Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 20 points at 7,518 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.
* RANK GROUP: British bingo and casino operator Rank Group's RNK.L full-year pre-tax profit fell more than 40 percent, its Hong Kong-listed owner Guoco Group Ltd 0053.HK said in a statement on Thursday. SPORTS DIRECT: Philip Day, owner of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, is in discussions with landlords to take over several House of Fraser stores in a move that could anger the chain's new owner, Sports Direct International Plc SPD.L , The Times reported on Thursday. ANGLO AMERICAN: Miner Anglo American Plc AAL.L expects to obtain licenses to expand its Minas-Rio multibillion-dollar iron ore mine in Brazil by June next year, the company's CEO for Brazil Ruben Fernandes told Reuters on Wednesday. BHP: Brazil's Samarco Mineração SA, owned by Vale SA VALE3.SA and BHP Billiton Ltd BLT.L , expects to pay up to 2 billion reais ($512.5 million) this year to 19,000 families affected by the 2015 mining disaster in the state of Minas Gerais, the foundation created to pay the victims said on Wednesday. GLENCORE: QHG Oil Ventures, a joint venture between Qatar Investment Authority and Glencore (LON:GLEN) GLEN.L, has valued a 14.2 percent stake in Rosneft, which it is selling, at 7.4 billion euros ($8.4 billion), a QHG financial statement showed on Wednesday. TULLOW OIL: Oil production from Tullow Oil's TLW.L offshore Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) field in Ghana is expected to hit full output capacity of 80,000 barrels a day by 2020, a local manager said on Wednesday. EX-DIVS: Anglo American AAL.L , Ashtead Group AHT.L , Aviva AV.L , Evraz EVRE.L , HSBC HSBA.L , Legal & General LGEN.L , Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L , Pearson PSON.L , Reckitt Benckiser RB.L , Schroders SDR.L , Segro SGRO.L , Standard Life Aberdeen SLA.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 17.13 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. The UK blue chip index closed down 1.7 percent at 7,497.87 points on Wednesday, as emerging markets stress and a sharp selloff in commodities drove down stocks across Europe, with investors running scared after trade spat deepened between Turkey and the United States. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
* UK CORPORATE DIARY: Marshalls PLC
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