After a year of bumper revenues, Lego has given its 20,000 employees three extra days of holiday and a special bonus.
Demand for Lego's signature plastic bricks has gone up with the expansion in China due to the succession of pandemic-forced lockdowns.
The Danish company said in a statement that the owner family wishes to thank all colleagues with an extra three days off at the end of 2021.
The family group, which is not listed on any stock exchange, reported a net profit of more than 6.3 billion Danish kronor $954 m for the first half of 2021, an increase of 140% on the same period in 2020. Revenues went up 46% to 23 bn kronor in the same period.
It had been an extraordinary year for the Lego Group and our colleagues, and the statement said that an unspecified special bonus would be paid to staff in April 2022.
With families stuck at home for long periods, Lego said that all its market groups delivered double-digit consumer sales growth with products that appealed to builders of all ages and interests. Top performing themes included Lego City, Lego Star Wars and Lego Harry Potter, while ambitious builders can tackle a 9,090-piece model of the doomed ship RMS Titanic, which retails for $629.99.
The group opened more than 60 new branded stores in the first half of 2021, and more than 40 of them were in China. The total number of Lego retail stores was 737 as of June 30, with 291 of those in China.
Lego, a contraction of the Danish for play well Leg godt was founded in 1932 by Kirk Kristiansen whose family still controls the group, which employs about 20,400 people in 40 countries.