(Adds company news and futures)
Feb 15 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 35 points higher at 7,248.8 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.60 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* CONVATEC: British medical devices firm ConvaTec CTEC.L said 2017 profit fell 3.3 percent, bogged down by supply issues at its top two divisions and lower sales from new products. LANCASHIRE: Property and casualty insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd LRE.L forecast that 2018 would be another challenging year for the industry, and swung to a full-year loss as it weathered the costliest year ever for insurers and reinsurers due to natural catastrophes. RELX: Anglo-Dutch professional information group RELX REL.L said it would simplify its corporate structure into a single company after reporting a 6 percent rise in full-year underlying operating profit on Thursday. LLOYDS BANKING/STANDARD LIFE: Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) and Scottish Widows have sent notices to Standard Life Aberdeen to terminate investment management relations, Standard Life Aberdeen said in a statement on Thursday. ANTOFAGASTA: Chilean mining company Antofagasta ANTO.L received environmental approval for a major, $1.1 billion revamp of its Los Pelambres copper mine, the regional government of Coquimbo said on Wednesday. GVC/LADBROKES: Online gambling company GVC GVC.L has given away its Turkey business, hoping the move will help smooth its takeover of Ladbrokes LCL.L after GVC's lenders baulked at its exposure to a country where internet betting is illegal. SKY: Hedge fund Polygon Global Partners, which is an investor in Sky SKYB.L , said the outcome of the English Premier League soccer rights auction supported its view that the takeover by Twenty-First Century Fox FOXA.O undervalues the British company.
The decision by regulators that Twenty-First Century Fox would be a "fit and proper" owner of Sky will be challenged in court, campaign group Avaaz said on Wednesday. Shire: Shire SHP.L , the pharma firm splitting its rare disease and hyperactivity drugs into two units, said sales would grow in the mid-single digits and profits by a lower percentage than the top line this year after earnings per share rose 16 percent in 2017. SHELL-NIGERIA: The Court of Appeal in London ruled on Wednesday that two Nigerian communities cannot pursue Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L in English courts over oil spills in Nigeria's Delta region. OIL: Oil prices on Thursday extended gains from the previous session, pushed up by a weak dollar and by comments from Saudi Arabia that it would rather see an undersupplied market than end a deal with OPEC and Russia to withhold production. GOLD: Gold prices rose further on Thursday, supported by a weaker dollar and as investors bought the yellow metal as a hedge against inflation after a faster-than-expected rise in U.S. consumer prices last month. COPPER: London copper rose for a fourth day to the highest in 10 days on Thursday, supported by a decline in the dollar and robust prospects for global growth. BRITAIN-EU: The European Union's remaining member states want a "close and deep" relationship with Britain after its departure from the bloc, but it is for Britain to make proposals as to how it imagines that relationship, a German government spokesman said. EX-DIVS: AstraZeneca AZN.L , BP BP.L , Hargreaves Lansdown HRGV.L , Royal Dutch Shell A RDSa.L , Royal Dutch Shell B RDSa.L , Unilever ULVR.L
will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 24.4 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations The UK blue chip index ended the day up 0.6 percent on Wednesday, as investors shrugged off a hotly anticipated data release showing higher than expected U.S. inflation. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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