May 1 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 4 pointshigher on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures up0.05 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* JOHNSTON PRESS: Johnston Press Plc, which publishes The Scotsmanand The Yorkshire Post, said Ashley Highfield resigned as its chief executiveand that it promoted CFO David King as its new CEO.
* VIRGIN MONEY: British challenger bank Virgin Money on Tuesdayreported strong credit performance and better-than-expected deposit growth fromsavers, as a string of business-boosting initiatives started to bear fruit.
* NATIONAL GRID: National Grid plc said on Tuesday it would sell itsremaining 25 percent stake in Quadgas HoldCo Limited, which owns Cadent Gas forcash proceeds of about 1.2 billion pounds ($1.65 billion).
* AVIVA: British insurer Aviva said on Tuesday it had launched a 600million pound ($825.12 million) share buyback programme, as part of a bigger 2billion pound capital deployment plan aimed at slashing debt and boosting shareearnings.
* BP: BP reported a 71 percent jump in profit in the first quarter onTuesday, driven by higher oil and gas prices and increased production as itundergoes an era of rapid growth.
** SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell is fully committed to its gas jointventure in Iraq, after the energy major exited its oil assets in the OPECcountry, and plans to boost its gas output there to 1.4 billion cubic feet (bcf)a day by 2020, a senior executive said.
** VEDANTA RESOURCES-ANGLO AMERICAN: The chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, who is also Anglo American's biggest shareholder, said onMonday he had convinced Anglo not to sell off key assets in South Africa.
* OIL: Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday, supported by comments fromIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he was sure U.S. President DonaldTrump would do "the right thing" in reviewing Iran's nuclear deal with westernpowers.
* GOLD: Gold prices inched lower early on Tuesday, hovering close to anearly six-week low touched in the previous session, as the U.S. dollar heldfirm near a 3-1/2-month high.
* The UK blue chip index closed 0.09 percent higher at 7,509.30 points onMonday, as British shares closed slightly higher, but the planned merger betweenSainsbury's and Asda, the UK arm of Walmart, sent shockwaves through Britishretail stocks as investors sought to adjust to a potentially game-changingoverhaul of the industry.
* 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 headlinesMultimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:* 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com(Reporting by Justin George Varghese)
