TRANSFORMING Hollywood star Liam Neeson into a magic tree helped Oxford Metrics half-year revenue rise 17 per cent.

Technology from OM's subsidiary Vicon was used by fellow motion capture firm Audiomotion when it worked with the actor at its Wheatley studios for his role in children’s fantasy film A Monster Calls.

Oxford Metrics group turnover of £12.9m for the six months to March 31, compared with £11m for the same period last year.

Profit before tax was £1.5m, down from £1.7m, mainly due to greater investment in R&D.

Vicon, which has provided motion capture for a string of blockbusters including Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts, Iron Man and the Pirates of the Caribbean plus video games such as FIFA 17, saw revenue reach £9.6m, up from £8.3m for the same period last year.

Profit before tax was £1.4m, down from £1.6m, partly due to a one-off grant of £0.5m from Innovate UK last year.

Revenue at Oxford Metrics’ other subsidiary Yotta, which creates software to help with infrastructure mapping for the Highways Agency, Amey and local authorities, increased by 20 per cent to £3.3m, from £2.7m for the same period last year.

Yotta also has customers in the Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

Turnover for the year to September 26, 2016 was £26.3m.

Chief executive Nick Bolton said: “This has been a very encouraging start to the year.

“When we announced our new five-year strategy last year we signalled a series of targeted investments to drive long term growth.

“Since then, we have accelerated investment in our development teams and expanded international sales channels.