Eurazeo, the French private equity company that owns a substantial stake in Lazard, has reported after-tax profits of €38.8m ($51.7m) for the 12 months to the end of December last year, an increase of 18% on €32.8m it made the previous year.

Eurazeo said today that income from investment activities more than doubled from €12.6m in 2003 to €34m last year. It added that investments in private equity currently represent nearly half of its total assets.