Goblins and hobbits helped Britain's Games Workshop Group to post a 48% profits rise in the last six months of the year.

The fantasy war-game company owns the license to produce games based on the blockbuster film "Lord of the Rings", which hit screens last December.

The maker of LOTR, Warhammer and other dwarfs and goblin-inhabited table games, saw pre-tax profit soar to �6m ($8.5m) on turnover of �51.6m for the period.

"It is frighteningly healthy at the moment. It's the first time we've ever done a product under license, and the last. It's just because it's Lord of the Rings. If I hadn't done it, my staff would have killed me," said the firm's chief executive Tom Kirby.

Tough times behind

Mr Kirby said it was too early to judge the impact of the film on the company's profits as the Tolkien's saga was only launched two months ago.

The company started a programme of restructuring in 2000 after issuing a profit warning.

It thought to have saved around two million pounds annually since then, having cut a number of warehouses and its manufacturing plant.

Shares in Game Workshop, which over performed the UK leisure, entertainment and hotels sector by about 230% in the past year, were 4.8% up at 542.5p on Tuesday.