Stockholm - Lego A/S said full-year revenue advanced 13 percent, outpacing the building-block maker’s key rivals, helped by toys based on The Lego Movie.
Sales rose to 28.6 billion kroner ($4.4 billion) in 2014, with double-digit growth in all regions, the Billund, Denmark- based company said in a statement on Wednesday. Net income rose 15 percent to 7 billion kroner.
The toymaker has increased annual sales every year for the past decade as Chief Executive Officer Joergen Vig Knudstorp focused on the Lego bricks and sold theme parks.
In recent years, its pastel-coloured Lego Friends line targeting girls has helped the company close in on industry leader Mattel. Lego said it anticipates the global toy market will continue to grow by low-single digits in the coming years.
“Due to our continued focus on innovation and commitment to global expansion we expect to grow moderately ahead of the market in the future,” Chief Financial Officer John Goodwin said in the statement.
Lego said it expects a factory it’s building in Jiaxing, China, to start running this year and become fully operational in 2017. The company is building manufacturing in China to supply both the country and the Asia region, which contributes about 10 percent of revenue, CEO Knudstorp said in October.
Barbie-maker Mattel said last month that 2014 sales declined 7 percent to $6.02 billion, hit by declining demand for the El Segundo, California-based company’s signature doll. Hasbro said this month that its full-year sales increased 5 percent to $4.28 billion, helped by boys’ toys.
Lego, whose name is derived from the Danish words for “play well”, is controlled by the family of carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who founded the business in 1932. The company estimated more than 85 million children played with Lego toys during the year.
Bloomberg