By Duncan Mackay in London
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

July 27 - BP's sponsorship of the Olympics and Paralympics is not under threat, despite today announcing record corporate losses of £11 billion ($18 billion), London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton claimed.



The figures are for the three months to June after estimating the full cost of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, in which 11 rig workers were killed.

The jaw-dropping loss - which is the equivalent of £5 million ($8 million) an hour - was the company's first for 18 years and the biggest ever for a UK firm.

BP, which has seen about £24 billion ($37 billion) wiped off its value since the disaster, has already scrapped its dividend for most of 2010 - hitting pension funds in Britain hard.

But Deighton claimed that the company's Tier One £50 million ($78 million) sponsorship of London 2012, signed in July 2008, would continue even though Tony Hayward (pictured right with Sebastian Coe), the chief executive who negotiated the deal, is stepping down in October as a result of the bad publicity generated by the incident in the Gulf.



Deighton exclusively told insidethegames: "BP are an extraordinary well-resourced company who can easily absorb the figures that were announced today and they continue to be an outstanding partner [of London 2012].

"So we remain confident of where we are [with BP]."

A number of BP petrol stations across London were shut down by activists today in a bid to make the company to adopt greener energy policies.

The company has largely withdrawn its marketing programme linked to London 2012 until the situation in the Gulf is resolved, something which Deighton backs.

He said: "It makes sense for them and us to recognise where they are at the moment and to activate accordingly.

"But I would expect as we get closer to the Games and things have moved on they will be back to demonstrating that actually the sort of things they can do with the Games.

"The Games gives them them a wonderful platform to demonstrate what a great company they are all over again, which I'm sure they will want to do."

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