Geobra Brandstätter Group (Zirndorf / Germany; www.playmobil.de) grew salesby 4.8% in 2012 to EUR 591m (2011: EUR 564m). Playmobil toys posted a new sales record of EUR 531m (505m), equivalent to an increase of 5.3%. In the previous year, there had been a small decline of 0.4%. With more than 61m Playmobil packs sold, the record of 55m packs from 2011 was also beaten. The Lechuza plastics plant pot division also contributed to the company's sales growth with an increase of 2.9% to EUR 46.9m (EUR 45.6m). As in the previous year, income from the Playmobil Funpark amounted to around EUR 13m.

At the annual press conference held at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg / Germany, managing director Andrea Schauer described turnover as very good: "In view of the difficult economic situation, we had set our sights on achieving growth of around 5%, which is precisely what we did." The company traditionally does not reveal any figures on the earnings situation, but when asked, she said management was “satisfied" with the results.

Growth plus new products provide the toy manufacturer with major challenges. The significant increase in sales volumes pushed the company's capacities to their limits. For this reason, plans have been drawn up to build a new logistic centre in Herrieden, not far from the largest Playmobil production centre in Zirndorf / Germany. The first construction phase with five modules has a planning volume of EUR 45m. Building will begin shortly and the facility is due to go on stream in 2014.

Another big investment is the EUR 30m set aside for injection moulding tools for new products, while EUR 12m has been earmarked for the modernisation and revamping of existing production facilities. With the acquisition of the Selb site of Appelt + Witt Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH (Saalburg-Ebersdorf / Germany; www.appelt-witt.de), effective 1 February 2013, Playmobil has also increased its production capacities by 50 injection moulding machines.

Overall, company owner Horst Brandstätter intends to make investments this year of a record EUR 100m. Schauer emphasised that the company wants to grow "organically and profitably" and also intends to tap new markets. "Over the next few years, we will continue to budget for an annual growth rate in the mid-single-digit range," she said.

In Germany, Playmobil increased its sales by 7% and thus grew more strongly than the German toy market as a whole, which, according to the Deutsche Verband der Spielwaren-Industrie e.V. (German Toy Industry Association, DVSI, Stuttgart; www.toy.de), added 3%. As a result, the company was able to raise its market share to 7.5%, having fallen from 7.9% in 2010 to 7.3% in 2011. In the manufacturers’ ranking, Playmobil puts itself at number three on the German market behind Lego (Billund / Denmark; www.lego.com) and Matell (El Segundo, California / USA; www.matell.com).

Foreign sales grew once again, this time by one percentage point to 70%. On the biggest export market, France, Playmobil defied the market trend by achieving 5% growth despite a decline in the overall toy market of 4%. The market share in France is thus 7.5%. Playmobil also recorded single-digit growth in Canada and the Benelux countries. In Spain of all countries, the company recorded double-digit growth despite the economic crisis. "We have also made considerable progress in the difficult markets of the UK and USA," said Schauer.

She then emphasised the fact that the good results were due above all to the high innovation rate. Last year, 41% of company’s sales came from new products developed in 2012, and only 10% from products older than 5 years. "In this respect, only Lego is better than us, with 46% of its sales coming from new products," added Schauer. For this year, 118 new toy ideas have already been announced, including topics such as camping, a mountain theme and fairyland. The company is also pinning its hopes on a shopping centre and an Asia dragon theme.