P529ORACLE 529 Mon 3 Feb C4 1713:11  1/2  RECORD CONSUMER CREDIT  IN BRIEF  New consumer credit reached a record £1.17bn in December. But the final December retail sales index at 117.3 bore out a preliminary estimate that it would be virtually unchanged from November  Parkfield, which makes heavy duty iron castings, is buying William Lee and Durham Tube from a Tarmac offshogt for £3.75m. Lee manufactures malleable castings at two sites, one at Dronfield, near Sheffield, and the other at Telford. >>>>>  City Headlines 500 Newsfile 520

P529ORACLE 529 Mon 3 Feb C4 1701:54  2/2  BUSINESS  NEWS IN BRIEF  Following recent purchases DC Thomson now has a 10.6% stake in NSS Newsagents  Tory MP Anthony Beaumont-Dark has called on oil firms to cut petrol prices by at least 10p a gallon. The price of oil has dropped by more than $10 a barrel in recent months.  Guinness has predicted a possible jobs boost for Scotland if its merger with Distillers is successful. It says if it can increase Distillers' sales of Scotch by just 2% it can start to take the moth balls off 20 closed distilleries. >>>>>  City Headlines 500 Newsfile 520