Lego building after recovery from brink of bankruptcy

Lego CFO John Goodwin says the company's turnaround has been driven by listening to customers. Photo / Dean Purcell

Global toy brand Lego has come a long way since 2003 when the company was on the brink of bankruptcy and visiting chief financial officer John Goodwin says he is confident it will continue to grow.

Goodwin, in Auckland for the CFO Summit this week, said although it was difficult to pin down one or two factors that had resulted in the company's earlier troubles, its biggest failure was in losing focus of what its customers wanted.

"In the end, we used that consumer voice more loudly than the company's to steer innovation to ensure that ultimately when products hit the marketplace they were going to be relevant," he said. "We lost our way a bit in the mid 2000s and as a consequence of that we got into a lot of financial difficulties, so putting the consumer at the centre of that has really been a big part of our turnaround."

In the decade or so since then, the company has grown rapidly, quadrupling in size after selling off a number of its assets.

Despite being privately owned by the company's founder - the Kirk Kristiansen family, which still owns 75 per cent of the company - Lego produces a public annual report. Its 2014 report showed revenue had increased by 13 per cent to $5.66 billion - its 10th year of consecutive growth.

Goodwin said part of the turnaround had been boosted by partnerships with movie franchises and intellectual property from companies which led to successful product lines such as Star Wars and Harry Potter.

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"We have a constantly changing consumer base, where children get old and move out of the franchise. So we have to stay relevant to the new children that are coming in and stay topical and utilise the technologies that they are embracing," he said.

Goodwin said one of the greatest challenges facing the 83-year-old company was dealing with its rapid growth.

Last year saw staff numbers rise by 8 per cent to 14,000 globally.