Pre-tax profits at Independent News & Media increased by close to 30% to €37.4m during the year to December and before an additional exceptional or one-off profit benefit of €47.4m, principally arsing from the sale of its minority stake in the Australian media group, APN last year.

The main drivers of trading profitability last year were solid advertising growth, specifically in digital media; a reduction of €4m in interest costs due to clearing of the group’s debts and continued tight management of costs.

Circulation revenue continued to fall – by just over 4% during 2015 though the company says its stable of titles strongly outperformed the industry average.

Print advertising revenues fell marginally by just over 1% but this was offset by a jump of over 40% in digital advertising revenues to €12.5m - though this growing revenue stream still constitutes less than one-sixth of overall advertising income.

The directors are not proposing a dividend for the year.

Robert Pitt, group chief executive officer commented on the results: “The Group delivered a strong performance in 2015 considering the strong headwinds the sector is experiencing.

"Driven by digital, increases were recorded in overall group revenues and the company ended the year with a strong balance sheet, significantly improved profit before tax and strong cash flow," he said.

The group had close to €60m in net cash on its balance sheet at the end of 2015 compared to close to €90m in debt at the end of the previous year.

Independent News & Media is majority owned by Denis O’Brien who is also a shareholder in Newstalk.