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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Joanna Bourke

Lego attracts new ‘builders’, with toymaker’s revenue up 46%

Lego has a Harry Potter themed set

(Picture: Lego)

The Lego Group saw sales and profits jump in the first half of the year as lockdowns eased, with Harry Potter and Star Wars sets in high demand.

The toy company, which is headquartered in Denmark, said total revenue increased 46% to DKK 23 billion (£2.6 billion) in the six months to June 30. It added that operating profit was up 104% to DKK 8 billion.

Chief executive Niels B Christiansen said “new builders” had been attracted to the brand, and added: “Our year-on-year growth benefited from fewer Covid-related restrictions compared with 2020 as our factories operated uninterrupted and the majority of retail stores re-opened.”

Shops in England were able to reopen from the latest lockdown in April.

The boss added that the business benefited from previous investments in e-commerce, products and the global supply chain network.

Christiansen said: “As we look ahead to the second half of 2021, we continue to see strong demand for our products. Longer-term, we expect top-line growth to stabilise to more sustainable levels as people return to pre-pandemic spending patterns. This trend, combined with our plans to accelerate re-investments into the future of the business, is expected to result in more normalised profit levels moving forward.”

During the first half more than 60 new Lego branded stores opened, bring the total number of retail stores to 737 as at the end of June.

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