Lego sales blast off

Lego announced Wednesday its half-year revenues totaled 14.1 billion Danish kroner (1.9 billion euros, $2.1 billion), up from 11.5 billion kroner in the first half of last year and marking an 18-percent rise, if measured in local currency.

"The weakness of the Danish krone and the euro versus most major currencies around the globe has had a significant impact on our results, with our sales figures increasing an additional 5 percent purely due to currency movements," Chief Financial Officer John Goodwin said in a statement.

The company also reported a 27-percent increase in operating profit for the first six months of the year. Bottom-line earnings surged to 3.5 billion kroner from 2.7 billion kroner in the same period a year earlier.

The strong results were released on the same day Andreas Mogensen became the first Dane to enter space as he blasted off towards the International Space Station from Kazakhstan in a Russian Soyuz rocket. The European Space Agency astronaut was accompanied by 26 custom-made Lego models provided especially for the mission by their manufacturer.

Asia in focus

Strong global results were once again achieved with lines ranging from LEGO City and Technic to LEGO Star Wars and Creator, the company said.

"We had more than 300 different sets on the market," Chief Marketing Officer Julia Goldin said. "This enables us to bring engaging products and stories into the hands of children across different ages.

Lego recorded the highest growth rates in Asia and pointed to large-scale investments it was making there to support the firm's globalization drive.

Later this year, the company is to start packing activities in a brand-new factory in China. "It's going to supply our expanding Asian market and will create production capacity to reach even more people in the region," Chief Operations Officer Bali Padda said.

hg/sgb (AP, dpa)