Expansion costs at the group that operates the daft.ie property website last year resulted in pretax profits more than halving to €812,963.

New accounts filed by Distilled Media Group Ltd – established by Rathgar brothers Eamon and Brian Fallon – show that the group sustained the drop in profit in spite of revenue increasing marginally from €7.51million to €7.61 million in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The numbers employed by the group increased by 41 per cent last year, going from 52 to 75, resulting in staff costs increasing by 46 per cent, going from €3.1 million to €4.5 million.

This contributed to the pretax profits declining by 53 per cent from €1.729 million to €812,963.

Last year, no dividend was paid out to the group’s shareholders – over 2011 and 2010, the millionaire Fallon brothers shared a €7.3 million windfall with other shareholders.

The Fallon brothers established the daft.ie brand in 1997 when they were aged just 20 and 15. The group operates multiple brands, including boards.ie, adverts.ie, thescore.ie and property.ie along with daft.ie and thejournal.ie.

The group says it delivers more than 3.65 million unique users and 165 million page impressions per month.

The figures show the group’s cost of sales last year decreased from €585,138 to €503,250, with administrative expenses increasing from €5.18 million to €6.22 million.

The profit last year takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs totalling €267,315.

Directors' remuneration for management and consultancy services last year totalled €311,500, compared with €303,000 in 2011. The board is made up of the two Fallon brothers and Paul Kenny.

The group’s accumulated profits last year increased from €901,206 to €1.686 million. The group’s net assets last year increased from €1.16 million to €1.78 million.

A breakdown of the group’s staff show 30 in sales and marketing; 23 in administration and finance; and 22 in technical.

As part of a group restructuring in 2011, Distilled Media Group Ltd acquired Daft Media Ltd and the Daft Media's shares in boards.ie Ltd and Adverts Marketplace Ltd, with the deal valuing Daft Media Ltd and the shareholdings in the two firms at €27.8 million.