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Nov 2 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 27 points on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 down 0.25 percent ahead of the cash market open.
- SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L reported a forecast-beating 47 percent profit jump to $4.1 billion on Thursday, driven by gains in oil refining and trading operations.
- BT: BT Group BT.L reported a 4 percent drop in second-quarter adjusted earnings as its struggles to turn around its Global Services unit, while higher costs for pensions and sports rights offset growth in its EE mobile business.
- MORRISONS: Morrisons MRW.L , Britain's fourth largest supermarket group, on Thursday reported another rise in quarterly sales, its eighth straight quarter of underlying growth, though its rate of growth slowed a little.
- RSA: Hurricanes hit insurer RSA's RSA.L underwriting performance in the third quarter, it said on Thursday, as it set aside 50 million pounds ($66.39 million) for weather losses in the United States and the Caribbean.
- LANCASHIRE: Lancashire Holdings Ltd LRE.L reported a third-quarter pretax loss after what looks set to be the costliest quarter ever for insurers and reinsurers due to natural catastrophes, but said it was seeing some evidence of an increase in insurance pricing.
- TATE & LYLE: British ingredients supplier Tate & Lyle TATE.L lifted its full-year profit expectations on Thursday, citing a strong first half when growth in its bulk ingredients and speciality food ingredients businesses helped to drive earnings higher.
- RANDGOLD: African miner Randgold Resources RRS.L on Thursday reported falls in third quarter production and profit but said output for the year remained on track to meet or exceed expectations.
- WPP: Advertising giant WPP WPP.L said on Thursday it was taking legal action against its partner Asatsu-DK Inc 9747.T, deepening an acrimonious spat over the Japanese firm's backing for a $1.3 billion buyout offer from Bain Capital.
- GVC: Online gambling company GVC GVC.L is gearing up for a wave of potential deals in the British gaming industry by selling its Turkey-related operations to Ropso Malta for up to 150 million euros.
- ACACIA MINING: Acacia Mining ACAA.L said on Thursday its chief executive and chief financial officers had resigned and appointed temporary replacements in the midst of negotiations to end a long running dispute with the Tanzanian government.
- IWG: Serviced office provider IWG Plc IWG.L on Thursday reported a 3.3 percent rise in quarterly revenue boosted by high growth in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
- CHRYSAOR/ SHELL: North Sea producer Chrysaor plans to begin drilling for oil and gas in early 2018 after completing a $3 billion acquisition from Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L , Chrysaor Chairman Linda Cook said on Wednesday.
- LADBROKES CORAL: Funds of private equity companies Apollo APO.N and Cerberus CBS.UL are selling down approximately 2.6 percent in London-listed gambling company Ladbrokes Coral LCL.L , the transaction's bookrunner said on Wednesday.
- STRATEX: Shareholders of miner Stratex International STIL.L have blocked a reverse takeover of Australia-listed Crusader Resources (CAS) and voted Chief Executive Marcus Engelbrecht out of office.
- BARCLAYS: Troels Oerting, the head of cyber and information security at Britain's Barclays Plc BARC.L , has taken a leave of absence, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
- EX-DIVS: Unilever ULVR.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 1.46 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations
- Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 ended 0.07 percent down at 7,487.96 points, while the mid-cap index .FTMC rose by 0.5 percent. The FTSE gave up some gains after robust UK manufacturing data, which bolstered expectations for an interest rate increase from the Bank of England on Thursday and sent sterling higher.
- For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
