July 27 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening down 1 point at 7451.8 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers. * SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell Plc is planning to make repairs to the heavy oil hydrocracking unit (HCU) at its 227,586 barrel-per-day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery during an overhaul in the spring of 2018, said sources familiar with plant operations. * LLOYDS: Lloyds Banking Group is to repay nearly 300 million pounds to customers over mortgage arrears policies, Sky News reported on Wednesday. * GSK: GlaxoSmithKline's new chief executive announced plans on Wednesday to narrow the focus of the group's drug research by ditching more than 30 drug projects to improve returns in its core pharmaceuticals business. * RBS: The European Commission has accepted the British government's plans to free Royal Bank of Scotland from an obligation to sell more than 300 branches bringing to an end the bank's seven-year struggle to meet conditions for its bailout. * RANDGOLD RESOURCES: Randgold Resources' chief executive said on Wednesday he was hopeful of resolving an 42 billion CFA Francs ($74 million) tax dispute with Mali's government and that the company continued to invest in its two mines in the West African country. * BRITAIN AUTO: Britain's car-makers and traders are starting to feel the strains of Brexit, and output this year is likely fall short of the industry's expectations, the head of the leading UK group in the sector said. * BREXIT: Britain commissioned an independent study on Thursday of what role European Union nationals play in the British economy, saying that Brexit would mean new immigration rules, but that there would be no sudden cut-off for workers or employers. * OIL: Oil prices rose to near eight-week highs on Wednesday, with Brent crude futures above $50 a barrel, as a much steeper than expected decline in U.S. inventories encouraged hopes the global crude glut would recede. * EX-DIVS: SSE will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 2.55 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. * The UK blue chip index FTSE 100 closed 0.24 percent higher at 7,452.32 points on Wednesday, as strong updates from ITV and Compass Group helped the index inch up, underpinned also by gains among defensive stocks. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets * UK CORPORATE DIARY: TechnipFMC PLC Q2 2017 Earnings Release Jardine Lloyd Thompson Half Year 2017 Earnings Release CMC Markets PLC Q1 2018 Interim Statement Relx PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Tate & Lyle PLC Q1 2018 Trading Statement Ladbrokes Coral Group PLC Q2 2017 Trading Statement Release Rentokil Initial PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Schroders PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release National Express Group Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Bodycote PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Inchcape PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Weir Group PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release St. James's Place PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Mitchells & Butlers PLC Q3 2017 Trading Statement Release Angle PLC Full Year 2017 Earnings Release Countrywide PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Britvic PLC Q3 2017 Trading Statement Release Greencoat UK Wind PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Just Eat PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Ensco PLC Q2 2017 Earnings Release GasLog Partners LP Q2 2017 Earnings Release Diageo PLC Full Year 2017 Earnings Release AstraZeneca PLC Q2 2017 Earnings Release Smith & Nephew PLC Q2 2017 Earnings Release British American Tobacco Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Sky PLC Q4 2017 Earnings Release Anglo American PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Lloyds Banking Group PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Daily Mail and General Trust Q3 2017 Trading Statement Release Lancashire Holdings Ltd Q2 2017 Earnings Release Thomas Cook Group plc Q3 2017 Interim Statement Intu Properties PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Vesuvius PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release Indivior PLC Half Year 2017 Earnings Release TODAY'S UK PAPERS > Financial Times > Other business headlines 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 (Reporting by Siju Varghese; Editing by Sunil Nair)