Sept 18 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 12points lower at 7,309 on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers, withfutures down 0.1% ahead of cash market open.
* LLOYD'S OF LONDON: Lloyd's of London reported a pre-tax profitof 2.3 billion pounds ($2.87 billion) in the first half of 2019, helped by acutback in underperforming business.
* COBHAM: The $5 billion acquisition of British defence company Cobhamby U.S. private equity firm Advent International could be blocked onnational security grounds after the government ordered an investigation into theagreed deal.
* KINGFISHER: British home improvement retailer Kingfisher onWednesday reported a 6.4% fall in underlying first half profit, mainly hurt bythe weak performance of its French operation.
* PENDRAGON: British car dealer Pendragon gave a grim outlook forthe year on Wednesday after posting a loss in the first-half as it cut prices tooffload its used car inventory.
* DIAGEO: Diageo Plc averted a planned strike on Tuesday at Scottishdistilleries after reaching an agreement on worker pay with the GMB and Uniteunions, a representative for the company said.
* BAE SYSTEMS: Britain's BAE Systems said on Tuesday it has won a$318 million contract from the United States Army in order to upgrade M88recovery vehicles to the M88A3 configuration.
* WIZZ AIR: The boss of Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air said hedid not expect Brexit to disrupt his operations, and that it could actuallypresent an opportunity to grow as competitors fall away.
* BP: BP Plc was raising production on the large crude distillationunit (CDU) at its 430,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery onTuesday following a minor upset, said sources familiar with plant operations.
* SHELL NIGERIA: Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria declaredforce majeure on exports of Bonny Light crude oil, it said in a statement sentto Reuters on Tuesday.
* OIL: Oil prices slipped on Wednesday, extending losses from the previoussession after Saudi Arabia's energy minister said the kingdom will restore lostoil production by the end of the month.
* GOLD: Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday amid cautious mood asinvestors awaited cues on the U.S. central bank's stance on monetary easing,while a drop in crude prices dented demand for safe-haven bullion.
* The UK blue chip index closed marginally down at 0.01% ON Tuesday aslosses in oil major BP, triggered by a report that Saudi Arabia's output couldbe back up quicker than expected, were countered by gains in so-called defensivesectors.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru)