UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on May 31
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May 31 (Reuters) - Britain’s FTSE 100 index is to open 4 points higher at 7,693 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures up 0.44 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* INDIVIOR: Britain’s Indivior has been subpoenaed by the California Department of Insurance over its blockbuster opioid addiction treatment, Suboxone Film, which is rapidly losing market share due to stiff competition from generic versions.
* FIRSTGROUP: British transport company FirstGroup replaced its chief executive after what its chairman called a disappointing year and said it was putting its Greyhound bus business in the U.S. under review.
* INFORMA/UBM: Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Thursday that Informa’s 5.6 billion pound ($7.45 billion) takeover of rival UBM did not qualify for an investigation.
* CARD FACTORY: Card Factory Plc reported a 0.4 percent fall in like for like sales, as it cautioned on a tough retail environment with fewer customers visiting their stores.
* WPP PLC: Proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has offered its support to WPP Plc’s executive chairman, Roberto Quarta, by recommending that shareholders of the world’s largest advertiser re-elect him at WPP’s annual meeting on June 13.
* HSBC/Royal Bank of Scotland: HSBC Holdings Plc has interviewed outgoing Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Finance Officer Ewen Stevenson to replace HSBC Finance Director Iain Mackay, The Times newspaper reported on Thursday.
* DRAX GROUP: Britain’s Drax Power Station, part of Drax Group, has submitted an application to planning authorities to develop a gas generation and battery storage project, the firm said on Wednesday.
* BRITAIN-ECONOMY: British consumers and businesses turned more confident in May, a sign that the economy is recovering from a weak start to 2018, according to surveys published on Thursday.
* EX-DIVS: Marks & Spencer, National Grid, Taylor Wimpey will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 6 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations
* OIL: Oil prices dipped on Thursday, after sharp gains in the previous session, weighed down by a surprise increase in U.S. crude oil inventories and expectations that OPEC and other producers could decide to increase output at a meeting in June.
* The UK blue chip ended up 0.75 percent on Wednesday after ending the previous session at its lowest level in nearly three weeks.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
TODAY’S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit topnews.session.rservices.com * For Top News : topnews.reuters.com (Reporting by Harish Bhaskar)