Royal Bank Of Scotland Share Discussion Threads

[polar fox] 30/5/2018 09:28

The DT has an early go:

Royal Bank of Scotland's chief financial officer has resigned ahead of the bank's annual general meeting on Wednesday, in which executives are expected to be grilled by investors over dividends, branch closures and re-privatisation.

Ewen Stevenson will leave the state-controlled bank to "take up an opportunity elsewhere", remaining in his position until a successor is found.

RBS chief Ross McEwan, who himself has faced fevered speculation that he could soon leave the bank, said Mr Stevenson had been "fantastic" and had helped to resolve "a number of major legacy challenges" over his four-year term.

Mr McEwan and other senior executives at RBS will this afternoon face a barrage of questions from shareholders, including about when dividend payments will resume and how quickly it will be privatised, following the resolution of a long-standing $4.9bn (£3.6bn) fine for past misconduct in the US that had been a roadblock to a sale.

Speculation about the Government selling its remaining 72pc stake in the bank has intensified over the past few weeks, but both parties have so far declined to comment.

Labour has said there is no "economic justification" for the Government selling its shares at the moment and would result in a loss to the public purse. Shares in the bank are currently languishing well below the average 502p share price paid during the 2008 and 2009 bailout, at about 292p.


The bank is also expected to face questions over its plans to axe a further 162 branches and 792 jobs, just five months after announcing it would close 259 branches, with the loss of 1,003 jobs.

MPs have urged RBS to abandon its plans to axe up to 62 branches in Scotland, warning over the “devastating” impact it would have on communities.

If RBS presses ahead, it will leave Scotland with only 89 branches across the country. The lender said earlier this month that it was targeting sites that were in close proximity to other branches, as it starts to reintegrate its Williams & Glyn network back into the core bank.

Investors have also secured a vote on setting up a shareholder committee at the Edinburgh AGM, which if approved would give them more say over company decisions.

Mr Stevenson was a senior banker at Credit Suisse who advised on the Government’s £45bn bailout of RBS before later joining it as chief financial officer.

He had been seen as a potential successor to chief executive Ross McEwan at RBS amid speculation he could leave after nearly five years in the top role.

Mr McEwen recently played this down, telling LBC radio he had a plan up until 2020 and the bank’s turnaround was “not done yet”.

Other RBS insiders seen as likely candidates include senior directors Alison Rose and Les Mattheson.

unquote

Where does 292p come from?!!

[raffles the gentleman thug] 30/5/2018 08:32

Guess that throws a spanner in the works for UKGI to sell shares at the moment. I'm guessing that any institution approached in any kind of book build will be asking the same question re clarification on dividend policy, so they had better find a new finance director and communicate a strategy or UKGI will be looking rather stupid and selling shares below tangible book value.

[polar fox] 30/5/2018 07:52

So let's look ahead. Last year, the AGM Statemant RNS was published at 1:55pm, just before the event started. Presumably, we should expect something similar today. Management cannot announce new news during an AGM, on matters such as dividends, without it being addressed beforehand in an RNS. That is why the content of the AGM Statement will be so important, if it comes.

FTSE is up a handful of points atm, mostly because the DOW is up about 80 on IG.

[polar fox] 30/5/2018 07:15

I'm not surprised - I almost posted yesterday, that the tensions between management and UKGI/HMT have to be awful. But I would have expected McKewan to go first.

None of it will help steady the ship, that's for sure.

[polar fox] 30/5/2018 07:10

Ewen Stevenson quits! What a shocker. On AGM day.

[leedskier] 30/5/2018 06:48

Italian politics said to justify the FTSE100 opening down 14 points.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 30/5/2018 05:40

In a note to clients, Berenberg's analysts noted that during the last year, RBS has settled £13bn of legacy issues, and they believe its recent settlement with the US Department of Justice marks the end of this period.Moreover, the analysts added, RBS has continued to build capital during the resolution of these issues, meaning it has £5bn of excess capital, or around 40p per share, after dividends.The analysts said they believe this can support material share buybacks, of up to 15% of today's market value.They forecast RBS paying a dividend per share of 15p for 2018 and 25p for 2019.As a result, the Berenberg analysts said, they are sanguine about potential headwinds from share sales by the UK government, which reports today said could start selling down their current 70.5% holding in the bank as early as this week.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 30/5/2018 05:30

Berenberg ups RBS's target price, expects special dividends, share buy-backs when payouts returnBerenberg's analysts noted that RBS has £5bn of excess capital, or around 40p per share after dividends, which they believe can support material share buybacks, of up to 15% of today's market valueBerenberg has upped its target price for Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) as it believes the group will supplement a 40% payout ratio with special dividends and share buy-backs when it returns to the dividend list.The German bank reiterated a 'buy' rating on the FTSE 100-listed lender's shares with an increased target price of 340p, up from 300p previously.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 29/5/2018 17:57

The move in ten year treasury yield in the best part of a week is quite remarkable - down from 3.16% to 2.81%. Hence equity markets selling off from here is a bit akin to shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted

[leedskier] 29/5/2018 16:28

At the end of that article the Treasury are quoted as saying it is all speculation.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 29/5/2018 16:01

I'm actually pretty sympathetic to Labours stance on this one. It's completely foolhardy for UKGI to be selling down shares at a depressed price when the company is so blatantly and needlessly over capitalised. It must be in the best interest of the taxpayer to at least wait for the initial return of capital before proceeding with a sale - and furthermore wait for the analytical community to upgrade their numbers

[raffles the gentleman thug] 29/5/2018 14:53

Not a chance of a discount after the sell off today I imagine. Every institution out there knows this thing is trading at book value vs LLOY on a 20% plus premium and will want this. Especially as it's materially over capitalised and will announce a event dividend soon

[scamper] 29/5/2018 14:16

I wonder how much discount the sale is

[gcom2] 29/5/2018 10:43

doj news gap filled

[raffles the gentleman thug] 29/5/2018 10:40

The real anomaly here is how the heck LLOY is managing to sustain a 20%+ premium to book value when RBS is barely trading on a 2% premium

[scamper] 29/5/2018 10:14

£ dropping and oil rally (BP, Shell), at a guess

[raffles the gentleman thug] 29/5/2018 09:47

That's probably about right - I'm scratching my head trying to understand why the FTSE 100 ever went up vertically in the first place

[leedskier] 29/5/2018 09:44

The FTSE100 is now off 1.52%

[scamper] 29/5/2018 09:32

There's also a gap on the chart below.
Smurfy, I don't think they care about 'micro managing'news. 'Share will do what it does'...they are looking at the longer picture...
In addition, no idea where the leak came from...

As with LLoyds buyback,announced as and when, not for Lloyds to announce at agm

[raffles the gentleman thug] 29/5/2018 09:30

Anyways think we can safely safe after a straight-line move down from 294p to 278p UKGI ain't gonna be doing an RBS placement this week

[leedskier] 29/5/2018 09:27

The irony, given that the Euro is front and central, is that it is not falling against Sterling..