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"BBC Worldwide has today reported record underlying profits of \u00A3160.2 million in the year to March, buoyed by continuing popularity of brands such as Top Gear and Doctor Who. The BBC&amp;#039;s commercial arm generated revenue of \u00A31.16 billion in the 12 months to March 31, 2011, up by 7.8% year-on-year. International sales grew 9.6% to account for 55.5% of total headline sales. The \u00A3160.2m in underlying profits was up 10.3% year-on-year, but was slower than the massive 37% growth recorded in the year to March 31, 2010.  However, the strong results helped increase Worldwide&amp;#039;s overall return to the BBC by 8.6% to \u00A3181.9m. Overall, Worldwide&amp;#039;s debt was slashed from \u00A3102.6m to \u00A352.3m over the year. Pre-tax profits at Worldwide were \u00A3201m after factoring in the proceeds of the sale of its 50% share in a global TV channels venture with Discovery.  Digital sales, predominantly online and mobile, increased to 8.1% of net sales, with BBC.com seeing revenues increase by a massive 113% in the US as the site &amp;quot;moves rapidly towards profitability&amp;quot;. To date, downloads of BBC Worldwide apps have exceeded 12m. Worldwide&amp;#039;s top five selling programme titles (by value) in 2010/11 were Doctor Who series 5, Sherlock series 1, Top Gear series 15, Top Gear series 16 and Human Planet. BBC America also had its best ever primetime ratings among 25 to 54-year-olds in the 12 months to March 31, up 37% year on year. John Smith, the chief executive of Worldwide, saw his total pay package increase from \u00A3823,000 to \u00A3898,000 for the year, and he took home a \u00A3138,000 bonus. &amp;quot;This was BBC Worldwide&amp;#039;s most successful year ever in championing great UK content around the globe,&amp;quot; said Smith.  &amp;quot;By offering world-class British programming and brands that resonate with global audiences, we were able to lift revenues beyond a billion pounds for a third year in succession and also deliver impressive results.&amp;quot; He added: &amp;quot;These results have enabled BBC Worldwide to return an increased amount back to the BBC - supporting development of world-class, original content in the context of a tighter financial settlement. &amp;quot;BBC Worldwide also distributed programmes and formats produced by more than 300 UK independent producers in 2010/11. I am proud of the unique role we play in helping our sectors of the UK creative industries to expand through exports.&amp;quot; Robert Webb, the chairman of BBC Worldwide, added: &amp;quot;BBC Worldwide operates as one of the engines of the whole UK creative economy and our record performance last year allowed us to deliver on our core aims.  &amp;quot;We reinvested \u00A3182m back into the BBC and also increased our support of the UK creative economy. We are confident that we will build on our current success in the year to come.&amp;quot; In the year ahead, Worldwide will pilot the global version of catch-up TV service BBC iPlayer in Western Europe, as well as develop more games and mobile services. Also today, Worldwide announced plans to rent digitally remastered episodes of classic Doctor Who on social media website Facebook.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a329500/doctor-who-top-gear-earn-bbc-worldwide-record-profits/>