Lego isn’t your common toy firm. If it have been, it’d need to face a slowdown that’s been affecting trade majors like Hasbro and Mattel.
The world’s largest toy maker as an alternative stated Wednesday that its web revenue grew 16 p.c within the first half of the yr because it gained floor in an in any other case slowing market.
The Danish firm stated its first-half gross sales rose 13 p.c to 31 billion kroner ($4.6 billion) whereas web revenue rose to six billion kroner.
“This development has been pushed by the Lego Group taking the next share,” chief govt Niels Christiansen stated in an interview with AFP.
The outcomes mark Lego’s strongest first half ever and underscore the corporate’s clout amid an trade downturn. Andersen highlighted that Lego’s amassed development over 5 years was 85% in comparison with the toy market’s meager 11%.
The group, greatest identified for its plastic bricks and whose title is a contraction of “play effectively” in Danish (“Leg godt”), launched round 300 new units throughout the first half of 2024, whereas persevering with to see increased income from franchises comparable to Star Wars and Harry Potter.
The corporate additionally lately introduced that it was forming a partnership with Nike to develop merchandise and content material collectively.
Lego is seeking to replicate the success of its digital partnership with Epic Video games’s Fortnite. As extra folks flip to types of “hybrid play,” the corporate is seeking to capitalize on it with the launch of its apps for youngsters, the CEO stated throughout the earnings name.
The Danish family-owned firm noticed a wave of curiosity by the pandemic when folks have been confined to their houses and has managed to construct on that success. One key issue driving Lego’s success was its skill to make toys for all age teams and curiosity ranges, from younger youngsters to grownup fanatics. That’s been the corporate’s sturdy swimsuit, along with its look after element and high quality.
“This glorious demand was pushed by our sturdy and various portfolio,” CFO Andersen stated.
Gross sales rose the strongest in Europe and North America however have been slower in China. Nonetheless, the corporate launched 41 new shops globally, together with its largest Southeast Asia location in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“There’s no market wherein we’re not investigating for a brand new retailer,” Christiansen stated throughout the earnings name.
Lego additionally celebrated the progress in its sustainability efforts throughout the first six months of 2024.
It made roughly a 3rd of all of the resin utilized in its bricks by a mixture of fossil gasoline and renewable or recycled supplies, bringing the corporate one step nearer to its 2032 aim of constructing all of its merchandise from greener sources at no additional value to shoppers. Lego has earmarked $1.4 billion to additional this mission within the 4 years to 2025.
