Lego again recorded significant growth in profit for the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced families to stay at home.
Lego said on March 8 its net profit increased by 34% in 2021, coming in at 13.5 billion kroner (US$2 billion), up from 9.9 billion kroner in 2020.
Consumer sales were up 22% and revenue grew 27% to 55.3 billion kroner ($8.1 billion).
Lego’s net profit and revenue had already increased by 19% and 13% in 2020 compared to 2019. Growth was more modest at levels around 3–4% in 2019 and 2018. In five years, Lego’s net profit in 2021 grew by 70% compared to 2017.
C.E.O. Niels B. Christiansen said he was “grateful for everything that the Lego group was able to achieve in 2021”. All 130 markets delivered double-digit growth.
Lego has acknowledged that the past couple of years have been unique for the toy company. While it faced issues with production and retailing amid the pandemic, it saw an increased demand for its products from families forced to stay at home.
Moreover, it “outpaced the toy industry” market growth globally according to the report.
Looking ahead, Lego said that it expects 2022 to see growth rates “normalize to long-term sustainable single-digit growth,” driven by “a continuous focus on product innovation and growth in established and newer markets”.
Lego has five production sites in Mexico, China, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Denmark, which “offered the flexibility to respond to local demand” while the world’s supply was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lego will further expand in Asia with a factory in Vietnam with construction expected to start in 2022 and production in 2024.
Last week, Lego announced that it was pausing shipments of products to Russia, “given the extensive disruption to the operating environment”.
