Lloyds share price: Bank to pay out £60m in December flood claims

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) will pay about £60 million in insurance claims related to the December floods in the UK, the bank has said. In other Lloyds news, the lender’s private equity arm has snappedup a minority stake in CitySprint, with the investment valuing the same-day delivery company at £175 million.

Lloyds’ share price has been little changed in today’s session, having inched 0.11 percent lower to 62.37p as of 13:40 GMT. The shares are slightly outperforming the broader London market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index having lost 0.39 percent to 5,948.62 points so far today.
Lloyds said in a statement yesterday that it expected to pay around £60 million in insurance claims on the back of the severe storms and flooding which hit the UK at the end of last year. The bailed-out lender noted that it had helped more than 10,000 households affected by the storms through its Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland insurance brands. The news comes after blue-chip insurer Direct Line (LON:DLG) said last month that it expects up to £140 million in claims related to the recent storms in the UK.

In a separate development, the bailed-out lender’s private equity arm, Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), announced that it had backed the secondary buyout of CitySprint, with the transaction valuing the business at £175 million. LDC joins existing shareholder Dunedin, which has retained an equity stake in the business, while CitySprint’s management remains the major shareholder. Lloyds’ private equity unit noted that the investment would allow CitySprint to strengthen its position in the £1.7-billion same-day delivery market.
The investment comes ahead of Lloyds’ full-year results on Thursday. Analysts remain bullish on the blue-chip lender ahead of the update, with Davy Research reiterating its ‘outperform’ stance on the company today, without specifying a price target, while Deutsche Bank reaffirmed Lloyds as a ‘buy’ with a valuation of 83p.
As of 14:40 GMT, Friday, 19 February, Lloyds Banking Group share price is 62.11p.