achieve its target 15% return. At the third quarter, management conceded that higher interest rates and a stronger economic backdrop would be required to achieve its target," Nomura notes.Charles Stanley is going for a profit before tax of £2,004m for RBS, versus a loss of £6,762m in 2009. Earnings per share (EPS) are tipped to be 1.1p. For Lloyds Banking Charles Stanley is also predicting a return to profitability, and has a pre-tax profit forecast of £1,800m, compared to a loss of £10,131m the year before. EPS are expected to be 1.8p."The third quarter interim management statement (IMS) was a positive statement from Lloyds Banking Group. The benign state of the economy led to a continued improvement in the impairment experience which, when combined with a better margin, meant that the group expected 'to deliver a good financial performance for the full year'. The references to its funding, costs and synergies were also re-assuring," Charles Stanley said."However, Ireland remains a concern and despite good progress this year we believe the market still frets about the significant amount of wholesale funding that matures in the next couple of years and the potential impact that a weakening UK economy would have on Lloyds given its significant exposure to both UK Retail," the broker continued. Nomura is estimating a group loss before non-operating items of £959m, "much improved on a loss of £12.4bn in 2009, with a much lower impairment charge (£14.25bn versus £24bn).""After the rapid improvements in 2010, we expect the pace of recovery of margins and impairments to slow (additional charges have already been announced for Ireland). This could result in near-term downgrades and a deferral of normalised profit before tax. There was positive read across from Barclays' domestic operations with positive second half revenue and impairment trends," Nomura notes.Property company Hammerson is the first major result of the week on Monday. Panmure Gordon is expecting to hear of continued progress in both profits and asset valuations.Its pre-tax profit forecast is for £136m, with a dividend of 16.0p and a net asset value (NAV) per share of 463p, though the NAV estimate could prove too cautious, the broker suspects."Prime retail assets were in the news during the final quarter of 2010 with significant corporate activity taking place (Trafford Centre & Westfield Stratford). As we have already seen, the valuations of prime retail assets appear to have seen a sharp upward spike during the fourth quarter and Hammerson could well see its own retail assets see a benefit here. Hammerson has continued extensively to recycle capital during 2010 with a series of acquisitions and disposals in both the UK and French portfolios and looks well positioned to benefit from the growth trends described above," the broker says. Monday February 21INTERIMSHelphire Group, International Ferro Metals Group, Petra Diamonds Ltd.Q4Lancashire HoldingsGMSKEFI Minerals, Titanium Resources Group Ltd.FINALSDevro, Hammerson, Lancashire Holdings, Mondi, Pinnacle Telecom Group, XP Power Ltd. (DI)EGMSAccsys Technologies, Athol Gold Ltd. (DI), Commercial Bank of Qatar GDR (Reg S)AGMSCommercial Bank of Qatar GDR (Reg S)UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPublic Sector Finances (09:30)Tuesday February 22INTERIMSDechra Pharmaceuticals, Genus, Hargreaves Services, Pan African Resources, Savile GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEIncome & Growth VCT Q4Frontline Ltd.FINALSAeci 5 1/2% Prf, Brammer, Croda International, Dragon Oil, Drax Group, Informa, London Capital Group Holdings, Morgan Sindall GroupEGMSX5 Retail Group NV GDR (Reg S)AGMSBankers Inv Trust, Sinclair (William) HoldingsFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATETiton HoldingsWednesday February 23INTERIMSA&J Mucklow Group, Galliford Try, RSM Tenon GroupINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEDowning Distribution VCT 1, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Mid Wynd International Inv Trust, Mountview Estate, PZ Cussons, System C HealthcareINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSIndustrial New Orders (EU) (10:00)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Q4Yamana Gold Inc.GMSRenew HoldingsFINALSCapital Shopping Centres Group, Commerzbank AG, Gartmore Group Ltd., Logica, Telekomunikacja Polska GDR (Reg S), Travis Perkins, Yamana Gold Inc.SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEJersey Electricity 'A' SharesEGMSCMA Global Hedge PCC Ltd. EUR Shares, CMA Global Hedge PCC Ltd. GBP Shares, CMA Global Hedge PCC Ltd. USD SharesAGMSArmour Group, Dawson Holdings, Dunedin Smaller Companies Inv Trust, OptosUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEBarclays, Brunner Inv Trust, Charter European Trust, Chrysalis VCT, Domino's Pizza UK & IRL, Framlington AIM VCT, Henderson Opportunities Trust, Independent Inv Trust, Jersey Electricity 'A' Shares, Ladbrokes, Reckitt Benckiser GroupThursday February 24INTERIMSAshmore Group, Centaur Media, Kier Group, Sinclair Pharma, Sportingbet, Wilmington GroupINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBusiness Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30)Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00)New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)Q4London MiningFINALSBritish American Tobacco, Capita Group, Centrica, Filtrona PLC, Hunting, London Mining, Microgen, National Express Group, New World Resources NV (DI), Primary Health Properties, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, RSA Insurance Group, Ruukki Group (DI), St James's Place, STV GroupEGMSKDD Group NV (DI), MedicX Fund Ltd.AGMS2 ergo Group, Electra Private Equity, MedicX Fund Ltd.FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATERenew HoldingsFriday February 25INTERIMSAsian Citrus HoldingINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEACM Shipping Group, Fletcher King, NCC GroupINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATESara Lee Corp.QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEEquity Partnership Inv Co Income SharesINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)M3 Money Supply (EU) (09:00)Q4Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADSGMSMacquarie Korea Infrastructure Fund GDRSFINALSBerendsen, Brit Insurance Holdings NV (DI), Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Lloyds Banking Group, Rank Group, Rightmove, Spectris, Telefonica SA, William HillANNUAL REPORTHuntingSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEInternational Power, VictrexEGMSAminexAGMSBrewin Dolphin Holdings, TreattTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSClearStream Technologies GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGDP (output, income & expenditure) (09:30)Index of Services (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEUnited Drug, Victrex, Zytronic