The Dublin Cinema Group, which owns the Savoy, Stella and Screen cinemas, has posted a 50 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for 2003.

The company, which owns several cinema properties in Dublin, appears to have benefited from last year's record cinema attendances in the city. Pre-tax profits went from approximately €1 million to over €1.5 million. The company is part of the Ward Anderson group, which has 130 screens throughout the State.

The success of the company allowed the shareholders to take a dividend of €200,000, compared to €150,000 the year before. After tax and dividends paid the retained profit was €1.1 million, up from €666,881 the year before. The company now has retained profits carried forward of €17.4 million.

The company employed 80 people in the year under review, but employment costs dropped from €2.4 million to €2.1 million. The firm's four directors were paid remuneration of €350,000, compared to €250,000 in the previous year.

Directors' pension costs were down though, from €949,210 to €500,000. This money was paid into a defined contribution scheme.

Total creditors amounted to €960,317, down from €1.1 million in the year previous. Among the €960,317 were bank loans and overdrafts of €144,860 and €176,128 owed to a subsidiary.

The Dublin Cinema Group and Ward Anderson generally have been acquiring cinemas over recent years. Last year Ward Anderson acquired the Stella cinema in Rathmines, the south Dublin suburb, for an undisclosed sum.

In the late 1990s, Ward Anderson sought to build a seven-screen cinema in the Swan Shopping Centre in Rathmines, but this was turned down by the local authority.

A recent report by consultants Duodena Research into the Irish cinema trade found that 17.4 million people went to the cinema in 2003, five million more than in 1998. The Republic now has the second-highest rate of cinema-going in Europe, after Iceland.

Last year was busy in cinema and this would have boosted companies like the Dublin Cinema Group. The number one movie was Veronica Guerin, followed by Finding Nemo, The Matrix Re-Loaded, American Pie (The Wedding) and Lord of the Rings (Return of the King).

The main source of revenue for cinemas is admission fees, but increasingly the main chains are getting healthy income from advertising - Carlton Screen books the cinema space on behalf of clients.

Sales of soft drinks and confectionery also provide a reasonable income stream.