Subject:
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PRESS RELEASE- Lego says 1999 sales rise 25 pct
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lugnet.announce
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Followup-To:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 25 Feb 2000 17:24:29 GMT
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3011 times
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Howdy-
I know this information is three days old, but I did not see it posted or
mentioned anywhere on Lugnet. This first part of my message, is a Reuters new
article (summary) about the official Lego® press release which is also listed at
the end of this message. I also found a new year 2000 Lego® Company Profile
available at:
http://www.lego.com/info/pressspecific.asp?PressReleaseId=90&Year=2000
Happy Reading,
Chet
----------------------------------
Danish toymaker Lego says 1999 sales rise 25 pct
COPENHAGEN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Danish toymaker Lego's sales rose more than 25
percent in 1999 to ``just under'' 10 billion crowns ($1.35 billion), the company
said on Wednesday, stressing it intended to remain independent and family-owned.
``It was the highest rate of (turnover) growth we have achieved for many
years,'' Lego said in a statement. In 1998, group net sales totalled 7.68
billion crowns.
Profit before tax in 1999 was ``more than'' 500 million crowns, it said. In
1998, Lego posted a pre-tax loss of 282 million crowns, the first ever loss for
the family-owned group since its foundation in 1932.
The 1999 pre-tax profit was after almost 600 million crowns in restructuring
expenses, Lego said, adding net profit reached its target of 500 million crowns.
Lego, best known for its colourful interlocking plastic bricks which were
recently named as toy of the century in Britain, did not give exact earnings
figures.
``We are beginning to achieve a significantly broader marketing foundation and a
broader platform for our brand values,'' President, Chief Executive and main
owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen said in the statement.
``But there is still some way to go before we reach...our ambitious goal of
being the world's strongest brand among families with children by 2005,'' he
added.
In financial terms, Lego's objective was to at least double group turnover by
2005.
Kristiansen said Lego wanted to remain an independent family-owned organisation.
``To do so we must maintain profitable growth by always being cleverer than our
competitors when it comes to creating new business opportunities and trail-
blazing products,'' he said.
19:45 02-22-00
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OFFICIAL LEGO® PRESS RELEASE
http://www.lego.com/info/pressspecific.asp?PressReleaseId=86&Year=2000
We achieved our DKK 500 million!
The LEGO Company's total sales last year were more than 25 per cent higher than
in 1998. It was the highest rate of growth we have achieved for many years. As a
result, turnover was just under DKK 10 billion. On the bottom line, we achieved
the DKK 500 million that was our official goal.Our profit before tax will be
more than DKK 500 million even after all the expenses (DKK 600 million) in
connection with restructuring were paid, says Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, CEO and
President of LEGO Company.
That, in very short form, is the history of a year packed with events. A year
that began with insecurity and nervousness in the organisation but ended with
progress and belief in the future. A year that required an extraordinary effort
on the part of everyone in the company. A year everyone in the LEGO Company can
all feel rather proud of.
Kjeld concludes:It is true that we did not fully meet the internal objective we
set ourselves. But we must not be disappointed over a year in which, apart from
reorganising the entire company, we improved our primary result by more than 1.5
billion and increased our sales by 2 billion. We still have a long way to go
before our cultural transformation is complete, but the trend has been reversed
and the clouds are lifting.
There were, in particular, three factors at work.
First, 1999 was the year in which we really felt the effect of the investment
that has been made in recent years in product and business development. Thus,
sales of our Play Materials rose by 17% and turnover doubled in our new business
areas.
Secondly, we put into action the organisational and managerial concepts we have
been working with in recent years. The Fitness process was initiated and
implemented at record speed, resulting in a much simpler, more responsive and
above all more global business system. But we have yet to complete the Fitness
programme. We all still have much to learn in the area of thinking and acting
globally.
We can all get much better at sharing experience and knowledge across the
organisation. We can all be better at managing and defining priorities. And we
must all remember not to make things more complicated than they are. But we are
going in the right direction, with a focus on consumers as our goal.
Thirdly, the strategy we introduced in the early 1990s is now beginning to show
results. We are beginning to achieve a significantly broader marketing
foundation and a broader platform for our brand values. We have created new
business areas that, apart from being businesses in their own right, have
generated synergy across product groups and provided new interfaces with our
consumers. We have set our course but there is still some way to go before we
reach our goal of being the strongest brand among families with children by
2005.
Our values are now! I am sure that the three factors I listed on the front page
are the most significant in relation to the result we achieved in 1999. But
things don't stop here. With the foundations we laid in 1999, we can put all our
strength behind fulfilling our ambitious goal of being the world's strongest
brand among families with children by 2005.
And it's possible, says Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. The values we represent in the
areas of creativity, play, learning and development have never been as relevant
as they are now. There is a recognition in the world around us that these are
the values of the future - and the LEGO Company has every opportunity to help
set the agenda in this trend. We have done so before - and one of the results of
that was our being named just before Christmas as the best toy of the 20th
century.
In the past, I have used the image of the LEGO product going through a number of
generations. The first generation was represented by the early LEGO products of
the early 1950s. They focused on simple construction and the experience of
building.
The second generation of LEGO products started to come onto the market at the
beginning of the 1960s. They added movement - in the shape of wheels, motors and
cogwheels.
The third generation of LEGO products came in the late 1970s. They were based on
the mini figure, which gave us the chance to develop themes and to add role-play
to our products. This began the longest period of growth yet in the company's
history.
Now, at the start of the new millennium, we have what can be described as the
fourth generation of LEGO products. They are products that introduce
intelligence and behaviour into play. Products that build on the values I
mentioned above. Values for our time.
In other words, our values are more relevant now than ever before. It's up to us
to build higher on them.
A dream of the LEGO Company of the future And how will we do it? What does the
company look like that will ensure that we exploit all our many opportunities?
And what is it like to work in such a company?
Together with my colleagues in the Executive Team, I have been working on a
description of how we wish the LEGO Company to develop from now on. We have
called the result of that work our dream of LEGO in 2005. In basic terms, the
dream is about:
Our goal. Our goal is for the LEGO brand to be the strongest among families with
children by 2005. A brand linked to many other things as well as toys - namely,
the idea of developing people through lifelong learning. In addition, the LEGO
Company must as a minimum have twice the turnover we have today.
We will achieve this goal by focusing on the following three areas:
Our brand. We want our brand and our products to be judged the best on the
market when it comes to stimulating children's creativity and imagination. We
shall achieve this by thinking more of supplying brand experiences than of
selling products. LEGO must not only be a physical product. Our consumers must
also engage in a dialogue, both with us and with each other via the Internet.
There must be added value in the shape of clubs, parks, experience centres,
shops and the Internet. And there must be stories that build on the experiences
with the products.
Employees, management and culture. We want the LEGO Company to be a workplace
that is much more than just a job. It must be fun to come to work and we must
have an informal and direct environment, with colour and life in the corridors.
It must be clear that our interest is in children. We must be a global company
that is open to the surrounding world and one in which employees are encouraged
to achieve solutions rather than be limited by structure and rules. And it must
be a company in which management is a matter of motivating, encouraging
initiative, showing the way and daring to define priorities and frames.
It is also important for us to recognise that the company will be in constant
change from now on to meet the expectations of the world around us. It is
therefore important for us to learn to enjoy changes and improvements. Only in
this way will we remain in front of our competitors.
Profitable growth. We want the company to remain an independent, family-owned
organisation that concentrates on pursuing long-term strategies, with all the
benefits that confers. To do so, we must maintain profitable growth by always
being more clever than our competitors when it comes to creating new business
opportunities and trail-blazing new products. That requires us to exploit
synergy and opportunities across the company. And it requires us to develop a
lean and flexible business system that listens to and responds to consumers'
wishes and requirements.
We shall be spending quite an amount of time this year involving all employees
in a dialogue about how to meet the goal we have set ourselves with our dream of
the LEGO Company in 2005. And how, in concrete terms, we must work towards
achieving that dream.
But why don't we start the process straight away? In tune with our dream of a
more colourful company that understands how to celebrate its good results and
the excellent progress we are making, will all employees receive a special
greeting from me. There will be a party on Saturday 17th June. That's the day we
will be celebrating the new LEGO Company.
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen
© 2000 LEGO Company
TM and ® indicate trademarks of the LEGO Company
Updated February 23rd, 2000
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