THE Poole-based visitor attraction giant Merlin Entertainments has seen profits rise despite the financial impact of the Alton Towers rollercoaster accident.

The company’s half-year results showed revenues up 2.8 per cent and pre-tax profits up almost 24 per cent to £49m compared with £40m last year.

Visitor numbers were up 0.9 per cent to 27.7m at Merlin’s attractions – which include Legoland parks, Madame Tussauds, the London Eye, Sea Life and Blackpool Tower – in the 26 weeks ending on June 27.

But the company’s theme park division felt the impact of the crash at Alton Towers in Staffordshire in June.

The collision on the Smiler ride left four people badly injured, with 18-year-old Leah Washington and Vicky Balch, 20, each needing a leg amputated.

Merlin’s chief executive officer Nick Varney said: “The first-half was overshadowed by the serious accident at Alton Towers. Safety is, and always must be, of paramount importance in our business.

“We have iconic brands and a diversified portfolio and, thanks to our dedicated staff, continue to attain excellent satisfaction ratings from our customers. These strengths enabled us to deliver a robust set of half-year results and provide confidence in the medium and long term outlook.”

The company expects EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in its theme park operating group to be down to between £40m-£50m this year, down from £87m in 2014.

It said: “Trading in the resort theme parks operating group has been, and continues to be, significantly impacted by the accident at the Alton Towers Resort , and the decision to temporarily close the park and suspend marketing activity across the UK theme park estate.”

Like-for-like revenues in the theme parks were down two per cent in the half-yearly results.

The company expects underlying profit this year to be broadly in line with the 2014 figure of £249m.

Merlin said its Midway attractions group – which includes Madame Tussauds, the Eye brand and Sea Life – saw like-for-like revenue growth of 2.9 per cent, with strong performances in parts of Asia and Europe. But there were reduced visitor numbers at its London attractions and a decline in visits to its Hong Kong sites because of travel restrictions from China.

The weakness of the euro had also affected its London revenues.