  We report on a new XMM-Newton observation of NGC 247 from December 2009. The
galaxy contains a supersoft, ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) whose spectrum
consists of a thermal component with a temperature about 0.1 keV and a
power-law tail with a photon index around 2.5. The thermal emission is
absolutely the dominant component, contributing 96% of the total luminosity in
the 0.3-10 keV band. Variability is detected at timescales of 10^2 s and longer
with a \nu^-1 power spectrum. These properties are consistent with black hole
binaries in the thermal state and suggest the presence of an intermediate mass
black hole of at least 600 solar masses. However, the integrated rms power is
much higher than typically found in the thermal state. An alternative
explanation of the emission could be a photosphere with a radius about 10^9 cm.
A possible absorption feature around 1 keV is detected, which may be due to
absorption of highly ionized winds. X-ray sources within the disk of NGC 247
have a luminosity function consistent with that found in low mass X-ray
binaries. We confirm previous results that X-rays from the quasar PHL 6625 may
be absorbed by gas in NGC 247, mainly at energies below 0.3 keV.
