(Adds company news items, futures)
July 18 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 25
points lower at 7,510 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with
futures FFIc1 down 0.40% ahead of the cash market open.
* OFWAT: Britain's water regulator called for the country's utilities to
invest the equivalent of 6 million pounds every day for the next five years in
plans to reduce pollution and leakages in increasingly stressed UK
infrastructure.
* ANGLO AMERICAN: Miner Anglo American AAL.L said its overall output rose
2% in the second quarter, benefiting from a ramp up in iron ore production at
its Minas-Rio mine in Brazil and increased metallurgical coal output.
* SSE: Power company SSE Plc SSE.L reported a 1.2% dip in customer
accounts and stuck to its full-year targets despite seeing a dip in the volume
of renewable energy delivered in its first quarter compared to previous
expectations.
* ASOS: British online fashion retailer ASOS ASOS.L warned on profit for
the third time in eight months, blaming operational issues as it overhauls its
warehouses in the United States and Europe.
* EI GROUP: Slug and Lettuce owner Stonegate Pub Company said it had agreed
to pay 1.27 billion pounds ($1.58 billion) to buy pub operator Ei Group
EIGE.L , taking control of the company's more than 4,000 pubs and massively
expanding its existing network.
* EASYJET: Britain's easyJet EZJ.L on reported third-quarter trading in
line with expectations, boosted by more customers taking services like allocated
seating, enabling it to reiterate its full-year profit forecasts. * ROYAL MAIL: Royal Mail Plc RMG.L said its performance in the first
quarter was in line with its expectations and re-affirmed its annual forecast in
a short statement ahead of its annual general meeting. * ELECTRA: Activist investor Edward Bramson is resigning from the board of
Electra ELTA.L to focus on other commitments after leading a four-year
transformation of the British private equity firm. * BP: BP Plc BP.L plans to shut the small gasoline-producing unit at its
430,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery for a planned overhaul
by mid-August, said sources familiar with plant operations. * OIL: Oil prices steadied on Thursday after falling in the previous session
when official data showed U.S. stockpiles of products like gasoline rose sharply
last week, suggesting weak demand during the peak driving season. * GOLD: Gold prices pulled back from a two-week high to trade lower on
Thursday, as some investors took advantage of the last session's gain to book
profits. * The UK blue chip index closed 0.6% lower on Wednesday amid sharp falls in
oil majors as investors priced in an overnight slide in crude to one-week lows,
while downbeat trading updates knocked chemicals group Johnson Matthey and miner
Fresnillo. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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