Revenue and sales are up, with the company thanking the Lego team for its ‘incredible efforts’.
The Lego Group has posted its first half earnings for the six months ending 30th June 2020.
Revenue for the period has increased 7% to DKK 15.7b, while consumer sales were up 14% versus the first half of 2019. Operating profit was also up, increasing 11% to DKK 3.9. Standout lines from across the portfolio included Lego Technic, Lego Star Wars, Lego Classic, Lego Disney Princess, Lego Harry Potter and Lego Speed Champions, which the company says proves the appeal of Lego play to fans of all ages and interests.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Lego Group also launched ‘Let’s Build Together’, a digital initiative designed to bring learning through play to children whose education was disrupted due to the pandemic. The initiative saw thousands of hours of online content and play ideas reach more than 80m unique users around the world.
Lego also unveiled Lego Super Mario, a new play experience blending the physical and digital worlds. The company has seen what it calls a significant increase in online engagement; in the first six months of 2020, downloads of Lego digital building instructions doubled to 2m, and every two seconds a piece of content was shared on Lego Life, a digital play app with more than 9m users in 80 countries.
“The strong results are due to our incredible team,” said The Lego Group CEO, Niels B. Christiansen. “When Covid-19 closed stores and offices, our colleagues did everything they could to stay safe and bring play to children and families around the world. I would like to thank them for their extraordinary contribution and their continued fantastic efforts.”
Niels continued: “During the first half, we saw the benefits of our investments in long-term growth initiatives such as e-commerce and product innovation. Our strong portfolio appealed to builders of all ages and our recently upgraded e-commerce platform and agile global supply chain allowed us to fulfil online demand. We also collaborated closely with our retail partners to ensure they could continue to supply their shoppers online. The first six months of 2020 have been unprecedented. I am incredibly proud of the team and how they responded. We kept each other safe, we took care of those most in need and we did everything we could to inspire children and families, whose lives were put on hold, to learn through play.”
