EXAMINER Publications (Cork), publisher of the Examiner and Evening Echo, recorded a 58 per cent increase in profit before tax and exceptional items from £756,000 in 1994 to £1,197,000 in 1995. Sales grew by 3 per cent from £20.01 million to £20.78 million and profit margins improved from 3.78 per cent to 5.76 per cent.

Both publication benefited from "considerable capital expenditure" of more than £3 million in the core titles over the past two years, said the chief executive, Mr Alan Crosbie. There were no price increases in 1995 so the 3 per cent rise in sales represented volume growth. He said 40 per cent came from circulation and the remaining 60 per cent from advertising.

The latest profits were achieved after exceptional costs of £1.04 million which arose from redundancies. These, however, were more than offset by a profit of £1.1 million from the sale of an asset to a BES scheme.

Mr Crosbie said he was very "excited" about this year and very hopeful that there will be further growth. There has been a "positive" reaction to the change in the title of the Cork Examiner to the Examiner. Circulation, he added, is "considerably up", but this has been difficult to quantify because the group does not "get returns for a month". However, he estimated that that circulation in Dublin has doubled from 1,000 to over 2,000.

The group will also generate extra revenue from the contract with News International to print two British titles. The deal, worth more than £500,000 per annum, involves the printing of two sections of the Irish edition of the Sunday Times and the printing of the Times for daily circulation in Ireland. Printing will begin in early summer.