Lego builds profit thanks to some help from 'the force'

Lego is having a renaissance after several difficult years. Photo / Supplied

Sales in Britain shot up by 57 per cent over the vital Christmas period. The force is with Lego, the Danish toymaker whose profits soared by a galactic 63 per cent last year thanks to a boost from Darth Vader and friends.

The booming popularity of movie-themed box sets including Star Wars, Harry Potter and Indiana Jones pushed Lego's profits up to £563 million ($1.2 billion), on revenues up by 32 per cent to £1.8 billion, the company said yesterday.

Sales in Britain alone shot up by 48 per cent over the year as a whole, and by 57 per cent over the vital Christmas period. The company now commands roughly 5.9 per cent of the global toy market, catapulting it to fourth place in the world league, Lego said.

"The result is extremely satisfactory and is due in part to vigorous growth in markets such as the US, Britain, Russia and Eastern Europe," said chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstorp.

Lego is having a renaissance after several difficult years in which it was pushed into the shadows by the brash charms of computer games. While the toy market as a whole suffered from falling consumer confidence and restricted household spending in 2010, for Lego it was a year of expansion. The company opened a new warehouse in Czech Republic, it is in the process of building a new factory in Mexico, and it has hired more than 1000 extra people worldwide.

Lego estimates that as much as 10 per cent of its products are sold to adults, and adult Lego fan conventions are springing up all over the world.

Lego makes around 30 billion pieces every year, most of which are the classic multi-coloured bricks for which the company is famous.

The biggest commercially available set is a 5922-piece Taj Mahal, which is approximately half a metre wide and nearly as tall once it is completed.

However, enterprising fans have built all manner of creations, including a record-breaking 31m tower at Legoland Gunzburg in Germany last August.

- INDEPENDENT