C4's rising profits beat tough times

CHANNEL 4 is about to unveil a near-tripling in profits to £50m, despite a fall in audience share and a tough advertising climate.

The impressive results for the publicly owned but commercially funded television company will be a significant boost for chief executive Mark Thompson.

He is regarded as one of the leading candidates for the post of director-general of the BBC after the resignation of Greg Dyke in the wake of the Hutton Report.

Results for the year to December 2003, due on 20 April, will show that despite Channel 4's audience share dropping below 10% for the first time in 12 years, the station still managed to take a fifth of the total television advertising market. Profits in 2002 stood at £16.5m.

Further restructuring of the company's 4 Ventures arm, which includes its digital television operations such as FilmFour and E4 entertainment channels, has also helped the bottom line.

After posting losses of nearly £28m in 2002, 4 Ventures will be shown to have broken even last year and is now in profit.