THE i360 is projected to make a £6 million pre-tax profit from its first year of operation, confidential papers newly made public reveal.

The 162 metre tall seafront attraction is expected to make £12 million in its first 12 months including £7.5 million from ticket sales from its anticipated 822,600 visitors.

The figures have been made available following a year-long freedom of information battle between Brighton and Hove City Council and journalist John Keenan.

Some information from the 2013 business case which supported the £36.2 million loan remains redacted and will be the subject of a decisive legal hearing later this month.

But The Argus can reveal for the first time from the business review provided by D&J International Consulting on behalf of Marks Barfield Architects in December 2013, some key financial details of the vertical pier tourism attraction.

As well as £7.5 million in ticket sales, it is expected that merchandise, food and drink, events and sponsorship would provide additional income of £4.5 million in the first year.

Consultants said the attraction is forecast to “deliver strong levels operating profit” of £6.2 million before interest, tax, depreciation and paid off debt.

That figure is estimated to rise to £8.2 million over the next ten years with 733,700 visitors expected in 2026.

The venue is expected to spend £1.26 million on staff in its first year, excluding catering, photography and maintenance staff hired by different firms, with those costs reducing to £1.2 million in later years.

The attraction also expects to pay £281,000 in rates, utility costs and rents to the West Pier Trust annually and spend an additional £180,000 on security, facility management, cleaning and building repair and maintenance.

By contrast the Brighton Palace Pier pays more than £335,000 in business rates, The Grand Hotel more than £600,000, while the Brighton Wheel paid around £200,000-a-year in rates and rent back into public coffers.

Initial reports seem to indicate the attraction is on course to meet its visitor numbers having celebrated its 100,000th customer 25 days after it opened.

The venue was anticipated to have 112,000 visitors in August.

Strong winds caused the attraction to close for several hours on Thursday morning and it is anticipated that wind could see it closed for as much as 5.4 per cent of the time this month.

A similar level of disruption is expected for January though the venue will close for ten days then for annual maintenance.

Mr Keenan said: "What we are missing now is the nitty-gritty and its all about putting the numbers on it and benchmarking against it.

"If they don't hit their targets and don't hit their £12 million, will they speak to the council about what they can pay?"

A British Airways i360 spokeswoman declined to comment and said it was a matter for the council.

THE FIGHT TO UNCOVER COUNCIL’S FIGURES FOR I360

TO LEARN that the i360 hopes for £12 million in income in its first year has been a long hard slog for journalist John Keenan.

The former Argus business editor first made a freedom of information (FOI) request to Brighton and Hove City Council last September to which the authority was late in responding. The local authority refused to reveal the full, unredacted business case.

He then requested an internal review in which the council upheld their original decision.

Mr Keenan then appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office who ruled in March that the full business case should be released.

The council then appealed that decision leading to a final legal hearing pencilled in for later this month.

In the meantime, the ICO has managed to convince the council to release the redacted business case.

He said: “This is transparency through gritted teeth. For more than a year, the council has resisted releasing any financial information in reply to my FOI request. The council has pushed this as far as it can.

“I hope that next month the information rights tribunal will rule that the council must release the full unredacted business review so that the public can reach an informed decision on whether the loan is a sensible idea.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “The council is always very open in terms of responding to FOI requests but this is one of the rare occasions where we feel it’s in the public interest to safeguard some commercially sensitive information.

“The interests of both the council and the i360 are aligned and, on legal advice, we’ve not released information that could compromise the commercial operation of the i360.”