ITG, the independent telecoms company, has posted a 490 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the six months to October 31st last. It made £745,231 (#946,248), compared to £127,000 (#161,256) for the same period in 1997.

Group turnover for the six months to end October was £6,367,382 (#8,084907), compared to £3,400,575 (#4,317839) in 1997.

The improvement in the company's performance was underpinned by three acquisitions in its payphone division - two of which were in Britain - but the company's finance director, Mr John Williamson, said ITG had grown its business organically by 36 per cent.

The company's results include contributions from the Telephone Company of Ireland which it bought last year - making ITG the biggest independent payphone company in Ireland - the payphone division of Trexco Ltd, and Telecentral in Britain.

ITG is currently in talks to acquire another company with interests in Ireland and Britain. ITG is quoted on the DCM in Dublin and the AIM in London. Its core business is the sale and maintenance of communications equipment.

Mr Williamson said ITG now had in excess of 40 public pay phones in Dublin and was in the process of providing them in Cork and other Irish cities. The company, which employs 150 people in Ireland and Britain, will invest around £1.2 million in infrastructure in the next six months.

He said the company had cash in hand for investments (approximately £3.3 million) and would not seek fresh funding from shareholders for the next six months at least.

Earnings per share were 4.7p (5.9 cents), up from 1.8p (2.29 cents) in 1997. However, the company will not be paying out a dividend. ITG chairman, Mr Paschal Taggart, said in a statement that the directors consider "given the significant investment required to finance and integrate the acquisitions recently completed, it would be more prudent not to declare a dividend at this time".

(# signifies the euro)