(Adds company news and futures)
July 12 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is to open 26 points higher at 7,618 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.28 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* PREMIER OIL: Premier Oil 's PMO.L board has approved its Tolmount gas project in the UK North Sea ahead of a final investment decision in the third quarter and the company also expects to start drilling on a first well in Mexico in the fourth quarter, it said on Thursday. B&M EUROPEAN VALUE: B&M European Value Retail BMEB.L reported 8.3 percent revenue growth in its core British market for the first quarter, helped by strong sales of gardening and outdoor leisure ranges, and said it remained confident about its outlook. DFS FURNITURE: British retailer DFS Furniture DFSD.L expects full-year 2018 core earning to be below those in 2017 as it suffers from the impact of a UK heatwave that has kept shoppers out of its stores and disruptions to supplies, the company warned on Thursday. COMPUTACENTER: IT services firm Computacenter Plc CCC.L expects full-year results to be "comfortably in excess" of its prior expectations, driven by continued momentum within its supply chain business across all geographies, particularly in Germany. CAPITA: British outsourcing company Capita Plc CPI.L has agreed to sell its parking management business, ParkingEye, for 235 million pounds ($310.3 million) cash consideration. THE BANK OF ENGLAND: The Bank of England (BoE) said this year's stress test of major banks will include how non-core capital buffers stand up to market and economic stresses. ASOS: British online fashion retailer ASOS ASOS.L said it expected full year profit to be in line with analysts' consensus expectations although sales growth for its latest trading period was just short of market forecasts. DUNELEM: British homeware retailer Dunelem reported on Thursday nearly flat like-for-like revenue growth in the fourth quarter, as 42 percent growth in online sales offset the impact of fewer customers visiting their stores. SKY: Comcast Corp CMCSA.O on Wednesday raised its offer for Britain's Sky SKYB.L in a deal valuing the pay-TV group at $34 billion, challenging a raised bid from Twenty-First Century Fox FOXA.O . BHP BILLITON: BHP Billiton Plc BLT.L , BHP.AX handed in a proposal for a new labor contract to the union at its Escondida copper mine in Chile that includes a salary readjustment linked to inflation and a $23,000 bonus per worker, the company said on Wednesday. GLENCORE: Glencore Plc GLEN.L faces at least two lawsuits by U.S. shareholders accusing the big Anglo-Swiss mining company of having made false and misleading disclosures before it received a subpoena in a corruption probe, and its stock tumbled. NATIONAL GRID: The growing use of electric vehicles could increase peak electricity demand in Britain by between 5 and 8 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, National Grid (LON:NG) said on Thursday. MICRO FOCUS: Britain's Micro Focus Intl MCRO.L reported an 8 percent decline in revenue for the six months to end-April, as it struggled to integrate the assets it bought from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and said it would rack up another $210 million in exceptionals. BRITAIN-EU/BANKS: Britain has given up trying to keep full access to the European Union market for its giant financial services sector after Brexit and instead will push for an easing of existing rules, the Financial Times reported. FRANCE-FINANCING: France will pare back financial regulations to EU minimums and introduce new tax incentives to make Paris a more attractive finance hub, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday. COPPER: London copper eased on Thursday after heavy losses in the previous session pushed it to its weakest in a year at one stage as trade tensions between the United States and China undermined confidence in demand for metals. OIL: Brent crude rose more than $1 on Thursday, recouping some ground after its biggest one-day drop in two years in the previous session on news that Libya would resume oil exports and U.S.-China trade tensions. EX-DIVS: Halma HLMA.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 0.13 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations The UK blue chip index fell 1.3 percent on Wednesday, as the United States threatened to slap 10 percent tariffs on a list of $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, escalating a trade war and sending jitters across global markets. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines
PRESS/GB Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:
* 3000 Xtra
: visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com
* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com