LONDON (AFX) - Lloyd's of London, the insurance and reinsurance market, said it swung to a 3.662 bln stg profit for the year to end-December from a loss of 103 mln stg in 2005, thanks to a benign hurricane season and high US property and catastrophe insurance prices. Combined ratio -- costs and claims expressed as a proportion of premium income -- was 83.1 pct, up from 111.8 pct in 2005. Any percentage below 100 pct denotes profitability.

LONDON (AFX) - DSG International PLC said it has identified a 'significant fraud operation' at the Parisian warehouse operations of its unit Fotovista SA, and warned it expects the issue to offset profit contributions from its new businesses this year. DSG said French police are investigating the fraud operation and have arrested a number of warehouse operatives and external individuals.

LONDON (AFX) - Kingfisher PLC, Europe's largest home improvement retailer, has reported an expected 11 pct fall in full-year underlying pretax profit but said trading has picked up in its new financial year. 'Whilst trading conditions for our biggest businesses continue to be challenging, the longer-term outlook remains positive for home improvement retailing,' said chief executive Gerry Murphy.

LONDON (AFX) - Sugar manufacturer Tate & Lyle PLC said overall trading, since its last update on Jan 23, has been in line with market expectations and has continued to comfortably exceed the corresponding period of the prior year. The group added sales of its Splenda sucralose product for the year to March 31 are expected to only 'modestly exceed' the prior year. It said it is continuing to work with customers on product innovation and will provide an update at its full-year presentation in May.

LONDON (AFX) - Babcock International Group PLC said it expects the full-year results to March 31, 2007 to be in line with its previous expectations expressed at the time of its interim results announcement in November. The support services company said its order book remains in excess of 2 bln stg and cash flow has been strong throughout the second half of the year.

LONDON (AFX) - 3i Group PLC, the UK private equity group, said it will return 800 mln stg to shareholders, reflecting strong returns from sales. The company said new investments for the first eleven months of 2006 to end-February rose to 1.598 bln stg, compared with 1.184 bln stg a year earlier.

LONDON (AFX) - BSS Group PLC said it expects its full-year profit and revenue to be slightly ahead of current market expectations. The plumbing equipment maker said both its industrial and domestic divisions had encouraging like-for-like sales growth, though at a slower rate than in the first half.

LONDON (AFX) - Compass Group PLC, the world's biggest catering company, said trading in the first five months of the current year has been ahead of expectations and is optimistic the positive trends will continue. However, in terms of the phasing, it expects operating profit in the first half to be slightly higher than in the second half.

LONDON (AFX) - British American Tobacco PLC, the world's second largest tobacco company, is thought to be in talks with CVC Capital, Cinven and PAI over a possible bid for Altadis SA, according to the Times. The move would spark a bidding war with Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, which could raise its 9.5 bln stg offer.

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