Lloyds Banking Group leads FTSE losers on growth worries

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group are hovering near their lowest level since February 2010. A number of analyst notes - mainly upbeat - seem to be having little effect, nor does a report that sale documents are being finalised for the £3bn disposal of around 600 Lloyds branches, as requested by regulators. No, it seems investors have been spooked by new chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio telling the Financial Times that it could take up to five years to turn the part-nationalised bank around. So its shares are currently down 1.27p at 47.465p and leading the FTSE 100 losers. Lloyds plans to announce a strategic review on 30 June and analyst Bruce Packard at Seymour Pierce said: [Horta-Osorio] has suggested that the review would not be as radical as some (including us) had hoped. He has damped expectations of a sale of Scottish Widows or shake up of the wholesale division. Instead there will be a focus on costs and a more customer focused strategy. Among the other comments today, UBS issued a buy note with an 86p target, while Espirito Santo was also positive. But Credit Suisse began coverage of the bank with a neutral rating and 55p target: We believe Lloyds offers limited upside potential at current levels given the need to substantially restructure and right-size the bank on the path to a more sustainable return profile. Whilst we expect the strategic review to be supportive and a positive for the longer term, we do not expect it to re-rate the stock in the near term.