The business situation for The LEGO Group has been rather touch and go over the past year or so, despite the sheer volume of new building sets and related products that are always being released. Recently they have, in the span of mere days, announced both their intention to change over and pursue sustainable material by 2030 and a report of recovering profits and stable revenue for half of 2018.
It was after the release of that report on LEGO’s financial results for H1-2018 that CEO Niels B. Christiansen reiterated the company’s goal of transitioning from traditional plastic to plant-based alternatives on all product bricks and pieces. He also noted that he is aware of how this ongoing development could bite into their profit margins.
“I’m not even sure that we currently yet can live up to the quality that we want,” Christiansen noted. “But it’s an agenda that we want to drive and an agenda that our owner is behind. We want to become a leader on this.” He speaks of course of LEGO’s owners, the Kirk Kristiansen family, from which the directive to move on to sustainable materials for brick production came from.
Already LEGO manufacturing has gone with bio-plastics for all plant pieces on new and upcoming sets, including the special Plants from Plants (40320) package; only time will tell when they would completely pursue sustainable material use and to begin transitioning the rest of their bricks and elements in the process.
LEGO sales in the US have been heavily affected by the closure there of once-titanic retailer Toys R Us. Only improving figures from European markets ensured that the first half of this year resulted in an even keel for revenues.