July 30 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen

opening lower on Thursday, with futures down 0.9%.

* BAE SYSTEMS: BAE Systems has been awarded a £5.9

billion contract by the British government to advance work on

the country's next generation of nuclear-armed submarines.

* SHELL: Shell and Phillips 66 are working on a

potential sale of their stakes in the company which owns the

Explorer refined products pipeline, in a deal that could value

the it at around $3.5 billion, people familiar with the matter

said.

* BATS: A divided U.S. appeals court ruled that British American

Tobacco must face class-action litigation claiming it

misled consumers into believing Natural American Spirit

cigarettes were safer than other cigarettes and contained no

additives.

* WISE PLC: Wise said it has integrated directly with Malaysia's

national payments infrastructure, easing use of its services in

the country.

* AUTO: UK vehicle production fell 7.5% in the first half of

2026 amid trade uncertainty, the Society of Motor Manufacturers

and Traders said.

* COMMODITIES: Oil prices erased some of their previous gains,

copper ticked up, while and gold prices edged higher

* FTSE: London's FTSE 100 touched an intraday record high on

Wednesday, driven by a surge in oil stocks following renewed

conflict in the Middle East.

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

Shell Q2 results

BATS HY results

LSEG HY results

Lloyds HY results

Haleon ( HLN ) HY results

Anglo American HY results

Rolls Royce HY results

BAE Systems HY results

Schroders ( SHNWF ) HY results

Mondi ( MNODF ) HY results

Segro ( SEGXF ) HY results

Informa ( IFPJF ) HY results

Robert Walters HY results

Rentokil HY results

Drax ( DRXGF ) HY results

Pets at Home Q1 trading update

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please

click on:

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines

(Compiled by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru)