COPENHAGEN (DENMARK) – Danish toymaker Lego said on Wednesday its sales climbed 14% in the first half of the year as more families started spending more time playing together at home because of the lockdown and other curbs.
Lego, which is a family-owned firm, has returned to growth since 2017 after a decade of double-digit sales growth came to a sudden halt.
The toy firm, which is known for its colourful plastic bricks, outpaced growth in the global toy market and kept up momentum between January and June. It competes in the market with Barbie maker Mattel and Hasbro.
“We saw a very positive development during the coronavirus lockdown when families began playing and building Lego sets together,” said Lego CEO Niels Christiansen.
“We’ve seen momentum continue into the second half of the year even after people started going back to work and to school. So the result is not just a reflection of two months when everyone was sitting at home,” said Christiansen, who came to the helm in 2017.
Although sales went up 14% in the period, revenue climbed by only 7% to touch 15.7 billion Danish crowns (1.87 billion pounds). The discrepancy is because of the fact that retailers drew on existing inventory to meet demand, as the firm had to temporarily halt operations of its plants in Mexico and China.
When all its 616 shops across the world were closed because of the pandemic, Lego compensated by enhancing its online sales.