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LEGO

Danish toy icon Lego builds record profit through Covid pandemic

The world's largest toymaker, Denmark's Lego, on Tuesday reported record sales and profits in 2021 as demand for its signature plastic bricks soared during the pandemic.

Published: 8 March 2022 13:50 CET
A file photo of Lego blocks
A file photo of Lego blocks. The Danish toy company posted record profits after demand surged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The group registered a 34-percent increase in net profit to 13.3 billion kroner (1.78 billion euros), its biggest to date.

Sales meanwhile jumped by 27 percent to 55.3 billion kroner, boosted by the success of its franchise deals in recent years, including Star Wars and Harry Potter, as well as its strong expansion in China.

Online shopping helped sales grow worldwide despite the pandemic. Lego also opened 165 new stores in 2021, including 90 in China, where it plans to expand further.

For 2022, the group said it expected its growth to “normalise”, and be in the single digits.

Its strong performance in recent years has helped Lego become the world’s biggest toymaker, according to analysts.

The Danish group now has 832 stores and five factories worldwide.

Last year, it announced the opening of an additional site in Vietnam, near Ho Chi Minh City.

The site, designed to support long-term growth in the Asia-Pacific region, is to be Lego’s first carbon-neutral factory as the group aims to reduce its emissions.

Lego, a contraction of the Danish for “play well” (leg godt), was founded in 1932 by Kirk Kristiansen, whose family still controls the group which employs about 20,400 people in 40 countries.

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BUSINESS

Danish meat producer to close major factory and scrap 1,200 jobs

Denmark’s biggest company in one of its largest industries, meat producer Danish Crown has announced the closure of its factory in Zealand town Ringsted, meaning 1,200 jobs will be lost.

Published: 18 April 2024 13:18 CEST
Danish meat producer to close major factory and scrap 1,200 jobs

The company announced the closure of its Ringsted factory in a statement on Monday in which it also said workers whose roles will be scrapped will be offered training or positions at Danish Crown sites elsewhere in the country.

The closure of the Ringsted factory, scheduled for September, will mean that 1,200 jobs at that plant will cease to exist. Restructuring by the company will give 300 new jobs at Danish Crown factories in Jutland towns Horsens, Herning, Vejen and Sønderborg.

Danish Crown CEO Jais Valeur told newswire Ritzau that the company had taken a “heavy decision” to close the Ringsted factory.

“We have attempted to get ahead of the curve by taking a drastic step and not just adapting capacity to what we are seeing here and now but looking forwards and seeing that what is needed purely in terms of overheads is to close Ringsted,” he said.

The decision means the company will be able to avoid similar “adaptations” in future, he said.

The company said that the decision is a consequence of the decline in the number of pigs slaughtered in the last two years, reducing the efficiency of its existing facilities in Denmark.

Future business models will increase focus on export of products such as bacon and pepperoni within Europe, Valeur said.

Pork production in Denmark fell by 17 percent between 2021 and 2023, according to Danish Crown’s accounts.

This decrease has meant that slaughtering capacity at the company has been too large.

“There is greatly increased competition from China and the USA, so we are now focusing much more on the European market where we can see that there is demand for Danish bacon and pepperoni,” Valeur said.

The company said it expects to have enough jobs for employees who are willing to relocate to one of the group’s four Jutland plants.

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