(Adds company news items and futures)
March 15 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE futures FFIc1 were flat ahead of the cash market open on Thursday.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L Chief Executive Ben van Beurden saw his total remuneration in 2017 rise to 8.9 million euros ($11 million) from 8.6 million the previous year. JUST GROUP: Annuity provider Just Group JUSTJ.L posted a record 35 percent rise in 2017 operating earnings to 221 million pounds, topping analysts forecast due to lower expenses and pricing discipline, it said on Thursday. SPIRAX-SARCO: Spirax-Sarco Engineering Plc SPX.L reported better-than-expected full-year revenue and adjusted pretax profit on Thursday, helped by acquisitions and strength in Europe, Middle East and Africa markets. PERSIMMON: Persimmon PSN.L , Britain's second-biggest builder, on Thursday named Roger Devlin as its new chairman, hoping he will help the company move on after a row over an executive incentive plan saw his predecessor quit last year. ONESAVINGS BANK: OneSavings Bank Plc OSBO.L reported a 21 percent rise in full-year underlying pretax profit as it controlled costs and focused on bigger, professional landlords, even as the broader market lost its sheen for amateur landlords due to tax and regulatory changes. PHOENIX GROUP: Insurer Phoenix Group Holdings PHNX.L reported higher operating profit and said it expects to achieve the top end its 1-1.2 billion pounds cash generation target range for the two-year period between 2017 and 2018. CINEWORLD: Britain's Cineworld Group CINE.L , which bought U.S. cinema chain Regal Entertainment last year, said full-year revenue rose 11.6 percent, driven by blockbusters such as "Beauty and the Beast", "Dunkirk" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi". KIER GROUP: Britain's Kier Group KIE.L on Thursday reported a 4.7 percent rise in half-year operating profit and said it was on track to deliver double-digit profit growth in 2018. OLD MUTUAL: Anglo-South African financial services group Old Mutual OML.L said a "material" completion of its planned break-up was scheduled for the end of 2018, as it announced a 22 percent rise in 2017 operating profit on Thursday. UNILEVER: The British government said Unilever's decision to scrap its London corporate headquarters and make Rotterdam its sole legal home is not linked to Britain's exit from the European Union. SAVILLS: Estate agents Savills SVS.L posted a marginally better than expected 3.5 percent rise in underlying profit to 140.5 million pounds ($196 million) for 2017 but said trading could face greater uncertainty this year. UNILEVER: Unilever ULVR.L , Britain's third-biggest company, will scrap its London corporate headquarters and make Rotterdam its sole legal home in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's government ahead of Brexit. SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L is close to bagging a deal to supply Hong Kong with liquefied natural gas (LNG), beating out major competitors for the right to be the first company to supply LNG to the area. GLENCORE: Glencore Plc GLEN.L , the world's biggest producer of cobalt, has agreed to sell around a third of its cobalt production over the next three years to Chinese battery recycler GEM Co Ltd 002340.SZ , according to a filing by GEM on Wednesday. BHP: BHP's BLT.L Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest, said on Wednesday that it has invited its powerful workers' union to start early talks on a new collective labor contract. GOLD: Gold prices edged higher early Thursday and hovered near one-week highs hit in the previous session, as concerns over trade tensions weighed on share markets. OIL: Oil prices held steady on Thursday, supported by healthy global demand but capped by the relentless rise in U.S. production that is undermining efforts led by producer cartel OPEC to cut supplies and prop up markets. EX-DIVS: Anglo American AAL.L and Hammerson HMSO.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 1.37 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. The UK blue chip FTSE 100 .FTSE index closed down 0.09 percent at 7,132.69 points on Wednesday, as shares gave up early gains and finished in negative territory as points gained by Prudential (LON:PRU) and mining stocks were overturned by simmering fears of a global trade war that pushed Wall Street into the red. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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