Lego outperforms declining toy market with sales growth

Danish toy giant Lego outperformed competitors in 2023 as it managed to grow sales by 2% in the worst year for toymakers in more than 15 years.

The 92-year-old private company, still 75% owned by its founding family, reported total sales of DKK65.9bn (£7.55bn), up from DKK64.6bn in 2022, which it put down to a resilient supply chain, strong retailer partnerships and expansion of sales channelges.

The company delivered in what it described as a "difficult external operating environment" with the global toy market shrinking by 7%.

Nevertheless, the company was able to grow consumer sales by 4% and said "significantly increased" market share.

Operating profit fell 5% year-on-year to DKK17.1bn, held back by currency movements and a drop in the operating margin to 26% from 27.7% due to increased spending on strategic initiatives.

“We are pleased with our performance given that 2023 was the most negative toy market in more than 15 years," said chief executive Niels B. Christiansen.

"We continued to grow on top of three years of extraordinary growth and saw strong momentum in the final quarter of 2023. We significantly outpaced the market, growing share and proving the appeal of our strong, diverse portfolio and the LEGO® System in Play.”