May 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE futures FFIc1 were down 0.02 percent ahead of the cash market open on Tuesday.
* TAKEDA-SHIRE: Takeda Pharma 4502.T agreed to buy London-listed Shire SHP.L for 46 billion pounds ($62.42 billion) on Tuesday after the Japanese company raised the amount of cash in its offer to $30.33 to secure a recommendation.
WILLIAM HILL: British bookmaker William Hill Plc WMH.L said net revenue for the first 17 weeks of 2018 was 3 percent higher as a recovery at its online business help offset drag from cooling high street operations.
STANDARD LIFE ABERDEEN: Standard Life Aberdeen SLA.L said on Tuesday it had begun dispute resolution talks with Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L after the lender gave notice to cancel an agreement to manage more than 100 billion pounds ($135.88 billion) of its assets.
ANTOFAGASTA: Antofagasta ANTO.L said on Tuesday it had uncovered and cleared a blockage in its Los Pelambres pipeline, which moves copper concentrates from Chile's Coquimbo region to ports, with some knock on effects for sales and production.
SSE: Britain's competition watchdog has ordered an in-depth investigation of the merger of SSE's SSE.L retail power and gas business in the UK with German rival Innogy's IGY.DE Npower, the office said on Tuesday. said on Tuesday it was on track to complete the planned merger between its retail power business in the UK with Npower, owned by German rival Innogy, after British regulators opened a Phase II investigation into the deal.
HISCOX: Lloyd's of London underwriter Hiscox HSX.L on Tuesday reported a 24.3 percent rise in gross written premiums in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, helped by growth in its retail business.
FIRSTGROUP: U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management APO.N said on Tuesday it does not intend to make an offer to acquire British bus and rail operator FirstGroup FGP.L .
ASTRAZENECA: British pharma company AstraZeneca AZN.L said it had sold the rights for Seroquel, a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disease, to Luye Pharma Group 2186.HK for $538 million, as part of a strategy to focus on other therapy areas.
VIRGIN MONEY: Virgin Money VM.L said on Monday it had received an all-stock takeover offer from rival CYBG Plc CYBGC.L , a proposal that values the British lender at about 1.6 billion pounds ($2.17 billion).
SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Shell Gas B.V. RDSa.L unit said on Monday it was selling its entire stake in Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ.TO for $3.3 billion.
BP: Iraq's state-run North Oil Company signed an agreement with BP BP.L on Monday to triple output from the Kirkuk fields in the north of the country, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said.
SKY: U.S. cable operator Comcast CMCSA.O has formally notified the European Commission of its intention to bid for Britain's pay-TV group Sky SKYB.L , starting the clock on a review, a regulatory source told Reuters on Monday.
GOLD: Gold prices remained subdued on Tuesday as the dollar held steady near its 2018 high on the relative strength of the U.S. economy.
OIL: Oil prices retreated from 3-1/2 year highs on Tuesday as investors waited on an announcement by President Donald Trump on whether the United States will reimpose sanctions on Iran.
The UK blue chip index closed 0.86 percent higher at 7,567.14 points on Friday, helped by strong results from British Airways owner IAG (LON:ICAG), while HSBC joined French banks in reporting weaker profit which hit its shares. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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