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Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
£10,000 invested in Lloyds shares 10 years ago is now worth…
A string of 'once in a generation' challenges have weighed on Lloyds' (LSE:LLOY) shares over the last decade. A seismic shift in UK trade policy (Brexit), the most severe pandemic in a century (Covid), and a prolonged cost-of-living crisis have taken their toll. Ultra-low interest rates have also played havoc on the FTSE 100 bank by pulling down its margins. Combined, these factors mean that Lloyds' share price is 9.9% cheaper than it was 10 years ago. As a result, £10,000 worth of shares back then would now be worth £9,008. Yet it's not all terrible news, as our investor wouldn't be out of pocket despite this drop. They'd also have received total dividends of 24.83p per share in that time, meaning they'd have made £3,257 in passive income. Adding all this up, our investor would have made a profit of £2,265 on their investment, or a total return of 22.7%. However, this isn't much to celebrate, considering the total return for the FTSE 100 over that timeframe is far superior, at 85.9%. To put this in perspective, our investor would have made a profit of £8,590 if they'd put £10k in an index tracker instead. Still, 'the past is a foreign country,' to quote English novelist LP Hartley. So here I'm considering what the future may hold for Lloyds' share price. Right now, 18 analysts have ratings on Lloyds' shares. And the average 12-month target price among them is 75.83p, up 10.5% from today. With further dividends tipped as well, Lloyds' shares could well deliver a very decent return over the next year. City analysts are predicting a total dividend of 3.59p per share for 2025. If those average share price and dividend estimates are accurate, an investor today would enjoy a total return of 15.7%. Yet I've significant reservations about whether the shares can deliver these impressive returns. With the UK economy struggling for traction, and competition heating up in key product segments, I feel the bank has an almighty struggle on its hands to grow earnings. Meanwhile, its net interest margins (which, at below 3%, are already wafer thin) will remain weak if — as expected — the Bank of England continues cutting rates in 2025 and 2026. These phenomena could provide a drag on the bank's profitability over the longer term too. And on top of this, Lloyds' share price could be hammered if the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) imposes thumping, multi-billion-pound fines if it's found guilty of mis-selling motor insurance. That's not to say it's all bad at Lloyds. It's making strong progress to digitalise its operations, delivering huge cost efficiencies and improving the experience for online banking. It also has considerable brand power to lean on to help it grow business. But on balance, I think the risks to Lloyds and its shares are considerable. Despite those bullish price forecasts, I'd rather find other UK stocks to buy for my portfolio. The post £10,000 invested in Lloyds shares 10 years ago is now worth… appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Royston Wild has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Lloyds Banking Group Plc. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025 Sign in to access your portfolio
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Mining of authors' work is nothing new – AI is just doing what creative humans do
Authors say they are angry that Meta has used their material to train its artificial intelligence (Authors call for UK government to hold Meta accountable for copyright infringement, 31 March). But hasn't that been going on for thousands of years? Isn't all human thought an iteration of what has gone before? Artists and scientists have been mining the work of others for generations; that's how human thought evolves. Ian McEwan was influenced by LP Hartley's The Go-Between. George Orwell's Nighteen Eighty-Four was inspired by Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. Did Richard Osman invent the genre of cosy crime? The publishing industry as a whole is guilty of putting out bandwagon books, which ape the style, themes and tropes of a hit. The chief executive of the Society of Authors, Anna Ganley, says writers are 'up in arms'. Did she coin that phrase? Creativity has always 'trained' on the work of VincentWestmancote, Worcestershire Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
