Barbie sales grew by 7%, while games also performed strongly.

Sales of the flagship Barbie brand rose by 7%

Mattel’s share price increased by more than 4% on Thursday, despite the fact that the company posted quarterly sales figures which fell across the board. Nevertheless, results were better than had been anticipated: the company reported a loss of 26 cents per share on revenues of $732m, while analysts had expected a loss of 34 cents per share on revenues of $679 m. During the quarter, the company’s gross margin improved on a year-on-year basis to 43.8%.

Overall, the company’s net toy sales declined 15% during the second quarter, although sales of the flagship Barbie brand rose by 7%. However, this was not enough to propel Mattel’s doll segment into growth – sales in the category dropped by 5% compared with last year. Other categories saw steeper declines: infant, toddler and pre-school fell by 21%, while vehicles fell 26% and action figures, building sets and games fell 12%.

Ynon Kreiz, chairman and CEO of Mattel, commented: “While revenues were down, they exceeded our expectations, particularly in North America, Barbie, and games, where we saw sales increases. E-commerce continued to grow strongly in all regions. We entered the second quarter with extensive retail closures and distribution challenges and had to absorb a full quarter of Covid-19 impact, but we demonstrated our execution capabilities and the resilience of our brands. Based on the momentum we are seeing, the positive POS trends and low retail inventories exiting the quarter, we are planning for strong demand for our products in expectation of an improved revenue performance in the second half compared to the first half, including the all-important holiday season.”