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WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - US crude oil plummeted over 3.6% to end at a fresh 5-year low Friday, on falling demand and oversupply concerns after the International Energy Agency triggered yet another collapse as it slashed the demand growth forecast for 2015, even as the dollar weakened against some major currencies. Barely a couple of days after OPEC cut oil demand forecast, the International Energy Agency today slashed its global oil demand growth forecast for 2015 to 900,000 barrels per day, down 230,000 barrels per day from its previous forecast. On Wednesday, the OPEC had said that it expects global demand for the cartel's crude in 2015 to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade. Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for January delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped USD2.14 or 3.6% to close at USD57.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday. Crude prices for January delivery scaled a high of $ 59.57 a barrel intraday and a low of USD57.34.

Avoid PZ Cussons as Africa hits profits: PZ Cussons, the FTSE 250-listed consumer goods giant, has grown rapidly thanks to its exposure to emerging markets. However, falling profits in Nigeria dragged the group down in the first half of its financial year, and broker downgrades sent the shares 1.3% lower. Cussons’ sales in Nigeria suffered as Islamist extremists continued to cause widespread disruption in the north of the country. The economy is also highly reliant on the price of oil, which has collapsed since June. This has caused a sharp devaluation in the value of the Nigerian currency, the naira, which has fallen 9.5% since the end of March. Brandon Leigh, Cussons’ Chief Financial Officer, said profits from Nigeria are typically weighted towards the second half of the company’s financial year, as consumers have more to spend after the harvest is brought in. However, sales in the six months to March will be hit by the loss of a week’s trading as people travel home to vote in the Presidential elections, while profits will be reduced by the falling value of the naira. Mr Leigh said the European beauty division saw limited growth in Europe, but a stronger performance in the U.S. and Australia. The St Tropez range of self-tanning products, which is advertised by model Kate Moss, continued to grow profits across Europe. Sales in Poland were steady but the company warned that full year profits there would be lower following the sale of its Polish homecare brands to Germany’s Henkel for £46.6 million in February. The group has a proven track record over the long term, while a forecast dividend of 8.4p offers a yield of 2.5%. The payout has grown 40% over the past four years and analysts expect it to increase more than 10% in the next two years. Based on the current high-growth price earnings rating of almost 18 times and the illiquid nature of the shares – the founding family still owns a 35% stake in the business – Questor cannot advise a purchase at the current level. PZ Cussons at 314.2p-1.6p Questor Says ‘Avoid’.

Sell N Brown as sales fall: Clothing retailers were hit hard in September as unseasonably warm weather meant fewer people treated themselves to a new coat. N Brown said that sales recovered in October and November, sending its shares up more than 8%. The mail order shopping group, which sells everything from homeware and shoes to clothing, said October and November sales increased by 1.5% and 3% respectively, after a 10.8% slump in September. That meant a 2.3% decline in overall third quarter sales, and a 1.2% fall in the year to date. N Brown did not provide details on the profit performance but did say that its gross profit margin was in line with management expectations, and the company provided “competitive value” for customers. The retailer said it expects “extremely competitive” conditions to remain until the end of the year and kept guidance unchanged. The other challenge facing the company is shifting from a catalogue-only business model, which is low cost, to selling online, in stores and catalogues and in America, which is increasing selling and administration costs. In the first half of the year operating profits declined 6.6% on revenue down 0.6%. N Brown is still generating plenty of cash. However, with capital investment on a new distribution centre increasing to £30.8 million, from £8.5 million last year, net debt rose to £205.2 million, from £197.9 million last year. The debt levels compare with net assets of £495.3 million. We have previously warned about slowing sales and said it was “prudent to take some profits”. The shares are down 25% since then, and with debts rising and sales slowing we retain that prudent approach. N Brown at 350.2p+23.1p Questor Says ‘Sell’.

Qataris appoint Ken Costa to Songbird board City grandee to be director of Canary Wharf owner

Knight Frank to quit Zoopla Estate agent to quit property website for a new start-up to face the big portals

Oil's slippery slide US crude closed below $60 a barrel for the first time in five and a half years yesterday. Although gasoline in the US is the cheapest it has been since 2010, consumption of oil per dollar of GDP is at its lowest in more than 40 years. (FT, Bloomberg)

Stagecoach profits dip as transport group warns U.K. bus incomes will fall, as it reports flat half year profits: Transport group Stagecoach warned of lower earnings from its regional U.K. bus operations and U.S. business but said its share of Virgin Rail operations should help make up the shortfall, as it reported flat half year profits.

Victrex shares jump on bumper cash return: Victrex, the manufacturer of specialist lightweight polymers, announced a special dividend for investors, sending its shares soaring £1.36 or more than 7% higher. Back in September, the polymer specialist had flagged that sales were strong into the end of the year but the build-up in cash came as a welcome surprise. The driving force behind the growth was a strong market in the automotive and aerospace sectors for the company’s Peek products, which are made from a new lightweight polymer resistant to temperature and chemicals. The material is being used to replace metal parts in aeroplanes such as the new Boeing 787, brake pads in cars, and components in smartphones and medical implants. David Hummel, Chief Executive, said: “Our 2015 financial year has started well and although currency headwinds remain considerable, we now anticipate being able to fully cover the FX impact.” Mr Hummel said the company would pay a 45.15p full year dividend as well as a 50p special dividend, both of which are ex-dividend on February 4 and payable February 20. The shares are currently rated on 20 times forecast earnings and pay a 2.8% prospective dividend yield. Victrex at £20+136p Questor Says ‘Hold’.

Sky considers withdrawal of Now TV from YouView: Sky could withdraw its Now TV streaming service from BT and TalkTalk’s television subscribers in a row over costs and the slow development of the YouView set-top-box technology they use.

Ashtead: memories for hire: Ashtead might operate in the gritty business of hiring out construction equipment, but its results are sparkling. First-half revenues rose 16% and earnings per share were up over a quarter, as the company enjoys the recovery in the U.S. (home to most of its business) and takes market share. The shares, already up 42% this year, rose another 10% on Wednesday. To dive into the shares now is to be confident that the company is well positioned next time life gets tough. Ashtead’s end markets are inherently cyclical. When people stop building they stop renting diggers, forklifts and hydraulic rock splitters. The company’s protection from the worst of this comes in two forms. First, it keeps its kit up to date, giving itself an advantage over rivals who cannot afford to. Capital spending will rise from £741 million last year to about £950 million this year as Ashtead expands and renews its equipment. Second, Ashtead keeps its balance sheet strong. Net debt is a comfortable two times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. A valuation of 16 times next year’s earnings — a premium to rival United Rentals on 13 — suggests comfort with the strategy.

BG Group: fair dinkum: The U.K.’s BG Group will want to avoid becoming the butt of another one with its Australian Queensland-Curtis LNG project in which it has a three-quarters stake. On Wednesday, BG said it had sold a pipeline attached to the project — to move gas from wells to plant — for $5 billion. This means that BG can get serious on the project at last. Good: QCLNG will represent two-thirds of production growth next year, says Deutsche, and according to BMO Capital Markets, is a quarter of BG’s net asset value. But that assumes oil prices of $80 a barrel. There is also BG’s debt. As a fast-growing explorer, BG has not had any free cash flow (post capital spending) since 2008, according to S&P Capital IQ. That figure is also before dividend payouts. At least, having got a good price for the QCLNG pipeline, BG can use the proceeds (after taxes and expenses, roughly $4.3 billion) to reduce its net debt of $12 billion. But that is only step one, considering investors already pay up in the market for BG’s superior production growth outlook versus other oil majors. With an enterprise value to next year’s forecast debt adjusted cash flow of 9.8 times, BG shares trade at a 50% valuation premium to its peers

UK RICS house price balance fell in November In November, the RICS house price balance dropped to 13.00 in the UK, compared to market expectations of a drop to a level of 15.00. In the prior month, the house price balance had recorded a reading of 20.00.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.9% or $0.58 higher at $64.82 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract declined 3.89% or $2.60, to settle at $64.24 per barrel after OPEC slashed its oil demand forecast for 2015. Moreover, Kuwait offered the largest oil discount to Asia since 2008, which weighed on prices further. Separately, The US Energy Information Administration reported that oil stockpiles climbed by 1.5 million barrels in the week ending December 5.

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - British house prices grew at their slowest rate in a year and a half during the past three months, a property industry body said on Thursday, but a planned cut to property taxes is likely to temper the lull in sales. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly house price index sank to +13 in November, down from +20 in October and its lowest level since May 2013, when Britain's housing market started to pick up strongly. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the index, which measures surveyors' view of price trends over the preceding three months, to drop less sharply to +17. Britain's housing market has been slowing since the middle of this year, due to tighter mortgage regulation and annual price rises of more than 10 percent that have far outstripped meagre wage growth. But RICS saw the potential for a boost from tax changes announced last week by finance minister George Osborne which, he said, will result in lower payments of the stamp duty tax for more than 90 percent of home buyers.

WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - Corrects the closing figure to USD2.88. Rest remain the same. US crude oil plunged to new depths on Wednesday, after a report from the Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles in the US to have declined more than expected last week, even as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slashed its global demand outlook. Earlier today, a weekly report from the US Energy Information Administration showed US crude oil inventories to have increased by 1.5 million barrels in the week ended December 5, while analysts expected a decline of 2.5 million barrels. The report showed US crude oil inventories at 380.8 million barrels, end last week. Gasoline stocks jumped by 8.2 million barrels last week, while analysts anticipated a gain of 2.6 million barrels. Inventories of distillate, including heating fuel, increased 5.6 million barrels last week.

Livingston shopping centres sold for £224 million: Commercial property group Land Securities has sold The Centre and Almondvale West Retail Park in Livingston for £224.1 million.

Buy-to-let lending at highest level since 2008: Buy-to-let lending jumped from £5.9 billion in the third quarter of 2013 to £8 billion in the corresponding period this year - the highest quarterly amount since the crash of 2008, official data from the Bank of England has shown

Bank of America sees $50 oil as Opec dies: The Opec oil cartel no longer exists in any meaningful sense and crude prices will slump to $50 a barrel over coming months as market forces shake out the weakest producers, Bank of America has warned.

Petrol to drop to £1 a litre, says Goldman Sachs: The price of a litre of petrol will drop to almost £1 in the coming months if oil prices remain low, putting more money in people’s pockets and encouraging consumers to spend.

Exxon sees N America as liquid fuels exporter: North America is likely to be a net exporter of liquid fuels in the next decade, as production grows while demand in the U.S. and Canada stagnates, according to ExxonMobil, the world’s largest listed oil company.