* FTSE 100 up 0.57 pct
* Shell drops despite strong profits
* Barclays results marred by fines(Adds closing prices)
By Julien Ponthus and Helen Reid
LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE underperformedmost European peers on Wednesday, failing to join a globalbounce as a missed cash flow forecast from Royal Dutch Shelldisappointed investors and weighed heavily on the bluechip index .
The FTSE closed up 0.57 percent at 7421.43 points,slightly below the 0.94 percent of the pan-European STOXX 600boosted by encouraging corporate results and a positivestart on Wall Street.
Despite a 42 percent rise in first-quarter profit onstronger oil prices, shares in Shell, a FTSEheavyweight, fell 1 percent as cash flows fell short ofinvestors' strong expectations.
"The focus for the big oils in recent months has been thereturn to free cash flow, particularly given how strong Q1(first quarter) normally is seasonally for the group," analystsat Barclays said ahead of the opening of the stock market,expecting shares to retreat.
The negative surprise meant the British major did notbenefit from a rise in oil prices like its French rival Total, which was up 1.5 percent and whose earnings beatanalysts' expectations.
The disappointment about Shell didn't rub off either onrival BP, which rose 2.1 percent after it announced thatHelge Lund, a former head of Norway's Statoil, would be itsnext chairman.
There was also some disappointment regarding the earnings atBarclays, which despite better than anticipated firstquarter pretax profit, lost 1.4 percent as fines and legal costsfrom historic misconduct issues marred the bigger picture.
"Barclays is not out of the woods yet, and that shows fromit booking yet another statutory loss as costs linked to pastmisconduct obliterated profits again," Ken Odeluga, a marketanalyst at City Index, commented.
Shares in Britain's third-largest builder Taylor Wimpey'sshares were down 1.5 percent after it said poor weatherconditions in the first few weeks of March had had an impact onsales and build rates.
"The group has lost several days of build due to badweather, and while housebuilders get the blame for many things,even their fiercest critics don't blame them for the weather,"Jefferies analysts commented in a note.
On the other hand, Britain's biggest pizza delivery firmDomino's Pizza Group saw its shares rise 2.6 percentafter first-quarter sales rose 18.3 percent with strong tradingaround the New Year and Easter and online orders.(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
BP (BP.)
