The Lewis Trust Group, which is controlled by the owners of young fashion retailer River Island, paid out a dividend of £611.4m last year.

It is understood that £20m of the dividend was shared between about 20 members of the Lewis family. The outstanding amount was paid to another family parent company, L51N Limited.

The group, which has a portfolio of River Island, hotels and property, saw pre-tax profit fall from £81.5m to £48.4m for the year to December 31, according to results filed at Companies House.

River Island’s recent annual results showed pre-tax profits fell 14% to £138.6m in the year to 26 December 2009. Sales at the Lewis family-owned business grew 7.9% to £826.4m.

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