(Adds futures, news items)
March 11 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 14 points higher at 6,740 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures .FFIc1 up 0.48% ahead of the cash market open.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L announced former BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie as its next chairman to succeed Charles Holliday who will step down on May 18. WPP: WPP WPP.L said it would relaunch its buyback scheme immediately after cost cuts. ROLLS-ROYCE: Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) plunged to a worse than expected 4 billion pound loss in 2020. SAVILLS: Savills SVS.L reiterated that transactional activity would remain suppressed in the first half of 2021. MORRISONS: Morrisons MRW.L reported a halving in annual profit as a COVID-19-related jump in sales was more than offset by the huge extra costs of the crisis. MARSTON'S: Marston's MARS.L said Ralph Findlay intends to step down as its chief executive officer after around two decades in the role. GO-AHEAD: Go-Ahead GOG.L said it expected more people to use public transport for work and leisure in the spring as England begins to lift its coronavirus-led curbs. IG GROUP: IG IGG.L posted a surge in third-quarter revenue despite a tough comparative. TCS GROUP: TCS Group Holding TCSq.L said its net profit rose 22% to 44.2 billion roubles in 2020. MARKS & SPENCER: Marks & Spencer MKS.L said it would launch a wave of guest clothing brands on its website this spring, including Hobbs, White Stuff, Joules and Sloggi, in bid to accelerate online growth. BHP: BHP Group BHP.AX is unlikely to make any major acquisitions in the near-term given rocketing commodity prices, and will instead focus on exploration and wringing more value out of existing assets, its chief executive said. ASTRAZENECA: European Medicines Agency said on Wednesday there was no evidence so far linking AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)'s AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine to illnesses in two people who received it in Austria. HSBC: HSBC HSBA.L will phase out its support for the coal industry in the developed world by 2030 and in the developing world by 2040, the bank said. HOUSE PRICES: The slow start to 2021 for Britain's housing market stretched into February, before finance minister Rishi Sunak announced new measures that could revive a property boom that began after the first COVID-19 lockdown last year, a survey showed. GOLD: Gold prices rose after softer U.S. inflation data halted an advance in Treasury yields and the dollar. OIL: Crude oil prices rose as vaccine rollouts bolstered the economic outlook and U.S. fuel stocks fell sharply. The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed 0.1% lower on Wednesday as easing inflation concerns pulled down mining and banks stocks. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines
PRESS/GB