THE holding company for a number of firms involved in Northern Ireland's drinks trade Golf Holdings has seen profits jump more than 60 per cent.
The company, which owns Winemark, Russell's Cellars and some of Belfast's best knowns bars, grew operating profits to £492,016 in 2015 against £330,072 a year earlier.
The firm, run by the Hunt family, has 52 employees operates a number of subsidiaries.
Among its portfolio of assets is more than 70 off-licences while its Wine Inns subsidiary includes the Chelsea Wine Bar and Alibi.
The strategic report filed with accounts for the firm at Companies House said the company bought back £1m of share capital during the year with an associated £9m reduction in the share premium account.
"Whilst the directors expect a difficult trading year ahead, they will continue to seek every opportunity to increase profitability where possible," it added.
Golf Holdings' total wage bill was just shy of £3.5 million for the year with directors' receiving £1.67m.
The highest paid took home £1.1m making him one of the best paid directors in Ireland.
Separate accounts for subsidiary James E McCabe, one of the north's best known drinks distributors, enjoyed "an encouraging year in difficult economic conditions".
Operating profits grew 24 per cent to £2.1m on sales of £95.3m - up 2 per cent on 2014's figure.
It grew staff numbers to 549 from 533 making its wage bill £6.7m.
And Philip Russell Limited, which supplies the licensed trade showed a 4 per cent drop in turnover to £77.7m over the period.
Profits before however grew 59 per cent to £1.77m while the company reduced staff numbers to 248 from 256 (with conresponding salaries falling slightly to £3.3m against £3.376m).
Wines Inns meanwhile reported a 3 per cent drop in turnover to £13.9m while the company also swung back into the black with operating profits of £61,638 against a £277,337 loss in 2014.
It employed 200 people (down from 207) with the wage bill coming in at £1.89m.
