The owner of GB News has invested nearly £50m in its attempt to rival the BBC and Sky News.

All Perspectives has been drawing on £46.5m worth of cash since spring last year to bankroll the fledgling news network’s expansion, according to latest accounts.

Meanwhile, separate accounts for GB News showed a £3m loss by the end of May last year, which included the set up costs ahead of the channel’s launch on June 13.

Angelos Frangopoulos, chief executive, previously said that GB News had enough funding to support its operations for a number of years, but was attempting to turn a profit as soon as possible.

The channel – which is backed by the US broadcaster Discovery, investment group Legatum, and Brexit-supporting hedge fund manager Sir Paul Marshall – has endured a rocky start, punctuated by technical problems and the departure of chairman and lead presenter Andrew Neil.

The former Sunday Times editor left the BBC in 2020 when his Wednesday evening show fell foul of budget cuts. He had joined GB News on the promise of giving a “voice to those who felt sidelined […] in our great national debates”.

However, he took a break from the channel in June after presenting just eight shows because he said he needed to recharge his batteries, before resigning in September.

Mr Neil, who is now launching a Sunday political news programme with Channel 4, hinted on BBC’s Question Time that he left GB News because it wanted to imitate Fox News, the right-leaning US news network.

Mr Fragopoulos dismissed the claims, including reports that Mr Neil had been frozen out of the decision-making.

Since then, GB News has launched the DAB station GB News radio and hired Sunday Express editor Michael Booker. The news network revealed in December that veteran newsreader Simon McCoy had also quit amid speculation he would leave following the exit of Gill Penlington, the senior executive producer, and John McAndrew, the director of programming.

It coincided with the appointment of Eamonn Holmes, who is co-presenting its breakfast show with his former Sky News colleague Isabel Webster.

After 15 years with ITV’s daytime show This Morning, Mr Holmes confirmed that he was leaving Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster to join GB News in January.

Speculation had been mounting about the departure of the seasoned presenter and his wife Ruth Langsford, after Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond took over their Friday show last year. ITV later said that Ms Langsford will remain at the channel.