By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Lego’s gross sales of its colourful plastic bricks outpaced the general toy market within the first half of the yr, pushed by robust demand in Europe and North America, the Denmark-based toymaker mentioned on Wednesday.
The surge in Lego’s gross sales contrasts with a stagnating international toy market and tepid gross sales for rivals comparable to Barbie-maker Mattel (NASDAQ:) and Hasbro (NASDAQ:), the agency behind My Little Pony.
The family-owned Lego firm mentioned gross sales from January by way of June rose 13% to 31 billion Danish crowns ($4.65 billion). By comparability, Lego elevated first-half gross sales by 1% final yr and 17% in 2022, yr over yr.
“We have performed significantly better than the overall toy market and have grabbed market share at a fairly high pace,” CEO Niels Christiansen instructed Reuters.
The worldwide toy market has stagnated this yr following a 7% decline in gross sales final yr, he mentioned.
Lego’s working revenue rose 26% to eight.1 billion crowns.
Following the robust begin to the yr, Christiansen now expects double-digit gross sales development in 2024, in contrast with earlier steering of single-digit development.
The corporate plans to open round 100 shops this yr, barely fewer than in earlier years, bringing the entire variety of shops above 1,100.
“We are opening slightly fewer stores in China right now because we see that consumers there are holding back a bit,” Christiansen mentioned.
As a substitute, the corporate has shifted focus to Europe and North America, the place it’s seeing robust demand.
Lego Icons, which incorporates fashions of the Eiffel Tower and Titanic, was among the many best-performing themes together with Metropolis, Technic and Star Wars. The corporate launched round 300 units within the first half.
($1 = 6.6712 Danish crowns)
