The largest newspaper and magazine distributors in the Czech Republic announced today that they made profits in 2006.

Mediaprint & Kapa Pressegrosso's profit rose by half, to Kc18 million (€ 628,677), while Prvni novinova spolecnost (PNS) saw its net profit fall by more than 20 percent to Kc 197.2 million (€ 6.88 million). PNS officials said the company's turnover has dropped nearly 1 percent each year, to Kc 5.793 billion (€ 207.1 billion) in 2006, and covers 80 percent of the Czech market.

PNS said profits affected increasing costs of IT projects and deferred tax, as the company paid Kc 30 million more in income tax.

Mediaprint & Kapa Pressegrosso's net profit after taxes was Kc 17.97 (€627,424), Radek Vankat, the company's chief executive told the Prague Daily Monitor.