ITG Group, the independent telecom company which gained a quotation on Dublin's DCM last year, has increased its pre-tax profit from £27,497 to £126,299 in the six months to October 31st 1997. Eireann in the provision of payphones. Mr John Nagle, chief executive of ITG, told The Irish Times that Telecom Eireann, with which it is in direct competition on payphone provision, had been "obstructive". ITG has 14 street sites in Temple Bar, Dublin waiting to go into operation but Telecom Eireann had not yet provided the company with the leased line. It was a "disgrace", he said. ITG has already installed public payphones in a number of areas in Dublin. It has 350 payphones, including 30 street payphones, in operation. The projection is to expand this to between 475 and 550 by year-end. This division is showing strength in its early stage of development with a rise in sales from £33,167 to £316,015. Mr Nagle said the company's competitive positioning and the underlying strength of the economy made it confident of achieving further growth in the second half. The biggest division - communications - increased sales from £1,561,838 to £2,178,732 in the first half.

There was strong growth in its ISDN key telephone systems. This was helped by the increased usage of digital telephone lines. The alliance formed with Lucent Technologies last November "will broaden the scope of this division and allow us to compete in medium-sized PABX market which has, to date, been monopolised by a number of overseas multinationals", said Mr Taggart. The voice recorder business "continues to develop". Following software developments, product sales have expanded "considerably". On computer sales and service, ITG noted that Gateway 2000 retained the company on a three-month trial basis to provide warranty support in the Dublin area. This was successfully completed and it now provides technical service to corporate and private users in Ireland. Turnover on the computer side increased from £762,953 to £905,828. Overall, turnover rose from £2,357,958 to £3,400,575. Earnings per share grew from 0.4p to 1.8p. No dividends are being paid but Mr Nagle said he hoped to be in a position to start payments in 1989/99. Net assets per share rose from 2.8p to 49.2p. On the future, ITG said its development strategy for growth, both organically and by acquisition, remained focused on the Irish and British markets. ITG, Mr Nagle said, hoped to have a presence in Britain by the end of the year.