After gains from the sale of iTouch last year and restructuring costs this year, pre-tax profits were €87.3m compared with €124m in 2005.
The company, which owns The Independent and its sister Independent on Sunday and has operations in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India, said broad-based growth across all its geographical regions had contributed to record results.
In the UK, the publisher reported revenues of €107.8m for the first six months of 2006, representing an increase of 3.4% on the same period during 2005. INM said that this was attributable to "strong circulation revenue growth by cover price increases and additional contract print revenues in Belfast."
INM said that The Independent and Independent on Sunday performed well in a "competitive circulation market", with the IOS achieving a 9% gain in circulation during the period of March until August this year.
The publisher said that The Independent had shown 1% growth in advertising revenue for the first half of the year, compared with significant declines reported by most of its UK national newspaper peers.
Overall revenue growth, coupled with a tight cost control, helped produce a 5.2% increase in operating profit across the UK group. INM said that restructuring of its Ireland operations had also added to cost reductions.
Online revenues for the UK group have continued to grow at a significant rate. This growth is expected to accelerate following the recent acquisition of , the largest website in Northern Ireland.
INM said that with the continued difficult UK advertising market, the focus has been on reducing costs further through operational efficiencies, improved systems and outsourcing across all areas of the business.
Sir Anthony O'Reilly, chief executive of Independent News & Media, said: "INM's geographically diversified portfolio of market-leading assets, across diverse multimedia platforms, continues to underpin INM's clear and compelling international growth strategy."
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