Lego paste the 'spurt' in the worst year of the crisis

The owners of the Danish toymaker Lego are "very satisfied" results of the company in 2009. No wonder. In the worst year of the crisis, its net profit rose 63% over the previous year.

'Leg godt', "play well" in Danish, scored 295 million euros (2.2 billion crowns) of profits last year. The key, according to the company, the success of his toys on cities and 'Star Wars'.
Rival giants like Mattel and Hasbro, "Lego Group in 2009 increased its global market share to 4.8%," the company said in its annual report, but did not disclose its share of the cake last year.

The colorful plastic dolls swept Europe, Asia and in anglophone, although, interestingly, were not as successful in Japan or in the UK, according to Danish firm.

In this helped the firm's bid for the games. He tried this market segment last year with several releases in Germany and the UK exceeded their expectations, and hopes to export to North America and the rest of Europe this year.

"Overall, the global toy market stagnated in 2009. (But) the LEGO Group achieved strong growth in most markets," says the company. "We expect sales to increase in 2010," he adds.