The twin brothers, David and Frederick, are best known for their ownership of the Daily Telegraph newspaper but they own a string of major mail order brands through their firm Shop Direct including Kays, Family Album and Celtic Hampers.

The firm achieved the return to profitability, despite a 6% fall in sales on an annual basis and rising overheads, due to a reduction in the number of onceoff costs on its balance sheet.

According to the directors' report, direct mail order sales at the firm rose by 1% on an annual basis due to the strong performance of its Spring/Summer catalogues, where sales increased by 14%.

However, a drop-off in the company's hamper business meant that agency sales fell by 14%. Despite this, the directors noted that margins across all Shop Direct's operations remained static at 56%.

The accounts also state that the firm made ex-gratia payments of Euro614,000 to two company executives during the year. This was the only exceptional cost incurred by the firm that year.

In the previous year, exceptional costs of over Euro8m due to a write off of goodwill and provision for a credit insurance overcharge plunged the firm into the red.