British shares fall on some poor company updates

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* FTSE 100 index falls 0.2 percent

* ITV (Frankfurt: A0BLQP - news) and WPP (Frankfurt: A1J2BZ - news) down on ad revenue concerns

* NCC (BSE: NCC6.BO - news) and Keller slump after poor updates

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 20 (Reuters) - British shares edged lower on Thursday as advertising giant WPP fell after sales growth at its French peer Publicis (Paris: FR0000130577 - news) slowed and mid-caps NCC and Keller plummeted following disappointing updates.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in WPP fell nearly 3 percent after Publicis Groupe (LSE: 0FQI.L - news) , down 6 percent, said third-quarter sales grew by just 0.2 percent on an organic basis following the loss of large media accounts in the United States in 2015.

Concern about advertising revenues hit British broadcaster ITV as well, with its shares down 3 percent after broker Liberum cut its target price for the stock.

"We reflect the latest comments from media buyers into our forecasts, which suggest a weaker advertising momentum into Q4," Liberum said, lowering its net advertising estimate for 2016.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 0.2 percent by 0830 GMT after gaining in the previous two sessions. The FTSE 250 index fell 0.4 percent.

The mid-cap index's underperformance was caused by sharp sell-offs in shares of some companies. Cyber security company NCC plummeted 35 percent and headed for its biggest-ever daily decline after it faced some contract cancellations and difficulties with some renewals.

Mid-cap engineering companies Keller slumped 25 percent and Senior (Other OTC: SNIRF - news) fell 20 percent after both issued profit warnings .

However, airline stocks found some solid ground after German airline Lufthansa, up more than 7 percent, increased its profit target for the year and on expectations that the British government will approve a third runway for London's Heathrow airport.

"All the signals point to the government finally approving the move. This could deliver a major boost to the UK's airline sector and knock-on positives for European carriers," ETX Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) analyst Neil Wilson said.

Shares in British Airways owner ICG (LSE: 138026.L - news) , easyJet and Ryanair rose 2.2 to 3.3 percent.

The FTSE 100 index, dominated by internationally exposed companies, has surged more than 20 percent since a post-Brexit sell-off in June following a drop in sterling. However, the index is up less than 9 percent since then in dollar terms.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash, editing by Larry King)