COPENHAGEN (AFP) – Lego cemented its position as the world’s biggest toymaker last year despite logging its first decline in net profit since 2017 and slumping sales in China, company results showed yesterday. The Danish toy giant’s overall sales inched up by two per cent to USD9.6 billion, a record sum for the family company that continues to gain market share. Sales made directly to consumers through Lego’s physical and online stores rose by four per cent in a challenging year as high inflation weighed heavily on the industry.
Its net profit fell five per cent to NOK13.1 billion amid a 60-per-cent rise in spending on green initiatives as it tries to find alternative materials for its colourful plastic bricks. It also boosted investments by 27 per cent.
“In five years we’ve grown 81 per cent organically, where the market has grown 12 per cent,” Lego Chief Executive Niels Christiansen told AFP in an interview. He said the company expects to see more of the same in 2024. “Every year we’ve taken market share and the outlook for this year is that we would continue to take,” he added.
