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Hobby products group Hornby has stressed it is confident about its prospects ahead of the key Christmas selling season.

In a statement today the model railway manufacturer reported a 37 per cent rise in first-half turnover and revealed that sales of its Scalextric car sets had been boosted by the growing interest in Formula One racing.

Hornby, which said that its turnover climbed to £24.6 million in the six months to September 30th, stressed that ranges linked to its licence with the McLaren racing team were set to become best-sellers.

The company also revealed that its pre-tax profits rose to £2.6 million over the first-half, up from the £1.8 million reported for the corresponding period of the previous year.

In addition to the impact of new product launches, the growth was attributed to Hornby's adoption of a digital technology platform in model railways and slot-car racing.

The toy maker also said that higher sales of both Hornby and Scalextric were set to prompt an increase in accessories sales, with the company forecasting an improvement in gross margins in the second-half as a result.

Hornby reported "encouraging growth" across both its UK and overseas businesses and revealed that it had benefited from the recent success of the Transformers movie. The company said the success of its licence associated with the film had allowed it to open trading relationships with major US retailers.

Meanwhile the company stressed that the re-launch of the Airfix and Humbrol brands had also been "extremely well received" by the market.

Commenting on the prospects for the group, Hornby chief executive Frank Martin said: "The business is back on track in time for Christmas.

"We have restocked popular product in the shops and we have developed an exciting new product programme which offers significant potential.

"As we enter the key Christmas period we are in excellent health," he added.