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June 5 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index opened 3.08 points
higher at 7,217 on Wednesday.
* FINDEL: British online retail and education business Findel FDL.L has
dropped plans to roll out licensed menswear in partnership with Sports Direct
International SPD.L after pilot runs showed that it would not be beneficial.
* CHEMRING: Defence contractor Chemring Group CHG.L said its half-yearly
profit rose 4% and backed its full-year forecast as it gained from faster
insurance payouts for an explosion last year at its UK factory that makes flares
to combat heat-seeking missiles. * CHARTER COURT: UK competition watchdog said on Wednesday it was
investigating the merger agreement between British lenders Charter Court
Financial Services CCFS.L and OneSavings Bank OSBO.L . * UK ASSET RESOLUTION: The 'bad bank' set up by Britain to manage more than
100 billion pounds ($127.17 billion) of assets from two lenders that collapsed
during the financial crisis has repaid the last of the 48.7 billion pounds used
to fund the bailouts. * AVIVA: Aviva's chief financial officer Tom Stoddard will step down on June
30, the British insurer said on Wednesday, a day before the firm's first
investor day under new Chief Executive Maurice Tulloch. * TRUMP IN BRITAIN: U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday promised Britain
a "phenomenal" post-Brexit trade deal, dismissed differences over China's Huawei
and glossed over other disagreements as he heaped praise on the United States'
closest ally. * HIGH SPEED RAIL: Britain's next prime minister might decide to prioritise
other infrastructure spending projects over the planned, 56 billion-pound ($71
billion) High-Speed 2 (HS2) rail project, chief secretary to the Treasury Liz
Truss said. * BT GROUP: The Football Association announced a five-year deal with
Britain's biggest telecoms group BT BT.L on Tuesday that will include
sponsorship of all England teams and Wembley Stadium. * SANTANDER: Spain's Banco Santander SAN.MC is to cut about 200 jobs in
its British subsidiary as part of a reorganisation, it said, adding that the
changes would affect the corporate and commercial banking division. * ARCADIA: Arcadia Group agreed to provide 210 million pounds ($266.64
million) in security to its pension schemes, which includes an additional 25
million pounds agreed with The Pensions Regulator, the company. * NSF: British subprime lender Non-Standard Finance NSF.L is dropping its
hostile 1.3 billion pound ($1.65 billion) bid for rival Provident Financial
PFG.L , NSF said on Tuesday. * OIL: Oil prices ended as much as 1% higher on Tuesday after a global stock
market rally pulled Brent crude from a four-month low touched earlier in the
session. * GOLD: Gold prices edged higher, holding near the three-month high it
touched in the previous session, as the dollar weakened on rising prospects of a
rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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