MORE THAN 50 years since it was published, JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings remains one of Britain’s most loved stories, and now it has reached No 1 again.

But this time it has topped the business charts: the company that owns the UK rights to the Lord of the Rings films has the fastest-growing profits in the Sunday Times Profit Track league table for 2004.

The Entertainment Group heads the list ranking Britain’s top 100 private companies by profit growth. Also included are Ingenious Media, the entertainment investment and advisory firm, and Carte Blanche, the greeting-card publisher.

The companies in this year’s list have increased their profits by an average of 66% each year over the past three years, and created a total of 48,685 jobs.

Profit Track 100 is compiled by Fast Track, the research and events company. The table, co-sponsored by Price Waterhouse Coopers, appears as a special business supplement with today’s Sunday Times.

The Entertainment Group is owned and run by the Green brothers, Trevor and Nigel, and was founded in 1978 by their father, Michael, who was a film producer.

As a distributor, the company gains from box-office receipts and receives commission on DVD and video sales and rentals. Its backing of the Rings trilogy and other hits, such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, has helped the company’s profits soar by 197% a year from £2.4m in 2000 to £61.6m in 2003. The company also has a lucrative deal to supply films to BSkyB and other broadcasters.

The brothers have diversified by investing in Odeon, Britain’s largest cinema chain. Last year they paid £25m for a 22% stake and, with fellow investors Robert Tchenguiz and Guy Dellal, paid £40m to buy Lehman Brothers’ debt in the chain.

Snapping at Entertainment’s heels in the league table is Ingenious Media, which advised Robbie Williams on his £80m record contract with EMI and invested in Simon Fuller’s company, 19. Its profits have surged 179% a year since 2000.

Carte Blanche, the company behind the Me to You cards, toys and stationery, is ranked No 8, with profits rising 116% a year from £907,000 in 1999 to £9.2m in 2002.