Feb 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen to open 82
points lower at 7,199.8 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.
* INTERSERVE: British contractor Interserve, which is in talks with
its bankers to secure funding after issuing two profit warnings last year, has
decided to close its power business as part of an operational restructuring of
its industrial unit.
* ASTRAZENECA: AstraZeneca Plc, said on Wednesday an
advisory committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
recommended the use of its FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine in the upcoming flu
season, reversing its earlier position.
* UNILEVER: The British government is bracing for Unilever,
, one of the country's biggest companies, to shift its headquarters to
the Netherlands after months of political pressure from both sides, the
Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
* GLENCORE: Glencore and four bank lenders have reached a deal with
Chad on the restructuring of an over $1 billion oil-backed loan, sources
familiar with the matter said.
* SIMPLYBIZ-IPO: British company SimplyBiz is joining a queue of financial
services firms preparing for flotations on the London stock market with plans
for a listing that could value the group at more than 150 million pounds ($209
million).
* AA: Ten hedge funds betting on a fall in AA shares are set to
reap collective paper profits of more than 16 million pounds ($22.3 million)
after its stock dropped by up to 30 percent.
* METRO BANK: Metro Bank could raise capital this year, its CEO
said, as the British lender looks to fuel growth.
* EX-DIVS: Carnival, Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline,
Imperial Brands, will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend
pay-out on Thursday, trimming 9.1 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters
calculations
* BRITAIN-EU: Britain still wants an implementation phase with the European
Union of around two years, a government source said on Wednesday, saying there
was no change in the government's Brexit policy.
The transition period after Britain leaves the European Union at midnight of
March 29th, 2019, should last as long as it takes to prepare a new free trade
agreement with the European Union, a British document showed on
Wednesday.
* OIL: Oil prices fell on Thursday, pulled down as a firmer dollar
outweighed a report of a decrease in U.S. crude inventories.
* GOLD: Gold prices held steady around a one-week low on Thursday, weighed
down by minutes from the last U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that showed
policymakers backed further interest rate rises.
* METALS: London metals fell on Thursday after U.S. policymakers backed the
need for more rate rises, pushing up the dollar and putting pressure on metals
as trading in Shanghai resumed after a week-long break.
* The UK blue chip index closed 0.48 percent higher at 7281.57 points on
Wenesday, as solid earnings from Glencore and Lloyds gave a boost to miners and
financial shares, helping lift the blue-chip index into positive territory after
earlier losses.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Barclays Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Centrica Plc Preliminary 2017 Earnings Release
BAE Systems Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
British American Tobacco Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Anglo American Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Hays Plc Half Year 2018 Earnings Release
Northgate Plc Q3 2018 Trading Statement Release
Kaz Minerals Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Intu Properties Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Blackrock World Mining Trust Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Wilmington Plc Half Year 2018 Earnings Release
Go-Ahead Group Plc Half Year 2017 Earnings Release
Rathbone Brothers Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Serco Group Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
RSA Insurance Group Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
Moneysupermarket.Com Group Plc Full Year 2017 Earnings Release
TBC Bank Group plc Full Year Earnings Release
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines
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(Reporting by Harish Bhaskar)