From strength to strength, brick by brick. Danish toymaker Lego has reported another bumper set of financial results—first-half revenue was up by nearly 20% while profit jumped by more than 30% versus a year ago.
Tie-ins with the Jurassic World movie, a new line of elf-themed bricks, and the evergreen appeal of ninjas were to thank for the performance, the company said. The results extend Lego’s long run of sales growth well above rivals Hasbro and Mattel:
And despite the recent weakness of the Danish krone, which is pegged to the euro, in dollar terms Lego became the world’s largest toymaker by revenue in the first half of the year. That said, the same thing happened at this time last year, before Mattel, the maker of Barbie, recorded a stronger second half and retook the lead.
But the trend is clear: Lego is fast closing the gap on Mattel in terms of size, having left Hasbro, the maker of Transformers and My Little Pony, behind long ago.
More importantly, Lego has proved far more profitable than its main rivals for several years now.
Can the Danish purveyor of plastic bricks keep up the momentum? It is making a big, and potentially risky, move into video games with Lego Dimensions, which launches this month. (Physical figures bought in real life unlock new levels and characters in the game.) A more reliable earner will probably be the toys timed for release alongside the eagerly awaited new Star Wars movie, which opens a week before Christmas.