Helen Alexander, the outgoing chief executive at the Economist Group, is ending her tenure on a 23-per-cent rise in profits to £44.3 million.

The profits increase for the 12 months to March 31 will allow the privately-held business to continue its policy of paying sizeable dividends. In total, £36.7 million in cash was handed over during the year to the shareholders, which include Pearson and members of the Rothschild, Schroder and Cadbury familiies.

Revenues at the Economist Group, which produces the upmarket weekly magazine, rose 8 per cent to £266.4 million as the flagship title showed no signs of falling victim to the media downturn that has put other publishers under pressure.

Print advertising revenues for The Economist newspaper were ahead by 16 per cent in the US, while global circulation improved by 9 per cent to 1.3 million, and the company wants to expand the title in India and the rest of Asia.

Group margins improved from 15 per cent to 17 per cent.

Ms Alexander has run the Economist Group, which also owns the Economist Intelligence Unit and a handful of other specialist magazines, since 1997.

She will leave at the company's annual meeting in July to become an adviser to Bain Capital, the private equity firm, and build on a portofolio of jobs that include non-executive directorships at Centrica and Rolls-Royce.

Her successor is Andrew Rashbass, who has been publisher and managing director of The Economist newspaper for the past three years.

Pearson owns half of the Economist Group, while the remainder is held by a group of City grandees who helped to orchestrate a rescue in the 1920s.