Delight as Dudley Zoo rakes in the profits

?Dudley Zoo has seen a six-fold increase in profits - with visitors flocking to see new attractions, bosses said today.

Zoo chief executive Peter Suddock said he was "delighted" with the figures and vowed the zoo would continue to grow.

In the year ending December 31, 2009, profits were £95,000, a rise of £81,000 on the previous year.

The soaring cost of energy and food for the animals had dented profits in the previous year.

There were 15,000 extra visitors at the zoo last year, which was 7.5 per cent up on 2008, according to Dudley Council's statement of accounts.

The zoo's assets also rose by 12 per cent in 2009, from £776,000 to £871,000.

This is mainly down to increased investment in new developments and attractions at the zoo.

Projects in 2009 included a lion enclosure, hunting dogs, a new centre for orangutans and a modernised cafe.

Mr Suddock said: "This is a really big achievement.

"It's partly down to the new facilities but we have also improved our marketing, so more people are aware of us.

"Visitors are very keen to get closer to the wildlife so we have been working on that." The news has come as a boost to the zoo while a £10 million revamp remains in limbo.

Bosses must wait until September to find out whether £5m of pledged funding from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands will materialise. The zoo and Dudley

Council are pursuing European money to get the project back on track.

A £10m vision for the zoo to create a mini version of Cornwall's Eden project, part of a bigger £100m leisure scheme for Castle Hill, collapsed at the end of 2008.

Bosses have had to go back to the drawing board for fresh funding after original developer St Modwen pulled out. Mr Suddock said: "That money would be the cherry on the cake but we will continue the upward trend that we have shown last year.

"It is not a question of if we will get the money, but when.

"The revamp will be good for the whole of the Dudley borough, not just the zoo."

Mr Suddock said the zoo would "take a breather" from building any new features over the coming months.

But the zoo would "keep growing" and attracting new visitors, he added.

The council owns all the shares in the company and has helped keep the zoo afloat in the past with a £250,000 annual grant.