BILLUND - Lego, the world's second-largest toy maker, said on Wednesday annual revenue rose by 13%, boosted by its blockbuster movie and toys from its Star Wars and Friends ranges.
Chief executive Joergen Vig Knudstorp danced on stage and sang the theme song from last year's "The Lego Movie", called "Everything is Awesome" as he announced the rise in turnover to $4.35 billion.
"It is another record breaking year, the best year ever for the Lego group," he told a press conference in the central Danish town of Billund, where the privately held company is headquartered.
"So just like at the Oscars or just like in the movie theatres this last year we are also dancing and singing, saying: 'Everything is awesome'," he said, breaking out into song.
The result narrows the gap to American rival and Barbie maker Mattel, which posted a 7% drop in annual revenue to $6.0 billion.
I can say that based on our calculations, we believe we're the second largest toy manufacturer. But I want to stress that this is not a means by which we measure our success." John Goodwin, CFO
"There has been some speculation in the media around Lego being the largest toy manufacturer (in the world) as a consequence of our results in 2014," chief financial officer John Goodwin said.
"I can say that based on our calculations, we believe we're the second largest toy manufacturer. But I want to stress that this is not a means by which we measure our success."
Net profit rose 15% to seven billion kroner even as other toy manufacturers are battered by tough competition from tablets and mobile phones.
Knudstorp has overseen a remarkable recovery at the group, which nearly went bankrupt just over a decade ago as it diversified into other businesses such as children's fashion and video games.
After taking the helm in 2004 he outsourced all non-core activities, such as the Legoland theme parks which were spun off and sold to US-based Merlin Entertainments, and focused on bringing Lego to the rapidly expanding Asian market.
"Our growth in China has been in the very high double-digit range for many years now and it continues to be so -- around 50% -- and we're seeing that the Lego business is likely set to continue to grow very strongly in the years ahead," he told AFP.
A new range bringing the colored Lego bricks into the digital world was doing well, he added.
"We have now this year test launched a product we call Lego Fusion -- which was met with great success -- that allowed children to scan Lego bricks into a computer game," he said.
The top three best-selling Lego sets were a police station from the classic City range, a collection of robots containing software users can program, and a shopping mall from the girl-focused Friends range.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015
