Lego has been through an impressive half year of 2008, with improved sales and earnings.

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Lego 2008 half year results

So I guess there is no danger that Lego will stop producing bricks

It's a impressive result considering high raw material prices and the weak dollar.

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No surprise considering how much quality is present in almost every LEGO® set released this year.

Thanks for posting this.

It's good to know that LEGO has done better than expected given the current nature of the marketplace. I for one have been worried that the increase in oil costs might have had an adverse effect on LEGO's profits. Sometimes it's nice to have a bad hunch. I'm also glad to see that Indy has done well (big fan of the franchise). Maybe that means we'll see a Sallah Brody or Shortround figure in the future.

This is great news, if TLC continues to steadily improve like it is they are going to be more willing to stick their neck out and start producing products for niche markets, things we wouldn't see otherwise.

I'm very excited about my future as an AFOL.

Excellent! Thanks for pointing this out. I liked that City and Star Wars were specifically called out as the best-selling themes.

This quote in particular caught my eye:

The result demonstrates once again the great strength of our classic product lines and the importance of combining these with new strong licences.

I think this means that TLC finally gets it. They've settled on a solid formula mixing original themes and licensed themes. The licenses need to be chosen wisely (Indy = good; Speed Racer = oops), and can be wildly successful. But, the licenses can't come at the expense of the in-house, original stuff, like City, Castle, and Space.

Hopefully we can look back at those dark days of the late '90's and early '00's as an aberration. <insert that tiresome argument> town sets, Time Twisters, etc. are buried and forgotten.

Thanks for the posting the link!

Good news indeed. I was especially happy with the remark concerning "classic lines like City doing especially well...". I hope Castle did their share of toting the barge...

I am also happy about the good sales but especially that Indy did well! They put so much effort in this line (vehicles so beautiful, minifigs simply perfect, artworks really nice) and I was afraid sales didn't went that good (but I'm in europe, so it was my limited view). So I hope that rumors about 2 new sets in january were just rumors and we get more than that?! Oh and give us some nice new minifigs, TLC!

I really feel good for the TLC and if lines such as city and star wars sell well this just means we can expect more in coming years and I am glad indy can beat the market and the nazis plan of get the ark as well .

Double digit growth in a stagnant market is nothing short of outstanding. Seriously amazing.

The second half of year line-up is as good if not better than the first half, so we'll see if declining consumer spending hits TLC in the next 6 months.

Legomilk hinted that we have yet to see impact of rising oil prices on production until 2009, so that will be the year to watch.

Very impressive if Lego are doing well in the current climate; whatever about how bad things really are economically, there's no doubt consumers are tightening their belts and are rather gloomy (although here in Ireland, the weather is not helping, nor at the start of the summer the change in leader outside of election and the messy and acrimonious Lisbon treaty vote with a very depressing result for half of us).

From observation, Lego Indiana Jones seems indeed to be very popular. Lego Agents is also flying off the shelves in shops around my area. I think Lego have done very well in product line-up in the last year or so. The City line has been very strong too. I wonder if Lego have profited much from their offerings to AFOLs and Lego fanatic? There seem certainly to be more masterpiece/big sets out than ever.

Edited August 12, 200816 yr by brickzone

I wonder if Lego have profited much from their offerings to AFOLs and Lego fanatic? There seem certainly to be more masterpiece/big sets out than ever.

"The LEGO Group’s sales direct to the consumer through its own branded stores, mail order and the Internet also developed in a positive direction."

Make of that what you will, since most large sets are S@H exclusive. Not exactly glowing words, but OK.

i'm happy for the lego sales, it's good news, i hope they continue to strive.

Excellent results, it goes to show that if you build it (excellent sets) people will come! I think the results also bear out a lot of discussions we’ve had when you decided to buy a licence it has to be one that everyone’s heard of and is considered a classic.

While I’m not sure I believe that Lego use Brent North Sea oil as it’s better for plastic polymers and it’s consistently at a lower price than West Texas which is the price the market seems to focus on, so while the price has gone up, it’s not a high as it could be. I could of course be totally wrong about this if someone knows please correct me.

‘The increase in sales was recorded especially on the North American and Northern European markets’ - Assuming the UK is counted as Northern Europe I’m proud to have helped though I don’t think my bank manager is!

The Prices in the second catalog in Belgium have already risen a notch compared to the first two quarters of the year.

Examples:

Star Destroyer 124,99-> 139,99

NXT 299,99-> 324,99

Small boxes from the city lines have all risen with one euro or something

Nothing special, everyone knew Indy, City and Star Wars would blast every single other theme.

But glad we're getting good results.

The Prices in the second catalog in Belgium have already risen a notch compared to the first two quarters of the year.

Examples:

Star Destroyer 124,99-> 139,99

NXT 299,99-> 324,99

Small boxes from the city lines have all risen with one euro or something

Yup, noticed that too. On some sets, Belgian official prices are even higher than German ones, usually regarded as the high end of the range in Europe ...

( see Indy 7622 : Race For Stollen Treasure. 30 USD [=20 EUR] in the US, 35 EUR in Germany, 40 EUR in Belgium !! )

That's what you get when you are a good-performing market for Lego

But, hey, we all know ho to order in the US and that will be my answer ! :skull:

This news even made it to our national newspaper today - which makes it a big deal. I'm very pleased to hear that the company is doing better than expected, as it can only mean good things to all fans of LEGO.

lego has finnaly made the golden years come true

keep it up lego!!

lego has finnaly made the golden years come true

keep it up lego!!

Hehe, is that why we get golden bricks in 2008

I wonder if this means that global prices will remain the same for LEGO. Still, this is very good news and congratulations to TLC. Bring on 50 more great years of LEGO.