Star Wars and Frozen help Lego to £1bn profits

March 1, 2016 subhadip

Danish company sold an estimated 72bn bricks during the year and produced 725m mini-figures

A full-size Star Wars X-wing fighter made from Lego. Photograph: Lego

Lego has reinforced its position as the world’s biggest toymaker after Star Wars and Disney’s Frozen helped it record a sharp rise in sales.

The Danish company said that revenues rose 25% year-on-year in 2015 to 35.8bn krone (£3.7bn) and net profits grew 31% to 9.2bn krone (£958m).

Lego has increased its sales for 10 consecutive years, with 2015 another record year, putting it ahead of rival toymakers Hasbro and Mattel.

It sold an estimated 72bn bricks during the year and produced 725m mini-figures. The bestselling item was Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle from Frozen, while a model of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars was second.

Lego’s traditional lines were also popular, including Lego City.

Lego Star Wars mini-figures. Photograph: vn-thanh.vo/PR

John Goodwin, Lego’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer, said: “We have have achieved significant growth in sales every year for a decade now, and it is highly satisfactory that we can deliver yet another year of double-digit sales growth.”

Lego said that new products also enjoyed a strong performance during the year, including Lego Dimensions, a video game tie-up with Warner Bros. The most popular categories were Lego City, Star Wars, Friends, Duplo and Ninjago.

A recreation of The Death Star at the Lego resort in Windsor — A recreation of the Star Wars Death Star at the Legoland resort in Windsor. Photograph: Jonathan Hordle/Rex/Shutterstock

An estimate 100 million children interacted with Lego last year, the company claimed, either through playing with it as toys, using it in schools or participating in community or charitable initiatives.

Lego recorded double-digit percentage sales growth in the US, its largest market, as well as in the UK, France, Brazil, China and Japan.

The company is controlled by Kirkbi, the holding company of the Kirk Kristiansen family, which founded Lego in 1932. Kirkbi owns 75% of Lego, while the Lego Foundation owns 25%.

Julia Goldin, the chief marketing officer, said: “I feel confident that by the end of 2016 even more children will have experienced Lego play.”