UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on May 22

(Adds company news items, futures)
May 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 21
points higher at 7,350 on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers, with
futures FFIc1 up 0.29% ahead of the cash market open.
* ACACIA MINING: Acacia Mining Plc ACAA.L said on Wednesday it continued
to be excluded from discussions between Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO
and the Government of Tanzania with regard to a tax dispute. * IG GROUP: Online financial trading platform IG Group Holdings Plc IGG.L
on Wednesday forecast a sharp fall in full-year net trading revenue and
operating profit, saying it was continuing to suffer from low levels of
financial market volatility. * SUPERDRY: Fashion retailer Superdry SDRY.L appointed Nick Gresham as
interim chief financial officer on Wednesday to succeed Ed Barker, who resigned
on April 2 after the return of its founder Julian Dunkerton as interim boss.

* Royal Mail: Royal Mail Plc RMG.L on Wednesday slashed its dividend by
40% and said it would invest a further 1.8 billion pounds ($2.29 billion) in its
UK postal service over the next five years in hopes of turning the business
around. * MARKS & SPENCER: Britain's Marks & Spencer MKS.L reported a 10% fall in
full-year profit, a third straight decline, along with falls in quarterly
underlying sales of both clothing and food, showing the pain of its latest
attempt at a multi-year turnaround. * PARAGON BANKING: Paragon Banking Group PARA.L reported a jump in
first-half underlying profit, driven by a surge in Mortgage and commercial
lending volumes. * BABCOCK: British engineering services group Babcock BAB.L said on
Wednesday it expected revenue and underlying operating profit to fall in
2019/2020 during what it expects to be a "challenging" year. * SSE: British energy supplier SSE Plc SSE.L on Wednesday missed analysts'
expectations for annual profit and warned of another hit to results in 2019 as
it battled stiff competition and rising costs.
* BHP: Global miner BHP Group BHPB.L BHP.AX on Wednesday said it plans
to expand its nickel sulphide operations amid an expected boom in demand for the
material in electric vehicle batteries. * ACACIA: Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO said on Tuesday it has
proposed to acquire all of the shares it does not already own in Acacia Mining
Plc ACAA.L through a share-for-share exchange of 0.153 Barrick shares for each
ordinary share of Acacia. * METRO BANK: Metro Bank MTRO.L escaped a potential investor challenge at
its annual meeting on Tuesday, but there were sizeable votes against several of
its most senior directors. * The UK blue chip index closed up 0.25% at 7,328.92 on Tuesday, helped by a
rally in homebuilders amid news of a proposed parliamentary vote on a second
Brexit referendum and gains in Asia-facing stocks after the United States
relaxed restrictions on China's Huawei. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
LIVE/

TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines PRESS/GB