Lego builds 25% sales increase as it cheers '˜exceptional growth'

Lego secured its place as the world's best-selling toy firm after the latest Star Wars film and Disney's Frozen helped send sales leaping 25 per cent higher in 2015.

Lego: 'Exceptional growth'. Picture: AP

The Danish company cheered its “exceptional growth” and a tenth year running of surging revenues, with sales of 35.8 billion krone (£3.7bn), helping pre-tax profits rise 28 per cent to 12.1bn krone.

Last year’s release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens spurred demand for the popular plastic bricks, with sales of the Millennium Falcon the second best-seller, beaten only by Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle as Disney’s Frozen remains a firm favourite.

Its traditional lines also sold well, in particular Lego City, Lego Friends and Duplo.

The group’s results helped privately-owned Lego extend its lead over Barbie doll-maker Mattel, which it overtook in 2014 to become the world’s biggest toy firm. It said 72 billion Lego pieces were sold last year.

The jump in profits and sales came on the back of a very strong performance in 2014, helped by the successful Lego Movie.

The group said the UK was among a raft of markets that enjoyed double-digit sales growth last year, as well as the US, France, Italy and China. But Russia saw a fall in sales due to the “difficult currency conditions” in the country.

John Goodwin, chief financial officer at Lego, said: “We have achieved significant growth in sales every year for a decade now and it is highly satisfactory that we can deliver yet another year of double-digit sales growth.”