Lego struggles with tough retail markets in Europe and North America
Copenhagen — Lego’s sales fell last year for the first time since 2004 as the Danish toy maker struggled with tough retail markets in Europe and North America, highlighting the challenges facing the new chief executive.The privately owned company, famous for its colourful plastic bricks, could be facing its biggest test since flirting with bankruptcy in the early 2000s after a sudden halt to more than a decade of strong growth.Sales fell 8% to 35-billion Danish krone ($5.8bn) in 2017, compared with a 6% increase in 2016 and a far cry from the 25% growth achieved in 2015.The company said overall consumer sales were flat, but the figures were affected by a clean-up of inventories that were set high at the beginning of the year in anticipation of growth.Lego saw "strong double-digit" growth in China, while most established markets in North America and Europe declined. The company will open an office in Dubai this year to help boost sales in the Middle East and Africa.Lego said in Septe...
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