Toy company Lego reports net profit of 748 mln$

Danish toy company Lego on Thursday said its full-year net profit for 2011 rose to 4.16 billion kroner (748 million dollars) and that its share of the global market grew by 1.2 percentage points, dpa reported. The annual net profit compared to 3.7 billion kroner for 2010. Sales increased 17 per cent year-on-year to 18.7 billion kroner, the family-owned group said. "Growth in the North American market continued undiminished, and also in most European and Asian markets we were able to report double digit increases in sales," chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstorp said. The group estimated it had a 7.1 per cent share of the global toy market at the end of 2011, compared to 5.9 per cent in 2010. Mainstays in its product line-up remain the classic plastic building blocks as well as products and tie-ins with Hollywood movies, Lego said. Sales of the online game Lego Universe launched at the end of 2010 were "below expectations" and development was halted in November 2011, the group said. For 2012, Lego said it expected its European market to be flat or decline, blaming the economic crisis, while growth was also likely to be modest in other parts of the world. In 2011 ,the group added some 1,000 employees to its workforce to meet growing demand and had some 9,400 full-time employees. Production is based in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Mexico.