(Adds company news items and futures)
May 20 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen
opening 6 points lower
on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers with futures
down 0.6% ahead of cash markets open.
* ASTRAZENECA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
approved AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L and Merck & Co Inc's MRK.N
Lynparza as a treatment for a form of prostate cancer, the
companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday. * EXPERIAN: Experian Plc EXPN.L , the world's biggest
credit data company, said on Wednesday it expects first-quarter
organic revenue to decline by 5% to 10% if coronavirus-related
restrictions continue to impact business throughout the period.
* NINETY ONE: Asset manager Ninety One Plc N91.L , in its
first set of results as a listed company, reported a 7% drop in
assets under management (AUM) as the coronavirus crisis
pummelled global financial markets. * ROLLS ROYCE: Britain's Rolls-Royce RR.L said it would
cut at least 9,000 jobs from its global staff of 52,000 to adapt
to the much smaller aviation market that will emerge from the
coronavirus pandemic. * SEVERN TRENT: British water supplier Severn Trent SVT.L
said on Wednesday it would pay a final dividend, while warning
the coronavirus crisis was likely to lead to unpaid household
water bills over the next year and a decline in sales to
businesses.
* HSBC: HSBC Holdings HSBA.L expects to achieve
double-digit asset growth in its newly combined wealth business
in Asia Pacific in the next three years, as it looks to grab a
bigger share of the growing rich population, the unit's regional
head told Reuters. * SUPERMARKETS: British supermarkets have warned Brazil they
might have to boycott its products if lawmakers there pass a
contentious bill that could enable faster destruction of the
Amazon rainforest. * LOCKDOWN: Just over a third of companies in Britain
believe they can fully restart operations while implementing the
government's coronavirus workplace guidance, a survey showed.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell Plc's RDSa.L 225,300
barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery is restarting
full production on the hydrocracker on Tuesday, said sources
familiar with plant operations. * COMPASS: Compass Group CPG.L raised 2 billion pounds
($2.5 billion) of new capital on Tuesday at a hefty discount to
its market value, seeking to reduce debt as the coronavirus
crisis threatens to force a scaling back of the world's largest
catering company. * GOLD: Gold prices gained as bleak data from major
economies reflected the fallout from the coronavirus crisis,
while the initial euphoria over a potential COVID-19 vaccine
fizzled and gave way to safe-haven demand. * OIL: Oil prices rose amid signs of improving demand and a
drawdown in U.S. crude inventories but worries over the economic
fallout from the coronavirus pandemic capped gains. * Britain's mid-cap index climbed for the third straight
session on Tuesday on hopes of a speedy recovery from a
coronavirus-fuelled recession, while more UK firms moved to
shore up cash reserves to ride out the slump. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please
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