CRUNCH

08 NEWS TUESDAY 4 APRIL 2017
Government
edges closer to
Lloyds Bank exit
REBECCA SMITH
@BexKSmith
THE GOVERNMENT has announced its
remaining stake in Lloyds Banking
Group is now under two per cent.
The taxpayers’ shareholding in the
bank is now at 1.97 per cent. Until recently,
the government had been
Lloyds’ largest shareholder.
It had previously been reported the
state could be rid of its entire holding
by spring this year, after the government
announced its holding was
below the five per cent threshold at
the beginning of 2017.
The government originally took a 43
per cent share when it bailed out the
bank for £20.5bn, in the wake of the
2008 financial crisis.
Now, the government said it
has nearly recovered all of the money
taxpayers injected into the bank
during the financial crisis, once
share sales and dividends received are
accounted for.
The economic secretary to the Treasury,
Simon Kirby, said: “I welcome this
further progress in returning Lloyds
to the private sector.
“We have now recovered over £20bn
for the taxpayer and are very close to
recovering all of the money taxpayers
injected into the bank during the financial
crisis.”
The Lloyds trading plan, selling
shares in the market over time,
initially ran from 17 December 2014 to
30 June 2016. The government then
announced in October last year that
further sales of Lloyds’ shares would
also be made through a trading plan.
In January, the government passed
the significant milestone of
announcing it was no longer Lloyds’
biggest shareholder, making progress
with the aim to return it to the
private sector.
Lloyds announced its first major acquisition
since its bailout in December,
saying it would buy credit card
business MBNA for £1.9bn.
New, exciting products drive growth in the market, said chief exec Phil Popham
Yacht maker Sunseeker sails to
profit after a ‘defining’ year
COURTNEY GOLDSMITH
@courtneynoelg
AFTER swinging back to profit in a
“remarkable turnaround”, luxury
yacht maker Sunseeker has set its
sights on future growth.
Britain’s biggest boat builder
yesterday reported earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation (Ebitda) of £6m for the
year to the end of December,
compared with a loss of £7m in 2015.
Sunseeker said revenue increased
25 per cent to £252.4m due to
“incredible” response to new models.
The group will invest a further £50m
across the business to support a bold
product plan with many more new
introductions over the next few years.
CITYAM.COM
Ex-PM adviser
goes Public
with tech firm
LYNSEY BARBER
@lynseybarber
A FORMER top adviser to David
Cameron has launched a new
venture designed to help startups
work with government to improve
technology in the public sector.
Daniel Korski, who left Number
10 after the Brexit vote, has
backing from high-profile names in
the tech industry for the venture,
called Public, with venture capital
investor and son of the heir to the
Heineken fortune Alexander De
Carvalho.
Investors include venture
capitalists Robin and Saul Klein,
private equity boss Jon Moulton, LV
chairman Mark Austen and Passion
Capital partner Stefan Glaenzer.
Public will combine different
aspects of the venture funding and
tech accelerator model to help
startups navigate wanting to work
with government.
“Why shouldn’t the UK be at the
forefront of delivering those
services? There’s an opportunity
now [with the Brexit vote] rarely
afforded to a fully functioning
Western democracy to rethink the
entire under wiring of the state,”
Korski told City A.M.
DON’T LET THIS
YEAR’S ISA
ALLOWANCE
GET AWAY.
LET’STALKHOW.
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Secure it in
Cash Park
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