Northamber, the distributor of information technology equipment, saw a sharp increase in pre-tax profit last year from a low base the year before, largely as a result of substantially reduced administrative costs.Profit before tax in the year to 30 June was £258,000, versus £47,000 the year before, on revenue that eased to £128.5m from £139.3m. Administrative expenses were reduced to £4.0m from £4.8m a year earlier. A final dividend of 1.4p has been proposed, which takes the full year dividend to 2.0p, up from 1.6p last year."Early indications are that the improved trends seen in the last quarter of 2009/10 may be continuing into the current year. However, it is too early yet to say with any degree of certainty whether this is a mere blip or an underlying trend," the company's chairman, David Phillips, said.