(Adds company news items and futures)

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures were down 0.1 percent ahead of the cash market open on Friday.

* PROVIDENT FINANCIAL: Subprime lender Provident Financial, which has lost close to 60 percent of its market value this week after a second profit warning in quick succession, said on Friday that it had replaced the managing director of its beleaguered home credit business.

* NOVAE GROUP: Axis Capital Holdings, a Bermuda-based speciality insurer and reinsurer, raised its offer for Lloyd's of London insurer Novae Group to 477.6 million pounds, after some of the takeover target’s investors expressed discontent with the earlier offer.

* COMPUTACENTER: British IT services provider Computacenter said its half-year adjusted revenue rose 15 percent, helped by favourable currency impact and strong growth in Germany.

* BREXIT: The UK's financial sector is seeking an "ambitious" trade pact between Britain and the European Union to try to prevent a costly shift of jobs and business to the continent once the country leaves the bloc, according to a draft report seen by Reuters.

* GOLD: Gold was unchanged early Friday, with investors awaiting directional clues from speeches due later in the day at a gathering of central bankers in the United States.

* OIL: Oil prices rose on Friday as the U.S. petroleum industry prepared for potential output disruptions as Hurricane Harvey headed for the heart of the nation's oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

* The UK blue chip FTSE index closed closed up 0.3 percent at 7,407.06 points on Thursday, as shares in Provident Financial and WPP rallied, but a profit warning sent Dixons Carphone tumbling.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

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)