Other than energy, financial services were the worst-performing sector in the MSCI World, and Lloyds Banking Group (LYG, Financial) was no exception to this trend. At the urging of the Bank of England, Lloyd’s joined with the UK’s other largest banks to cancel outstanding dividend payments for 2019 and pledge not to pay any dividends nor carry out any share buybacks in 2020. The vast majority of Lloyds assets are geared to UK consumers and businesses; its dominant local market share represents significant franchise value, in our view, and appears to position it well to benefit from future recovery in the UK economy.
From First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio)'s Global Value Team first-quarter 2020 shareholder commentary.
