News: BHP UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on April 25

(Adds new items, updates futures)

April 25 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening higher on Thursday, with futures FFIc1 up 0.07%.

• ANGLO AMERICAN: BHP Group (BHP) said it made an offer to buy London-listed miner Anglo American AAL.L , valuing its share capital at 31.1 billion pounds ($38.84 billion), a deal that would create the world's biggest copper miner with around 10% of global output.
• ASTRAZENECA: AstraZeneca AZN.L reported quarterly revenue and profit above market estimates, buoyed by resilient demand for its oncology and rare blood disorder drugs and steady growth in revenue from partnered medicines.
• LSEG: The London Stock Exchange Group LSEG.L said its first-quarter growth was in line with plans, and products from its partnership with Microsoft were due to be rolled out in the first half of 2024.
• BARCLAYS: Barclays BARC.L reported a 12% fall in first-quarter profit, as a squeeze on UK mortgage pricing, lower income from trading and a drought of M&A fees showed the difficulties it will face in delivering its first strategic revamp in a decade.
• SAINSBURY: Sainsbury's SBRY.L forecast strong profit growth in its new financial year as it reported a 1.6% rise for 2023/24, above company outlook.
• UNILEVER: Unilever's ULVR.L underlying first-quarter sales grew by a better than expected 4.4%, it said in a trading update.
• WPP: WPP WPP.L reported a 1.6% drop in organic growth in the first quarter.
• RELX: RELX REL.L stuck to guidance for strong annual profit growth.
• PERSIMMON: Persimmon PSN.L said it was confident about the remainder of 2024 and reaffirmed its annual home-build targets after posting an improvement in first-quarter sales rate.
• SCHRODERS: Schroders SDR.L reported its assets under management edged up over the first quarter of 2024.

• For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:

  TODAY'S UK PAPERS > Financial Times > Other business headlines ($1 = 0.8004 pounds)