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At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.37% or $0.18 lower at $48.85 per barrel, ahead of the Energy Information Administration weekly oil inventory data to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract climbed 2.17% or $1.04, to settle at $49.03 per barrel, amid signs that lower oil prices were prompting slower drilling in US shale. Moreover, growing expectations of the ECB launching an aggressive bond-buying program fuelled demand hopes for the commodity. Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute stated that crude oil stockpiles advanced 5.7 million barrels last week

Sky holds talks with O2 Owner in bid to add mobile phones to media package: Sky has held talks on a possible strategic partnership with O2 after approaching the U.K. mobile network’s Spanish Owner, Telefónica.

China slowdown hits Unilever sales: The FTSE 100-listed company, which makes Dove soap, PG Tips and Domestos, desperately needs strong growth in emerging markets to offset more mature economies in the west. The Chinese economy reported its slowest growth in 24 years and this has a knock on effect for consumer goods companies. Unilever reported sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2.1%, which was behind market expectations for 2.6% and a slowdown from the 3.2% reported in the first nine months of the year. The company said that actual reported revenue figure, which includes currency movements was down 2.7% to €48.4 billion for the year as a whole. The weakness in China dragged down sales growth across Unilever’s Asian, African, Middle Eastern and East European emerging markets to 2.1% in the fourth quarter, from 3.1% in the third quarter and less than half the 7.8% growth in 2013. On the one hand, Unilever will get a boost as manufacturing costs fall and households have more money in their pockets, said Mr Huet. But falling prices in Europe and a supermarket price war in the U.K. will make it difficult for Unilever to drive sales growth through price increases. The company generated free cashflow of €3.1 billion down from €3.9 billion in 2013. Unilever has an excellent track record of regular quarterly dividend payments that increase by about 3.5% a year. However, net debts increased to €9.9 billion and that is against a balance sheet with net assets of €13.6 billion. The shares are now looking expensive, trading on 20.5 times forecast earnings of 176 cents (135p), falling to 19 times next year for a company that is only delivering single digit earnings growth. Unilever also has falling revenue and rising debts. Until we get more clarity on sales for the year ahead, we retain a hold. Unilever at £27.13-16p. Questor says “Hold.”

Thorntons store exits will bite as sales fall: Thorntons is suffering from having too many high street stores while facing increasing competition from supermarkets. A profit warning last month sent its shares tumbling by more than 20%, and there was little sign of a recovery in its update. The company is losing the battle in the premium chocolate market as new brands such as Maison du Chocolat and Godiva expand, taking higher profit margin sales. To combat this Thorntons decided to sell in bulk through supermarkets. However, a superstore price war and the development of own-brand chocolates is now hitting sales and profits at the discount end of the market as well. Thorntons said sales to supermarkets fell 10% to £41.9 million in the 14 weeks to January 10, reversing 17% sales growth in the same period last year. Retail sales through high street shops were down 2.4% to £44.9 million, in line with a 2.9% fall in sales during the same period last year. Thorntons’ big problem is that while sales are falling it is still shackled to an unwieldy high street store portfolio that is expensive to exit. The company said it had 247 stores at January 10, down from 260 at the end of June last year, and 296 in 2013. The risk to investors of further store closures was laid bare in last year’s accounts, which reported non-cancellable leases worth £47.3 million. Putting that in perspective, the company reported net debt of £32.9 million against shareholders’ equity of £18.4 million. Thorntons’ shares may be trading on a bargain price earnings ratio of 7.7 times, but it is a trap. We warned investors to sell last year, and with shares down 13% we retain that advice. Thorntons at 83p+4p Questor Says “Sell”.

Conviviality Retail faces supermarket price war: The high street has been a difficult place to sell booze in the U.K. It was against this backdrop that Conviviality Retail, Owner of Wine Rack and the low-cost off-licence chain Bargain Booze, floated on Aim in July 2013. The company revealed that like-for-like sales rose 1.2% in the two weeks to January 4, less than half the 2.6% like-for-like increase reported during the same period last year. The company reported a £2.7 million pretax profit for the 26 weeks ended October 26. The improvement from the previous year’s £1.1 million pretax loss was largely down to not having a £3 million bill for listing on the London stock market this time round. This performance was achieved during a busy time for the store portfolio. Conviviality purchased 26 Rhythm and Booze shops, largely based in Yorkshire, for £1.7 million in May last year. Conviviality closed underperforming stores and rebranded the remainder, stating that the total number of outlets increased from 595 to 599. Diane Hunter, Chief Executive, said: “Despite closures of underperforming stores in the period and the integration of the Rhythm and Booze units, sales have been maintained and store numbers have started to grow as we open higher quality outlets.” Conviviality has a strong, debt-free balance sheet, with net cash of £4.2 million at the end of October. The company maintained its 2p interim dividend, ex-dividend on January 28 and payable on February 27. That said, Conviviality is operating in a difficult market in which supermarkets are going to be cutting prices throughout the year to try to compete against the discounters. The dividend income is attractive for now but it may come at a price, as the shares look exposed. Conviviality Retail at 133.5p+5.5p Questor Says “Avoid”.

U.K. hit by more oil job cuts as Talisman lays off staff: Aberdeen was hit by more job cuts after Talisman-Sinopec said it would slash 300 jobs from its operations in the North Sea.

IG: Swiss rolled: IG Group, once seen as challenging traditional brokers, fitted the latter description until January 15. Then the spread betting business took a hit estimated at £30 million. It was caught out by a 30% jump in the Swiss franc after it soared free from its link to the euro. IG’s boast is that it merely takes a commission on bets made by punters, rather than acting as a counterparty. So far, so safe. But that leaves the FTSE 250 company with two other exposures. First, the creditworthiness of clients. Second, any mismatch between a customer’s bet and a parallel hedging deal struck by IG with a bank to lay off its risk. IG’s second problem is that it needed to stay open during the Swiss franc frenzy, even though the wholesale market was paralysed. The company unwound clients’ positions at their request, but could not cancel its hedges. These went on clocking up losses. The lure of steep upside for a minimal outlay encourages punters to take risks that may ruin them if bets go bad. The buck will then stop with the bookie, as IG has found. The City is hardly emperilled. But its reputation would benefit from tougher standards

Total to cut capital spending by 10% amid oil price rout: Total, the French oil and gas giant, plans to reduce group-wide capital spending by 10% this year and speed up billions of dollars in asset disposals, under an accelerated cost-cutting plan led by new Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.96% or $0.46 higher at $48.45 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute weekly oil inventory data to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 1.74% or $0.85, to settle at $47.99 per barrel, after the IMF slashed its 2015 global growth forecast. Moreover, Iran’s Oil Minister stated that the nation would be able to withstand even if oil prices weakened to $25 per barrel.

Optimism on oil Not everyone is as pessimistic as the International Monetary Fund: many economists at Davos think the world economy will get a significant boost from lower oil prices. The problem is whether advanced economies will be able to share the proceeds of growth across their populations. (FT)

Oil dropped after Iraqi crude production surged to a record and the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth outlook.

Britain's financial regulator has fined Reckitt Benckiser for not informing the market properly about share trading by two senior executives, in the latest crackdown on disclosure failures by London-listed firms.

BP will try to whittle away at $13.7bn in potential fines under the Clean Water Act as the penalty phase starts its trial over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Tekcapital bags two more clients; hooks up with e-books specialist By John Harrington Intellectual property(IP) services provider Tekcapital (LON:TEK) has bagged another two clients, as it continues its march towards a break-even point. Although the two clients are unnamed, both are blue-chip multi-national companies, and you can play "guess the company " from the descriptions; the first is described as a global food and beverage company quoted on NASDAQ, and the second is a UK-based industrial products company that operates in more than 30 countries. The company also revealed it recently formed a partnership with Wowio, a digital media company that has a patented process for inserting advertisements into e-books (digital books), plus a mobile e-book distribution platform and a proprietary mobile advertising network. Tekcapital, which operates a kind of match-making service for inventors and entrepreneurs, will identify potential opportunities to enhance Wowio's IP portfolio and has already identified several technologies that might prove of interest to Wowio. "These wins clearly demonstrate that our offering is gaining the attention of significant blue chip global companies and our relationship with Wowio shows how we are also achieving traction with young, dynamic businesses," said Dr Clifford Gross, executive chairman of Tekcapital. "We look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with these new clients as we seek to expand and enhance their current IP portfolios," he added. Speaking to Proactive Investors, finance director Malcolm Groat explained that clients typically pay a retainer to receive a monthly report from Tekcapital on IP developments in their chosen sector, and each new client win moves the company closer to breaking even just from recurring revenue. Groat said the company should move into profit when it passes 35 clients and it is hoping to pass this milestone by the end of this year. The company added three new clients last week and two this, plus it already has numerous clients on board so the target looks eminently achievable. Shares in Tekcapital rose 6.4% on news of the latest contract wins and are already up 17% year-to-date.

Which re-affirms my belief this company will breakeven in Q4 2015 as stated at the time of their IPO in April 2014. The management team is focused on delivering on their strategic objectives which should translate in higher stock price as further news about their progress is shared with us investors.

Centaur Media earnings to top expectations: Centaur Media expects to beat current market expectations for its earnings per share and operating profits this year, the business publisher announced , sending shares up 4.4%.

U.K. economy to grow strongly but global growth downgraded: The U.K. has managed to avoid a downgrade to its 2015 growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund.

Saudi Arabia can last eight years on low oil prices, says former adviser: A former adviser to Saudi Arabia has said the country can withstand eight years or more of low oil prices as tensions over the price slump simmered between the world’s biggest oil exporter and Iran.

European banks: easing the hard way: No such dilemmas for bank shareholders. Eurozone banks are down 15% in the past four months as speculation has grown about the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme. If sovereign QE goes ahead later this week, it will confirm just how bad a state the Eurozone economy is in. All very nice in theory. But banks will also have to deal with lower net interest margins, which are pretty thin already. As longer dated sovereign bonds get bought up, the yield curve flattens and so compresses banks’ margins. If QE also fails to spur more lending, banks would be left with a nasty combination of lower volumes and lower margins. Recent history is not encouraging. According to Berenberg, U.S. banks underperformed their index during all three periods of QE. Japanese banks also underperformed during QE, although the U.K. record was mixed. There is little reason to expect a big jump from the Eurozone banks, then. If QE works and the Eurozone’s economy recovers, then banks will benefit. But make sure the life rafts are seaworthy before jumping in.

Slide in oil price puts brakes on Middle East IPO plans: Companies in the Middle East and North Africa are putting flotation plans on hold in the wake of market volatility triggered by sliding oil prices, according to a report.