HIGH-FLYING Harry Potter has helped put the icing on the cake for Blackburn-based baker Inter Link Foods.

Half-year profits have surged after a healthy string of acquisitions by the group, which makes products including Swiss rolls and cherry bakewells and Harry Potter-themed cakes, for the big supermarket chains.

Sales across the expanded group jumped to £22.6 million in the six months to October 31, compared with £6.7 million in the same period a year earlier.

And the growth, across both supermarkets and smaller convenience shops, lifted pre-tax profits to £1.2 million from £750,000.

Chief executive Alwin Thompson said each of the four companies bought last year had contributed to Inter Link's improved performance.

Inter Link employs more than 300 people at its two plants in Blackburn. At Crossfield Street, the company has launched a new product development programme which will see new in-store bakery lines introduced in supermarkets.

At its new bakery in Shadsworth, which opened in January last year, an additional £180,000 was invested in a new production line which manufactured a range of Christmas cakes for the first time. A new range of 97 per cent fat-free products has also been launched this month.

Cakes for the Connoisseur, acquired 11 months ago, has depots in Huddersfield, Luton and Avonmouth, and boosted Inter Link's share of the food service market.

The Creative Cake Company allowed Inter Link to cash in on the success of novelty cakes featuring the likes of Harry Potter, Mr Thompson added.

Shareholders will benefit from the growth, receiving an interim dividend of 1.4p per share, 16.7 per cent up on last time.