BOLTON is 286th out of 432 in a list of Britain's most profitable towns and cities.

The list, which is produced by information services company Experian each year, shows that Bolton's 2000 position was marginally worse than its ranking of 283 in 1999.

An Experian spokesman said: "One thing it shows is that the proportion of loss-making companies has risen from 28.5 per cent to 32.2 per cent."

The most profitable town in Great Britain continues to be Worthing.