FIELDS, the Dublin-based jewellery chain, was returned to the black last year even as sales dropped.

The company, owned by brothers Anthony and Nicholas Obernik and the stockbroker Kyran McLaughlin, posted a pre-tax profit of €692,000 compared with a €1.1m loss a year earlier, according to accounts filed at the Companies Registration Office last week. Sales fell by almost 7% to €92.4m, the firm said. The swing back into profit was helped by cost cutting and a lower interest bill on its hefty €69m bank debts.

“In common with many sectors, the wholesale and retail jewellery markets have been adversely affected by the economic downturn,” the company said.

Fields, which has been in business for nearly 60 years, has 20 stores in Ireland and a further 30 in the UK, which trade under the Fraser Hart brand. It bought the UK shops three years ago for an estimated €60m. The company didn’t give a breakdown of sales in either country.

It said trading in 2010 was as tough as last year and that it would continue to cut costs. Staff numbers fell to 644 at the end of 2009 from 714. The reduction in the workforce helped cut its wage bill to €18.7m from €21.8m. Payments to the company’s five directors fell to €948,000 from €1.1m.