SCi Entertainment Group, the country's biggest computer game publisher, said gamers' appetite for the firm's Tomb Raider and Hitman titles had helped it to swing to profitability.

SCi, maker of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider series and Championship Manager games, said on Wednesday its core earnings reached 28.8 million pounds in the year to June 30, on revenue of 179.1 million and a pretax profit of 8.1 million.

The company, which bought Eidos last year, said its strategy of concentrating on big name titles had helped it reverse its previous loses.

We have successfully re launched key brands and built a comprehensive and high quality product portfolio to underpin future profitable growth, Chief Executive Jane Cavanagh said in a statement.

SCi is financially robust and ideally positioned to take advantage of the growth in Next Generation consoles and the growing demand for mobile and on line content.

Sci added that Sony's recent decision to delay the European launch of its next generation Playstation 3 console would have no adverse affect on the firm as it had had no plans to release any game on the platform until 2008.