Book company and newspaper distributor Eason & Son has appointed corporate advisers to carry out a strategic review of its business.

However, the company has denied that a disposal of all or part of the business is being planned, although companies in Eason's sector are tracking developments.

A spokeswoman for Eason's said that legal, financial, corporate and property advisers will advise it in the process, which it said it undertakes every three years.

Among the companies that might have an interest if a sale went ahead would be WH Smith, which ironically is the company that sold the business to Charles Eason, its founder.

Best known for selling books, stationery and magazines, Eason's is also involved in the distribution of those materials to other retailers from a new warehouse at Swords in north Dublin. The company owns a niche advertising agency in Ireland, is involved in the sale of phone top-ups and pre-paid electricity cards in South Africa and owns several retailers in Britain.

The most recent accounts for Eason & Son show that the group had a turnover of just under €500m for the year to the end of 27 January 2008, a rise of 9% on the previous year. Shareholders' funds stood at €228.8m and the directors proposed the payment of a dividend of €2.6m.

Under new IFRS accounting rules, the company stated that it holds assets of €3.345m which are held for resale. Pre-tax profits for the year were more than €3m, a significant increase on the previous year when a loss of over €18m was recorded.

The company owned fixed assets worth nearly €257m at the end of the financial year despite the fact that a revaluation of properties occupied by the retailer saw their value fall from €71.6m to just under €35m during the financial year.

The company was founded in 1819 as Johnson & Co and was acquired by the Eason family from WH Smith in 1886. It now has 45 shops in Ireland, including its best-known store at O'Connell Street in Dublin. It also has an internet bookshop.