Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan saw cash levels rise from €441,173 to €1.49m

Companies owned by pop stars Westlife saw their cash reserves jump by more than €1m last year.

In abridged accounts lodged with the Companies Office last week, Bluenet, which lists the four members of Westlife – Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan – as directors, saw cash at the bank and in hand jump from €441,173 to €1.49m while debtors also increased by more than €124,000 to over €1.01m.

Bluenet is a subsidiary of holding company Blacknight, of which all four members of Westlife are directors. Blacknight also saw its cash reserves jumped by €118,921 to €119,084 last year. Blacknight's debtors rose substantially to €962,772 in 2008. However, this is mainly due to an inter-company loan to Bluenet worth €860,848. Westlife opted to take a year off during 2008 but despite this the group's PAYE tax liabilities increased over the year, with both companies paying a total of €442,833 in income tax over the period, – up more than €58,000.

At least one of the Westlife members is an optimist, according to accounts filed earlier this year. Assets including stocks and "work in progress" held by Shane Filan's company, Shafin Developments, increased in value by more than €482,000 to €7.27m in 2008 despite a falling stock market. However, on closer inspection it appears that Shafin Developments looked on the bright side by valuing them at their original cost while admitting their value may be "overstated".