THE crisis at struggling holiday operator MyTravel, formerly Airtours, deepened today after the group issued its second profits warning in just 18 days.

Investors were sent packing as the group, which has a call centre in Accrington, warned of worse-than-expected trading and added that major revisions to accounting estimates were also likely.

Some £20 million has now been wiped from internal profit forecasts while the accounting revisions could lead to an extra charge of between £15 million to £30 million.

Shareholders, who have seen their investment tumble 70 per cent since January, will also not now receive a final dividend payout this year.

The update comes just a week after chief executive Tim Byrne left the group with an estimated £1 million pay-off after a devastating profits warning on September 30. MyTravel, which owns the Going Places, Panorama and Jetset brands, said "a number of additional matters" had come to light since that warning.

Today's profit warning is the third from the business in five months.