(Adds company news items and futures)
Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 97 points lower at 6,232 on
Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures down 1.97% ahead of
cash market open.
* AMIGO: Amigo Holdings Plc AMGO.L said its chairman will step down from
the board and his role as chairman on June 18, after resigning last week when a
potential sale of the company collapsed. * JOHNSON MATTHEY: Chemicals maker Johnson Matthey JMAT.L said it would
cut about 2,500 jobs globally over three years as demand for its pollution
filters has taken a hit due to the coronavirus outbreak. * TALKTALK: British broadband company TalkTalk TALK.L reported a 9.7% rise
in full-year core earnings to 260 million pounds, driven by growth in its fibre
customer base, and said it was in robust financial position, allowing it to
maintain its dividend. * CMC MARKETS: Online trading firm CMC Markets CMCX.L reported a near
16-fold jump in annual profit, helped by a surge in transaction volumes amid
intense market volatility in the fourth quarter fuelled by the coronavirus
crisis. * HEATHROW AIRPORT: Britain's Heathrow Airport, which before the coronavirus
pandemic was the busiest in Europe, said it had started a voluntary redundancy
scheme after passenger numbers fell to an all-time low and it could not rule out
further job losses. * BABCOCK: British engineering company Babcock BAB.L said it had pulled
its final dividend due to uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and
warned that it needed to cut costs in its oil and gas, aviation and civil
nuclear businesses. * OIL: Oil prices fell in early trade on Thursday on worries about slow
demand growth with coronavirus cases rising, U.S. crude stockpiles hitting an
all-time high and the U.S. Federal Reserve projecting recovery from the pandemic
would take years. * EX-DIVS: Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust SMT.L will trade without
entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 0.11 points off
the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed 0.1% lower on Wednesday, as
investors turned cautious ahead of a policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve
later in the day. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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