(Adds company news items and futures) Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 97 points lower at 6,232 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures down 1.97% ahead of cash market open.
* AMIGO: Amigo Holdings Plc AMGO.L said its chairman will step down from the board and his role as chairman on June 18, after resigning last week when a potential sale of the company collapsed. JOHNSON MATTHEY: Chemicals maker Johnson Matthey JMAT.L said it would cut about 2,500 jobs globally over three years as demand for its pollution filters has taken a hit due to the coronavirus outbreak. TALKTALK: British broadband company TalkTalk TALK.L reported a 9.7% rise in full-year core earnings to 260 million pounds, driven by growth in its fibre customer base, and said it was in robust financial position, allowing it to maintain its dividend. CMC MARKETS: Online trading firm CMC Markets CMCX.L reported a near 16-fold jump in annual profit, helped by a surge in transaction volumes amid intense market volatility in the fourth quarter fuelled by the coronavirus crisis. HEATHROW AIRPORT: Britain's Heathrow Airport, which before the coronavirus pandemic was the busiest in Europe, said it had started a voluntary redundancy scheme after passenger numbers fell to an all-time low and it could not rule out further job losses. BABCOCK: British engineering company Babcock BAB.L said it had pulled its final dividend due to uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and warned that it needed to cut costs in its oil and gas, aviation and civil nuclear businesses. OIL: Oil prices fell in early trade on Thursday on worries about slow demand growth with coronavirus cases rising, U.S. crude stockpiles hitting an all-time high and the U.S. Federal Reserve projecting recovery from the pandemic would take years. EX-DIVS: Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust SMT.L will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 0.11 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed 0.1% lower on Wednesday, as investors turned cautious ahead of a policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the day. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
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