Feb 29 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down around 56 points, or 0.9 percent, on Monday, according to financial bookmakers. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on The UK blue chip index closed 1.38 percent higher on Friday at 6,096.01, boosted by a rally in publisher Pearson PSON.L and London Stock Exchange Group LSE.L , though Royal Bank of Scotland RBS.L reported its eighth full-year loss in a row. LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE: The proposed merger of Europe's two biggest financial exchanges is effectively bullet-proofed against a British vote to leave the European Union, London Stock Exchange Group LSE.L and Deutsche Boerse DB1Gn.DE said on Friday. HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS: Drug manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc HIK.L will sell the rights and assets of two generic drugs and relinquish its U.S. marketing rights to a third generic drug in order to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that Hikma's proposed $2 billion acquisition of Roxane would likely be anticompetitive, the FTC said on Friday. BARCLAYS: Barclays Plc BARC.L said the company's board was evaluating strategic options in relation to its shareholding in its African business, Barclays Africa Group Ltd BGAJ.J . The bank expects to update the market on plans for its African business at its 2015 full-year results announcement, due on Tuesday, Barclays said late on Sunday. BARCLAYS: Barclays Plc BARC.L will pay its former chief Antony Jenkins a performance bonus of 500,000 pounds, Sky News reported. TESCO: Tesco TSCO.L , Britain's biggest retailer, played down a newspaper report on Saturday that it was considering cutting 39,000 store staff over the next three years, saying it had no current plans to lay off more employees. The Guardian newspaper said the job reduction proposals were revealed in a leaked document detailing a programme called "Project Pace", an extract of which was posted on the website verylittlehelps.com, a forum used by Tesco staff. GRID OPERATORS: Britain faces an electricity supply shortage next winter, National Grid NG.L data showed, which could force the grid operator to seek extra reserves to make sure the lights stay on. Forecast demand for electricity in Britain is higher than expected supply for a total of 11 weeks over winter 2016/17, the data published on the National Grid's Balancing Market Report website showed on Thursday. BHP BILLITON: Brazil's government and Samarco Mineracao SA SAMNE.UL will announce on Monday the settlement of a lawsuit for damages caused by a deadly dam spill at a mine in November, Brazilian Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams told Reuters on Friday. VEDANTA: Vedanta Ltd VDAN.NS , a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc VED.L , has won India's first-ever auction of a gold mine, a provincial government official said, as the nation opens up the sector to private companies to curb overseas purchases of the metal that cost it $36 billion last year. GSK: GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L is preparing a formal search process for its next chief, the Financial Times reported. (http://on.ft.com/1TfWSh7)
* FINTECH: Global regulators may propose rules to prevent "fintech" innovations from destabilising the broader financial system, the G20's Financial Stability Board said on Saturday. BREXIT: The campaign to take Britain out of the European Union in a June 23 referendum has taken a 4 percentage-point lead, according to an online survey taken by the ORB pollster for The Independent newspaper published on Friday. BREXIT: London Mayor Boris Johnson urged British government ministers to join the campaign to leave the European Union in a newspaper interview on Saturday, again defying Prime Minister and fellow Conservative David Cameron. BREXIT: British finance minister George Osborne said on Saturday that top finance officials from the Group of 20 nations were unanimous that a possible British exit from the European Union would be a shock to the global economy. OIL: Crude futures rose on Monday after gaining over 15 percent last week, with some indicators pointing to the possibility the market could be bottoming out. UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Bunzl PLC
BNZL.L Full Year Johnson Service Group PLC
Full Year Waterman Group PLC
Half Year Jupiter Fund Management PLC JUP.L
Full Year DX (Group) PLC
DXDX.L Half Year Keller Group PLC
Full Year Senior PLC
Full Year Ultra Electronics Holdings
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Photo-Me International PLC
PHTM.L Q3 Hiscox Ltd
Full Year
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