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Merlin Entertainments, the leisure giant behind Madame Tussauds, Alton Towers and the Edinburgh Dungeon, saw its shares slump as peak summer trading woes following the UK terror attacks took the shine off a worldwide Peppa Pig deal.

The group’s latest trading figures confirmed a “difficult” summer for its London attractions and UK theme parks after a spate of terrorist attacks, which saw group like-for-like revenue growth almost grind to a halt, edging up just 0.3 per cent in the 40 weeks to 7 October.

Poor late summer weather across the UK and Northern Europe and extreme weather in Italy and Florida were also to blame, according to Merlin.

The group said trading was set to remain under pressure for its London attractions for the “foreseeable future” and announced plans to redirect £100 million of investment. It came despite the firm unveiling a deal to roll out new Peppa Pig attractions worldwide.

Merlin Entertainments has struck an agreement with

0 Merlin has a vast leisure portfolio that includes the Edinburgh Dungeon

“Overall, Merlin is something of a curate’s egg at the moment and the group will need to work hard to keep the numbers moving in the right direction.”

STEVE CLAYTON, ANALYST Entertainment One – which owns the rights to the popular children’s cartoon character – to develop new attractions and themed accommodation based on the pre-school favourite.

But the deal does not cover the UK, where there is already Peppa Pig World at Paultons Park in Hampshire under a long-standing agreement, and is also non-exclusive in China.

Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin, said: “After strong early-season momentum across most of our businesses, we have experienced difficult trading over the summer period, as the spate of terror attacks witnessed in the UK marked an inflection point in Midway London and UK theme park trading.”

Its London attractions, which also include the Cocacola London Eye, saw a marked drop-off in visitor numbers after the recent spate of attacks, while the group’s theme parks also suffered in a “difficult” market after the UK’S threat level was raised.

Figures showed like-for-like