Lego, the Danish children's toy manufacturer, looks set to announce its third-ever loss this year after its chief operating officer said Star Wars and Harry Potter products had a disappointing 12 months.
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Poul Plougmann told the Danish newspaper Boersen the trend this year had been "unexpectedly bad, nearly catastrophic", although full Christmas sales figures were not yet known and could push the company into a recovery. The company, which based its empire on plastic building bricks, had worked hard since it made a $180m loss in 2000 to turn round the business, and achieved successful sales of Harry Potter and Star Wars products last year. The Hogwarts Castle, a top-of-the-range item in the Harry Potter series, sold almost a million items.
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However, the company's difficulties suggest that these innovations may not be enough in the long term to make up for the growing number of children who prefer playing computer games to building towers with plastic bricks. The company has said that children also grow up faster than they used to, meaning that Lego bricks are discarded more quickly. The board has already sent a negative signal this year by announcing the loss of 257 jobs at the headquarters at Billund, in the west of Denmark, in October. It has not ruled out further such measures in 2004.
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It is more than 50 years since the first plastic Lego bricks, sparklingly dubbed a Lego Automatic Binding Brick, were produced by the company. The business, founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934, previously made stepladders and stools, with wooden toys as a sideline. It took on the name Lego from the Danish "Leg Godt", which means Play Well.
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Lego has since become the world's fifth-largest toymaker, and runs Legoland theme parks including one at Windsor, Berkshire that recently built a miniature David Blaine suspended next to Tower Bridge out of the plastic bricks. The company also produces Duplo, for younger children.
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Lego launched a slogan "Play On", last January, which it says "emphasises that at the heart of the Lego brand is an idea, not a product."
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Read the full story here
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Poul Plougmann told the Danish newspaper Boersen the trend this year had been "unexpectedly bad, nearly catastrophic", although full Christmas sales figures were not yet known and could push the company into a recovery. The company, which based its empire on plastic building bricks, had worked hard since it made a $180m loss in 2000 to turn round the business, and achieved successful sales of Harry Potter and Star Wars products last year. The Hogwarts Castle, a top-of-the-range item in the Harry Potter series, sold almost a million items.
«
However, the company's difficulties suggest that these innovations may not be enough in the long term to make up for the growing number of children who prefer playing computer games to building towers with plastic bricks. The company has said that children also grow up faster than they used to, meaning that Lego bricks are discarded more quickly. The board has already sent a negative signal this year by announcing the loss of 257 jobs at the headquarters at Billund, in the west of Denmark, in October. It has not ruled out further such measures in 2004.
«
It is more than 50 years since the first plastic Lego bricks, sparklingly dubbed a Lego Automatic Binding Brick, were produced by the company. The business, founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934, previously made stepladders and stools, with wooden toys as a sideline. It took on the name Lego from the Danish "Leg Godt", which means Play Well.
«
Lego has since become the world's fifth-largest toymaker, and runs Legoland theme parks including one at Windsor, Berkshire that recently built a miniature David Blaine suspended next to Tower Bridge out of the plastic bricks. The company also produces Duplo, for younger children.
«
Lego launched a slogan "Play On", last January, which it says "emphasises that at the heart of the Lego brand is an idea, not a product."
«
Read the full story here
