Model railway firm Hornby has posted its first profit in three years and raised £15 million to complete the overhaul of the firm.

The Kent-based company, whose brands include Airfix, Scalextric and Corgi, said its underlying pre-tax profit was £1.6m in the year to the end of March, compared with a £1.1m loss a year ago.

It said its Scalextric Continental Sports Cars set, its Airfix model of the Typhoon celebrating the 70th anniversary of D Day and its reissue of the Aston Martin DB5 that James Bond drove in the movie Goldfinger were all strong sellers during the year.

The group said it raised £15m by selling 15.7 million shares at 95p to upgrade its European warehouses and invest in its social media arm.

In March, the business set up an e-commerce team in London's trendy tech hub in Shoreditch, which will keep the firm's customers informed about its latest promotions via Twitter, blogs, Facebook and other social media.

The business also said it will move from the main market to the London Stock Exchange's junior AIM market, in a bid to reduce administrative and transactional costs.

Hornby said it plans to delist from the main market on August 11 and begin trading on AIM a day later, subject to shareholder approval. Shares fell five per cent.

The firm encountered difficulties in 2012 after its biggest manufacturer shut a factory producing the group's model railways in a year that also saw it suffer slower-than-expected demand for Olympic-themed products.

But chief executive Richard Ames said: "I am pleased to announce that, after a year of hard work and numerous challenges, Hornby has returned to an underlying profit.

"We are improving product deliveries and quality from our supply chain, and I remain confident that the turnaround plan will continue to deliver further improvements."

The group said that despite a slow start to its model rail production in China, which has impacted its European business, it still expects sales in the first quarter of its new financial year to be ahead of the same period a year ago.