LEGO Has Strong Earnings For First Half Of 2024 - Plus Increasing Use Of Renewable And Recycled Plastic

The LEGO Group today released earnings for the first half of 2024. The company delivered double-digit growth on the top- and bottom-line and significantly outpaced the toy industry, gaining market share. Top-line growth was driven by strong demand for its large and diverse portfolio, especially in Americas and Europe, and excellent execution in all markets. At the same time, the LEGO Group continued to increase spending on strategic initiatives to drive short- and long-term growth.

Niels B Christiansen, CEO said: “Our portfolio continues to be relevant for all ages and interests, and this is driving significant demand across markets. We used our solid financial foundation to further increase spending on strategic initiatives which will support growth now and in the future to enable us to bring learning through play to even more children.”

In the first six months, the LEGO Group’s revenue increased by 13 percent to DKK 31.0 billion compared with DKK 27.4 billion in H1 2023. Consumer sales grew 14 percent, significantly outperforming the toy industry.

The LEGO Group also announced that they continue to increase the amount of resin purchased from sustainable sources certified under the mass balance principle. By doing this, the company aims to help accelerate the industry’s transition to more sustainable, high-quality materials. In H1, 30 percent of all resin purchased was certified mass balance, which translates to an estimated average of 22 percent material from renewable and recycled sources. This is a significant increase from 2023, when for the full year, 18 percent was certified mass balance which equated to 12 percent sustainable sources. Over the coming years, the company aims to purchase more than half of its raw materials from sustainable sources via the mass balance principle and, by doing so, reducing its use of virgin fossil materials.

The company increased focus on activity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These included launching a new Supplier Sustainability Programme which requires suppliers to set targets to reduce emissions by 2026, and further by 2028, and an annual carbon emissions reduction KPI linked to employee bonuses.

Additionally, the company expanded its LEGO brick takeback programme, LEGO Replay, to the UK and continued to pilot models in the USA and Europe.