Danish toy manufacturer Lego (Billund; www.lego.com) said a strong performance from several product lines, including “The Lego Movie”, helped it achieve a 16% rise in operating profits to DKK 9.7 bn (EUR 1.3 bn) last year. Revenues rose by 13% to DKK 28.6 bn, with double digit growth in the company’s largest market, the USA, as well as in the UK, France, Russia and China. In central and northern European markets, Lego reported single digit growth.

The company, which manufactures coloured plastic bricks, highlighted strong sales of its Creator and Technic product lines in 2014, plus a significant contribution from products launched in conjunction with the Lego Movie feature film.

John Goodwin, executive vice president and CFO, said Lego expects its revenues growth to continue to exceed that of the global toy market, which is forecast at low single digit levels. “We estimate that more than 85m children across the world had a Lego play experience during 2014,” he said. "This has only been possible through an ongoing focus on building our capabilities globally during 2014 from manufacturing to sales, as well as developing great products that appeal to children across cultures and geographies.” The company opened new offices in Shanghai and London last year, adding to its main offices in Billund, Singapore and Enfield / USA.

Global expansion projects in 2014 also included the opening of a new factory in Nyíregyháza / Hungary, expansion of packaging facilities in Monterrey / Mexico (see Plasteurope.com of 24.06.2014) and an equipment upgrade at the moulding factory in Billund. The company also built a new production hall at its factory in Kladno / Czech Republic – part of a larger expansion of the plant which is expected to be finalised in 2016.

Lego said construction work to build a new plant in Jiaxing / China to supply the Asian market is ongoing and operations are expected to commence in 2015 with the plant fully operational by 2017.