Deep Sea Leisure (DSL) – which owns deep Sea World in North Queensferry, Scotland and the Blue Planet attraction in Chester, England – reported strong annual profits last week.

Pre-tax profit for the year ending 31 October 2003 was £1m – up slightly from £0.9m the year before.

Stuart Earley, managing director, was pleased at the way the company had handled a difficult period. “The last financial year was a challenging time for us. The tourist industry in the UK was hampered by a number of economic uncertainties that directly affected the leisure industry across the board.”

The results are stronger than predicted, as many analysts expected last year’s hot summer to have a damaging effect on DSL’s visitor numbers.

However, the possible fall of custom was tackled by a number of schemes to attract visitors to Deep Sea World, including a bus that ran throughout the summer from the centre of Edinburgh to the North Queensferry site.

Angel Barrachina, chair, said DSL would confirm new attractions at its two aquariums soon. “I am very pleased that the company continued to progress well in challenging trading conditions. We will continue to explore avenues and intend to roll out new initiatives in the coming year.” he said.

DSL became part of the Aspro Group, the Spanish leisure firm, in August 2002, after the Spanish group acquired 34 per cent of DSL’s shares. Details: www.deepseaworld.com