COPENHAGEN, March 8 — The world’s largest toymaker, Denmark’s Lego, today reported record sales and profits in 2021 as demand for its signature plastic bricks soared during the pandemic.

The group registered a 34-per cent increase in net profit to 13.3 billion kroner (RM8 billion), its biggest to date.

Sales meanwhile jumped by 27 per cent 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. — AFP