Mixed results for the LEGO group during the first half of 2018

After a year 2017 which ended with a 5% drop in turnover immediately followed by a wave of layoffs, LEGO today publishes its interim financial results for the first half of 2018 and highlights an overall increase in sales of 1 % for the period concerned.

The manufacturer also announces a stabilization of its turnover, zero growth and a 4% increase in operating income over the period. These statistics are calculated on the basis of a constant exchange rate of the US dollar between 2017 and 2018.

I am not a financial analyst, but it seems to me that if the comparison of two results at a constant exchange rate effectively makes it possible to reliably measure the evolution of a company's performance, the evolution of the exchange rate of a currency also has a significant impact and puts the performance of the company in a more realistic financial context.

By citing the exchange rate differential with a dollar which weakened significantly in 2018, the figures are significantly different and LEGO announces then to record a 5% drop in its turnover, a 4% drop in its turnover. operating profit and a 10% drop in net profit compared to the same period in 2017.

In detail, the performances recorded by the LEGO group vary according to the markets concerned. The manufacturer announces an increase of less than 10% in Western Europe, a slight decrease in North America partially justified by the evolution of the distribution sector in this zone (the bankruptcy of the Toys R Us brand is mentioned) and double-digit growth in China, where optimism dominates with the planned opening of two new official stores in China, in Shanghai in September 2018 and in Beijing in early 2019.

I pass you the positive speech on the stabilization of the results recorded during this first semester thanks to the launch of new innovative products, etc ... you can find the entire press release published by LEGO at this address.

We must now wait for the full annual results including the volumes achieved at the end of the year to know whether LEGO was able to halt the sharp decline observed in 2017 which then led to the dismissal of nearly 8% of the group's workforce.