Irish public relations agency Drury Porter Novelli returned to the black last year with a profit of €284,452. This compared with a loss of €1.1 million in 2013, a year when an impairment charge of €1.3 million on an intercompany loan nudged it into the red.

Drury’s turnover rose by just under 10 per cent to €2.8 million as the company benefitted from the recovery in the Irish economy following the State’s exit from the EU-IMF bailout.

Latest accounts for Drury Communications Ltd show that it paid a dividend of €200,000 to its US-based parent group Omnicom in 2014. This was down from €1.1 million in 2013.

Client work during last year included acting for IAG on its bid for Aer Lingus, and early-stage work for Irish service station operator Applegreen on its stock market flotation.

This year Drury has advised Irish building materials group CRH on its acquisition of assets from the global merger of Lafarge and Holcim, and represented Horizon Sports Management in its legal case with golfer Rory McIlroy.

It has also expanded its footprint in consumer PR, securing accounts with British retail groups Tesco and Littlewoods, and the Love Irish Food campaign.

Drury’s accounts show that it employed an average of 22 staff during the year. Wages and salaries rose to €634,948 from €522,265 in 2013 while directors remuneration was just under €1 million.

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Anne-Marie Curran, Drury’s managing director said: “Last year was very strong for the company and we expect the upward trend to continue in 2015.”

Drury’s board is set to be strengthened by the addition of Karen van Bergen, the New York-based chief executive of Porter Novelli, the global communications network of which Drury is a member, as a non-executive director.