Popular toymaker Lego on Wednesday reported whopping double-digit sales growth worldwide in the first half of 2015, with strongest demand seen in Asia.
The Danish company said its revenue increased 23 per cent to 14.1bn kroner (£1.4bn) for the six months to 30 June. Net profit for the period was 3.5bn kroner (£345m), an increase of 838m kroner.
The record half yearly financial results have put the Danish toymaker ahead of rivals Mattel and Hasbro. While rival toymaker Mattel posted sales of $1.91bn (£1.25bn) for the same period, Hasbro’s sales for that period increased by 0.2 per cent to $1.51 billion.
Lego recorded the biggest increase in sales in Asia, where the company has invested heavily to reduce its reliance on markets in Europe and North America.
“While all our regions experienced double digit growth during the first half of 2015, it is particularly satisfactory that Asia saw the highest growth rates given the considerable investments we are making there to further the company’s globalisation,” said Lego’s chief commerical officer Loren I Shuster.
Lego’s strong development in the first half came despite fears of a tough comparison with last year, when its sales were boosted by “The Lego Movie,” a film by Warner Bros. The film became the most popular animated feature of the year.
Also the Danish company’s new Lego Jurassic World and Lego Elves lines, launched in the first half of 2015, “were received very positively by children all over the world”.
Lego said it had more than 300 different Lego sets on the market during the first half of 2015, ranging from heroic Ninjas to the fantasy theme Lego Elves and the detailed Technic mobile crane.
On Wednesday, Lego has also sent 20 toy figurines into space. The toymaker designed the figures with European Space Agency logos for Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen to carry with him on a Russian rocket that launched in Kazakhstan on September 2, heading for the International Space Station.
The plastic figures will be allotted as competition prizes when they return to earth after 10 days.
