2012 LEGO Annual Report Released

[Toys N Bricks]

The 2012 LEGO Annual Report is now available at the official LEGO site. Some of the highlights are listed below:

In 2012 the LEGO Group increased its revenue by 25% to USD 4,040 million – nearly triple the sales of 2007. This represents the fifth consecutive year in which the LEGO Group delivered year over year revenue growth in excess of 15%.

Key facts from the LEGO Group’s annual report for 2012, which was published today:

• The year's operating profit increased to USD 1,373 million against USD 1,057 million in 2011, an increase of 40%.
• The operating margin increased to 34% from 30% in 2011.
• The year's net profit increased to USD 969 million against USD 776 million in 2011.
• The revenue increased by 25% to USD 4,040 million against USD 3,495 million in 2011. In local currency (i.e. excluding the impact of foreign exchange changes) revenue increased 20% year over year.
• The net cash generated from operating activities was USD 1,100 million against USD 666 million in 2011.
• In 2012 the Group paid USD 330 million in corporate income taxes.

In addition to the annual report, LEGO Friends also doubled revenue expectations since its launch in 2012! You can read more about it here.

(thanks to Jonathan and Dennis for the news)

Article Link: http://toysnbricks.com/2012-lego-annual ... -released/

[Brick & Blue]

LEGO Friends is cool, be better with minifigures, but whatever. Of course LEGO is making so much money, just look at what they charge for some of the City and STar Wars sets.

[marcusloignon]

Ya, you think maybe they could lower or maybe stabilize the prices a little with all that money? Looks to me like the price increases match their profit increases. And what LEGO wants (msrp) for some of the new sets is CRAZY!

Good thing many retailers are selling below msrp.

[FenrisAkashi]

Supply and demand. People can gripe about prices all they want (and do) but if people are still buying them there is no reason to lower prices.

[jmjm]

Thanks to this site I can wait until sets go on sale before buying them! I try to wait until something's gone on 20% off before I'll pick it up -- especially with the larger sets.

Still, I have to admire Lego for delivering quality products. It's good to know that people still respond to quality, even if it is a bit costlier.

[Brick & Blue]

Supply and demand. People can gripe about prices all they want (and do) but if people are still buying them there is no reason to lower prices.

My problem isn't with the prices, it's more the pricing system is very odd. Some sets have 110 pieces, two minifigures and cost $10, other sets have like 70 pieces and one minifigure and cost $13. Then there is the different is price / size from a $13 set to a $20 set, and the fact a $50 Super Hero set will have 5-6 minifigures and 480 pieces while a City set is $40 and has has half the pieces and minifigures.

I get that different pieces cost them more than others, but some of them just don't really make sense.

Either way one thing is king, and it's not quality because that has suffered HUGELY the last decade, it's the designs. In the early 2000s the designs were a horrid mess of huge useless pieces in 150, not needed, colors. The designs are back to basics mixed in with big pieces, which is OK, and I think that is helping the company a lot too.

[simplylemonade]

Glad to see LEGO doing well! I'd like to see more D2C sets please!

[marcusloignon]

Supply and demand. People can gripe about prices all they want (and do) but if people are still buying them there is no reason to lower prices.

Either way one thing is king, and it's not quality because that has suffered HUGELY the last decade, it's the designs.

I would agree on both parts. Quality has definitely dropped in the past decade, the same decade Lego pulled out of almost going bankrupt and is now making record profit. But the new designs rule and make we want to buy almost every set I can get my hands on, at a discount of course.

[marcusloignon]

Supply and demand. People can gripe about prices all they want (and do) but if people are still buying them there is no reason to lower prices.

I believe in the whole supply and demand thing, but I believe there is an artificial demand building from investors buying up sets to sell in the future. As far as I can tell the msrps are climbing faster than inflation also. I think we are starting to see Lego bubble. As a collector, builder and occasional seller, I can tell you the second hand market is saturated and values are not increasing as fast as they use to in the past.

[fleury]

In a discussion on a different forum, a few people said that they were grateful that TLG is not a publicly traded company. (Because it would then be focused too much on profit)

I wonder if this view is misplaced. With the numbers that we are seeing, it seems pretty clear that Lego believes that it is beneficial to make more money at the expense of the physical quality of the parts.


--
Marc.

[FenrisAkashi]

I believe in the whole supply and demand thing, but I believe there is an artificial demand building from investors buying up sets to sell in the future.

Too be fair the reason investing is a thing is because people are willing to pay above msrp for sets no longer produced.

As far as I can tell the msrps are climbing faster than inflation also. I think we are starting to see Lego bubble. As a collector, builder and occasional seller, I can tell you the second hand market is saturated and values are not increasing as fast as they use to in the past.

I would have ot disagree with msrp's rising faster than inflation. I can remember being a kid in the 80's early 90s and having to save 100 or so for a major set, that price point hasn't changed much but inflation definitely has. That is anecdotal evidence to be sure but there have been a number of articles examining price over time that back that up.

As to values I would agree with you to a point, as more people enter the secondary seller market prices will be driven down and the investor side will likely drop to a lower stabilization point assuming more buyers don't enter the market as well.
Even if you can only get msrp +10-20% for an older set in two years if you picked it up on any kind of sale your doing better than the market currently ;p

Just my 2bricks.

[vynsane]

Let's keep discussion of the price of LEGO in the already-established The Price of LEGO discussion. The bottom line here is that LEGO is a business, not a non-profit. So to rail against them for turning a profit is a bit silly. It's like complaining about Apple being profitable and not reducing the price of iPads. It's not going to happen.

[Marcus70]

I wonder how LOTR/Hobbit sales were? (since they were not in the top 4 product lines disclosed)

[lego the hutt]

I wonder how LOTR/Hobbit sales were? (since they were not in the top 4 product lines disclosed)

Probably not very well in comparison to the others considering the LotR line didn't even start until half way through the year.

[Brick & Blue]

I wonder how LOTR/Hobbit sales were? (since they were not in the top 4 product lines disclosed)

Probably not very well in comparison to the others considering the LotR line didn't even start until half way through the year.

Yeah, we will have to wait until next year to see, but I don't think it's been that great. The target range for that franchise is teenager and don't spend tons on Lego.