Subject:
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Toymaker Lego Reports First Loss
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 12 May 1999 12:22:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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622 times
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from http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559506722-ab1
Toymaker Lego Reports First Loss
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) _ Danish toymaker Lego lost 194 million
kroner, or $27.7 million, in 1998 for its first annual loss since the
company was founded in the 1930s. The loss, which had been expected,
was attributed to increasing competition from electronic toys which cut
deeply into sales of the company's famed interlocking plastic building
blocks.
Lego chief executive Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen also blamed last year's
turmoil on the Russian and Asian markets for the poor results. Russia
had been seen as a growing market by the maker of the multicolored
blocks. The privately held company earned 470 million kroner in 1997.
Sales rose 0.8 percent to 7.7 billion kroner, or $1.1 billion.
The U.S. market had become Lego's largest single market, representing
nearly one-third of the Lego group's total sales. In Japan, sales had
increased with 30 percent.
Earlier this year, Lego announced it would slash its workforce by up to
10 percent or 1,000 jobs worldwide. The new company structure would be
ready before the summer and is expected to take effect in the second
half of 1999, Lego said.
On March 20, Lego opened its third amusement park in Carlsbad, Calif.
Headquartered in Billund, western Denmark, Lego also makes clothes,
watches and educational products.
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