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At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.15% or $0.10 lower at $64.54 per barrel, ahead of the Energy Information Administration weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 0.29% or $0.19, to settle at $64.64 per barrel. Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude oil stocks in the US rose 4.2 million barrels last week.

Economic activity in Britain slowed far more than economists had been anticipating at the start of the year, according to a preliminary estimate from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a quarter-on-quarter pace of 0.3% in the three months ended in March, after an expansion of 0.6% in the last quarter of 2014. Economists had pencilled in a gain of 0.5%. The performance, which was held back by a marked contraction in construction output, was the worst since the fourth quarter of 2012. But in comparison to a year ago GDP was 2.4% higher. Activity in the services sector grew by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter while output from the other three main industrial groupings within the economy decreased, by 1.6% in construction, 0.1% in production and 0.2% in agriculture. Economists said the figures were bad news for the governing coalition but the slowdown is likely to just be temporary. Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said the print was a "jolt" for the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties ahead of the general election in nine days but that they can still point to still relatively decent growth in the quarter and take positives from the granular detail within the numbers. He added: "The fundamentals look particularly promising for consumer spending and it is seen growing by around 3.0% in 2015. UK export prospects should also be increasingly helped over the coming months by stronger growth in the Eurozone, although sterling's strength against the euro threatens to limit the upside." Chris Williamson of Markit said the figures most likely overstated recent economic weakness, but that the slowdown "highlights major concerns that linger over the health of the UK economy and will inevitably result in economic forecasts being revised down". Tuesday's GDP numbers are a preliminary reading, he noted, so must be read with caution. "It is based on only partial information for the quarter, and in particular a lack of hard data for March" - a month in which surveys indicated an upturn in the pace of growth. Based on evidence of such surveys and the strongest expected growth of household real incomes since 2006, Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said she doubted the recovery was on the cusp of a sustained slowdown. "Indeed, Q1's figure could eventually be revised up to these sorts of rates (although obviously not in time to help the incumbent government). We still think that the economy will grow by close to 3% this year as a whole." Vicky Redwood

St. James's Place Plc (STJ.L) Announced, in its interim management statement for the three months ended 31 March 2015, that there is an 11% increase in new single investments to £2.0 billion and a particularly strong growth in unit trust, ISA and pensions business as its clients took encouragement by way of the higher ISA savings limits and the introduction of increased flexibility for retirement savings. This level of new business, together with the continued excellent retention of existing client funds, resulted in a net inflow of funds under management of £1.3 billion up 9%. Also, net inflow of funds under management stood at £1.30 billion (2014: £1.19 billion) - up 9%.

Fund management group Henderson saw record net inflows of £3.6bn in the first three months of the year, which contributed to a 10% rise in assets under management to reach £89.4bn. Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson, said: "Evolving client needs have driven us to develop a broad range of investment capabilities over the last few years which has enabled us to deliver market share gains in all of our major markets."

Annual results from Costa Cofee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread showed revenue rose 13.7% to £2.61bn and underlying profits before tax by 18.5% to £488.1m. The FTSE 100 group, which also announced that chief executive Andy Harrison will retire by the end of the financial year next February, served up an 19.4% increase in earnings to 213.67p per share.

One of Alliance Trust's biggest shareholders has applied pressure on the board to cut costs and improve the share price only one day before a crunch annual meeting that could dictate the future of the 127-year-old investment trust. Axa Investment Managers, a top ten investor in Alliance Trust, has demanded that the board reform its practices irrespective of the outcome of a key vote at the meeting, which pitches the trust against Elliott Advisers, its largest shareholder. - The Times

BP has posted a first-quarter underlying profit decline of 20% on an annualised basis, though the figure was 15% higher on the previous quarter. The oil giant's profit for the last quarter came in at $2.6bn compared with $3.2bn for the same period in 2014, and $2.2bn for the fourth quarter of 2014. A quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share, was flat as the CEO Bob Dudley said "we are resetting and rebalancing BP to meet the challenges of a possible period of sustained lower prices."

Gaming software developer Playtech bets on a strong 2015: Isle of Man-based gaming firm Playtech said it had won big in the first quarter, with revenue up 31%.

Great Portland and Aberdeen sell £222 million West End office block: Great Portland Estates and Aberdeen Asset Management have sold a huge office scheme at 95 Wigmore Street in London’s West End for £222.4 million.

Cambridge and Counties swings to profit in just its second year trading: Challenger bank Cambridge and Counties delivered a pretax profit of £4.1 million in 2014, compared to a loss of £99,000 when it was set up in the previous year.

Experts voice fears about rent controls: Housing experts warned that Labour plans to bring in rent controls could lead to investors pulling out of the rental market

Housing target risk amid ‘chronic’ staff shortage: Efforts to address Scotland’s housing shortfall are at risk unless a “chronic” shortage of skilled workers can be alleviated, a trade organisation has warned.

Shell lobbied to undermine EU renewables targets, documents reveal: Shell successfully lobbied to undermine European renewable energy targets ahead of a key agreement on emissions cuts reached in October last year, newly released documents reveal.

Buy into undervalued QinetiQ: According to City legend, defence, technology and testing group QinetiQ owes its unusual name to the James Bond films. The company came into being in 2001 when the Ministry of Defence split the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency into two, with the larger part becoming QinetiQ, which floated in 2006. What QinetiQ’s staff do is apply their expertise to examine and evaluate equipment, mainly for the military. The company doesn’t really make anything, its value comes from the knowledge its staff have and how they apply it to help customers solve problems, improve efficiency and cut costs. Steve Wadey, QinetiQ’s new Chief Executive, started work on Monday, taking over from Leo Quinn, who went to Balfour Beatty in January. Some have raised concerns about Mr Wadey’s lack of PLC experience but veteran Finance Director David Mellors is seen as being more than able to compensate for this. What the company does have is net cash. The sale of the U.S. unit helped fund a £150 million share buyback, which is now more than halfway complete, and at the half year results QinetiQ said it was sitting on £205 million. With a progressive dividend policy, and the money to fund it, Questor likes the look of QinetiQ. The shares trade on a price-earnings multiple of 14.26 this year, falling to 13.32 next, and are yet to recover from the knock they took when Mr Quinn said he was going. QinetiQ at 207.2p -0.1p. Questor Says “Buy

TalkTalk raises broadband prices up to 43% as it focuses on mobile growth: TalkTalk has increased the cost of its basic broadband package by 43% alongside a renewed push in the mobile market as it aims to build strength in the nascent ‘quad-play’ market.

Labour’s housing plans wipe nearly £200 million off value of U.K. home builders: Britain’s housebuilders saw their share prices hit on Monday after Ed Miliband unveiled detailed plans to impose rent controls on landlords.

Countryside blames U.K. election doubts for planning delays: Falling planning consent approvals in the run-up to the general election are hampering efforts to ease Britain’s housing crisis, Countryside has warned.

Shell and Total delay West Africa projects after oil price rout: Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Total have delayed multibillion-dollar offshore oil projects in West Africa as part of efforts to rein in costs and shore up cash flow following the collapse in crude prices.

Bricklayers and their bricks still in short supply: Half of all small and medium-sized construction companies are finding it difficult to recruit bricklayers and buy bricks, despite signs that shortages of skilled labour and materials have eased.

UK CBI Business Optimism declines in 2Q 2015 In its business optimism survey, Confederation of British Industry indicated that optimism among London businesses for the next six months had declined, with a net 3.00% of firms showing optimism about their business prospects in 2Q 2015, as compared to a net 15.00% of firms that showed optimism in the previous quarter. Market anticipation was for a net 19.00% of firms to show optimism about their future business prospects.