LEGO in 2013: Profits and projects ...

LEGO has just published its results for 2013 in a financial report that will only interest accounting enthusiasts ...

Be careful, these figures and information are communicated by LEGO and there is always a bit of intoxication and tongue in cheek when a large group takes stock of their past performances and announces those to come. A poor performance becomes a slight decline, an increase of 10% becomes "a 2-digit progression", etc ...

What to remember from the published figures compared to 2012:

An 11% increase in turnover (3,4 billion euros) with a net margin up 9% (820 million euros).

The number of full-time employees increased by 13% in 2013, bringing the number of current employees of the brand to 11.755. The brand will strengthen its presence in Asia (Shanghai and Singapore).

Construction of the group's Chinese plant has started in Jiaxing and this production tool, which will supply the Asian market, will be operational in 2016.

For the rest, LEGO is obviously pleased with its success in 2013 on a global market that is however in slight decline: The toy market is in decline in North America and Japan, it is stagnating in Europe and continues to grow in China.

These trends obviously affect the performance of LEGO which announces an increase in sales of less than 10% in the USA, Great Britain, Central Europe and Northern Europe. The other markets including France, Spain, China and Russia have perform with double-digit progression.

On the side of the successful ranges, we obviously find the products LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, Duplo, Friends and obviously Legends of Chima, the latter theme being presented by LEGO as the best example of the desire to develop increasingly physical products. more supported by numerous digital content (video games, animated series, presence on YouTube where LEGO is in the top 3 brands, etc ...). LEGO is also pleased with the quality of its products: No product recall in 2013 ...

If you want to have fun with the numbers, the 2013 LEGO Group Annual Report can be found at this address...