Sir Anthony O'Reilly and three of his sons stand to receive dividends of more than €21.26 million from Independent News & Media (IN&M) for 2005 after the group unveiled a 41.6 per cent rise in pretax profits to €272.5 million.

The results from the publisher of the Irish Independent were flattered by once-off items such as the sale of the group's stake in mobile content provider iTouch and the former Sunday World print premises in south Dublin, but operating profits before exceptionals rose by 11.4 per cent to €311.6 million.

Independent's shares closed at €2.60 in Dublin last night, 7 cent weaker in a downbeat market.

Traders attributed the decline to "confusion" over exceptional items in a results package for a year marked by the group's purchase of a 26 per cent stake in the publisher of India's biggest-paper, Dainik Jagran.

With Sir Anthony, the chief executive, predicting "superior" earnings growth in the current year, Independent said that a 7.5 per cent increase in revenues to €1.61 billion was recorded on the back of a 10.7 rise in advertising revenue and a 6.4 per cent rise in circulation revenue.

Earnings per share rose to 20.3 cent from 11.4 cent and diluted earnings per share before exceptionals rose to 15.62 cent from 13.33 cent. A final dividend 7 cent per share brought the full-year dividend 19.4 per cent higher to 10.75 cent per share.

Sir Anthony's dividend payment will be in the order of €21.01 million in respect of the 195.45 million shares that constitute his 26 per cent stake in the group.

His sons Cameron, Tony Jr and Gavin, the group's chief operating operating officer, will receive some €254,160 in respect of their shares.

Gavin O'Reilly chose the day of the publication of the group's annual results to exercise options on 192,349 shares at €1.63 each, yielding a paper profit of €186,924.76 on the basis of last night's closing price.

Irish revenues rose 2.8 per cent to €401.7 million.

The rise was weighted in favour of advertising, which grew 9.4 per cent, while circulation revenues grew 3.7 per cent.

Operating profits rose 10.2 per cent to €90.6 million, with operating profit margins in the market increasing to 22.6 per cent from 21 per cent.

This was ahead of the group-wide average margin, which rose in the year to 19.3 per cent from 18.7 per cent after common costs were taken into account.

The margin in Australasia, the biggest unit by sales, fell back to 23 per cent from 23.6 per cent. Revenues in the region, where Independent has a 40.5 per cent stake in APN News & Media, grew 9.9 per cent to €778.5 million while operating profits rose 7.1 per cent to €179.1 million.

In profit terms, the group's unit in South Africa was the bright spot.

Operating profits there rose 34.8 per cent to €41.8 million, thanks to a buoyant local economy, as revenues rose 12.2 per cent to €222.2 million.

Revenues in Britain and Northern Ireland rose 3.6 per cent to €209.1 milion and operating profits rose to €15.1 million.

But in a difficult advertising market the London Independent and Independent On Sunday remain a drag for the group with monthly losses of some £10 million (€14.46 million).