Avesco's profit dives as 'Millionaire' viewers switch off

Avesco, the media company which part-owns the television game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, yesterday reported a dive in annual profit as viewers tuned out and sales of goods based on the show fell.

"In North America, the Christmas merchandising sales appeared to be severely affected by the aftermath of September 11," John Morton, Avesco's chairman, said in a statement, adding healthy sales elsewhere were not enough to offset the US shortfall.

Avesco's other activities, such as providing giant screens and display services for live events, were hit by the fallout from last year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Britain, when many outdoor events were cancelled.

Pre-tax profit fell 60 per cent to £6.7m in the year to 31 March, on turnover down 5 per cent to £65.2m. The results was roughly in line with market expectations after a number of profit warnings.

Avesco shares fell 15p to 170p yesterday, valuing the company at £27.7m. Last June, Avesco shares briefly touched 1,200p but fell back as Millionaire's declining popularity became evident.

Avesco's 49 per cent-owned associate, Complete, through which it holds its Millionaire stake, would have "a much reduced impact on group results" in future, Mr Morton said.

The American television network ABC has said that Millionaire, once a mainstay of its peak programming, will not feature in this autumn's schedules as a regular weekly show.

Millionaire has aired in 96 countries and proved a success in most cases leading to it being screened four or five nights a week.

"Clearly this level of exposure could not be maintained indefinitely and we saw the number of shows on air reducing in our second half," David Nicholson, the chief executive, said.

Avesco is paying a final dividend of 8p, making the total dividend an unchanged 13p.