'Millionaire' firm in sale to cut debt

AVESCO, maker of the hit TV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, is to sell a subsidiary to reduce debts after the 'difficult trading conditions of the last year'.

The media group's pre-tax profits slumped to £1.5m in the year ended March, including £5.1m of goodwill amortisation. It had a net debt of almost £16m as of 31 July.

Avesco is selling Fountain Television, whose studios at Wembley have hosted hit shows such as Thames TV's Pop Idol.

The buyer is Medal Productions, owned by Medal Entertainment & Media (MEM), which is paying £7m. Medal's commitment includes paying off £5.3m of debts owed by Fountain to Avesco. It will pay £200,000 cash, and about £5.1m in newly-issued shares and warrants in MEM.

Richard Murray, a director of Avesco, is also a director of Medal. His MEM stake will be diluted from 5% to about 1.2% as a result of the deal.