(Adds company news items and futures)
Aug 1 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures FFIc1 were down 0.5% ahead of the cash market open on Thursday.
* LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE: London Stock Exchange LSE.L said it had agreed to buy financial information firm Refinitiv in a $27 billion deal that will transform the British company into a market data and analytics giant. BARCLAYS: Barclays BARC.L has upped its dividend payment by 20% as it reported second-quarter profit in line with forecasts, thanks to a more resilient performance at its trading unit and an absence of regulatory fines that have blighted past earnings. SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell's RDSa.L second-quarter profit slumped to a 30-month low due to lower oil and natural gas prices and refining margins, falling far short of forecasts. RIO TINTO: Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto RIO.AX RIO.L reported its biggest first-half profit since 2014 and declared a bumper dividend, as red-hot iron ore prices helped offset the impact of disruptions caused by a cyclone in late March. SCHRODERS: British asset manager Schroders SDR.L said pretax profit fell 14% in the first half, hit by weak markets at the start of the year and outflows of client cash. RSA: British insurer RSA RSA.L posted a 1% increase in its operating profit in the first half of the year, in line with forecasts, driven by strong performance in its general insurance business. CAPITA: British business services group Capita CPI.L reported a 3.6% fall in first-half pretax profit, hurt by a drop in new orders as it strives to turn around its business amid a tough economic backdrop. KIER GROUP: British contractor Kier Group Plc KIE.L warned its full-year revenue would fall by 100 million pounds ($121.20 million), and named RPC Group's Simon Kesterton as its new finance chief. BRITAIN-EU: Britain is ramping up preparations for a no-deal Brexit by spending an extra 2.1 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) to make sure the country is ready to leave the European Union with or without a divorce deal at the end of October. PEARSON: British education company Pearson Plc PSON.L on Thursday said it has notified customers of a data breach that resulted in unauthorized access to about 13,000 school and university accounts, mainly in the United States. STANDARD CHARTERED: Standard Chartered PLC STAN.L exceeded forecasts with a 3% increase in its first-half profit, but flagged trade tensions and a monetary policy easing cycle as potential risks for the London-headquartered lender. WOODFORD: Neil Woodford's suspended Equity Income Fund has breached a 10% cap on unlisted stocks after three of its holdings stopped trading on the Guernsey exchange, though a spokesman said it was taking action to remedy the situation. OIL: Oil prices skidded on Thursday, declining for the first time in six days, after the U.S. Federal Reserve dampened hopes for a string of interest rate cuts and Sino-U.S. talks ended without apparent progress towards resolving a bitter trade dispute. GOLD: Gold prices dropped to two-week lows on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points as expected but tampered market expectations of a lengthy easing cycle, lifting the dollar to a two-year high. EX-DIVS: RELX REL.L will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 1.02 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations London's FTSE 100 slipped on Wednesday from this week's 11-month high, as wealth manager St. James's Place, homebuilder Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) and mortgage lender Lloyds (LON:LLOY) fell on the back of results, overshadowing an upbeat forecast from clothing retailer Next. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
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