Category: Community (Page 173 of 179)

The LEGO Group Building Factory in China

March 18, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Today, The LEGO Group announced that will be building a LEGO factory in China starting in 2014. The factory will be located in Jiaxing which has a population of 5 million people. The reason why LEGO decided to open one there is because of a few reasons. First, the location is near their existing regional distribution center and the city already has the facilities and infrastructure needed to build the new factory. Another reason why Jiaxing was chosen to have a factory there is because LEGO believes the location is perfect for the LEGO employees working there and has the best match with LEGO’s core values.

The factory is planned to be fully operational by 2017 and will have about 2000 employees and the size of it will be around 120,000 square meters. The investment amount into the factory will be “a 3 digit million Euro figure.” All the products made in the factory will be supplying products for Asian market and about 70-80% of all LEGO products in the region.

The LEGO Group has been moving to be more environmental conscience recently and this move adds to that by reducing the need to transport products all the way from Europe to sell in Asia. Although there will be a new facility in China, Michael McNulty, Senior Vice President, Procurement, states that “the same technology, automation and standards for employee safety and product quality as our LEGO factories in Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico, and it will have a distinct LEGO look and feel.”

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LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles Exclusive Minifigure Revealed

March 15, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

USA Today has revealed the exclusive minifigure that will be included in the new LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles book by Daniel Lipkowitz. The minifigure included in the book will be a Special Forces Commander Clone Trooper. The book will retail for $18.99 and will be available this summer. For a limited time, Amazon is having a 43% discount on the book and you can pre-order it now for the price of $10.90. The Yoda Chronicles will be premiering on Cartoon Network on May 29th and there are also some short videos that have already started on starwars.lego.com.

LEGO Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles - Special Forces Commander Clone Trooper

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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The LEGO Group Becomes World’s Most Valuable Toy Manufacturer

March 13, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

According to Bloomberg, The LEGO Group has recently became the world’s most valuable toy manufacturer overtaking Mattel and has created three new billionaires in the process. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s three children has a combined “37% economic interest in the company valued at more than $5.3 billion.” The company itself, which is valued $14.6 billion, saw an increase in their sales in 2012 reaching 23.4 billion Danish kroner ($4.04 billion).

Gerrick Johnson from BMO Capital states that LEGO is “the world’s biggest toymaker in terms of net income, operating income and Ebitda” with a 71% growth margin. I’m no economist but a 71% growth margin sounds pretty good. Johnson values the company to be at about $15 billion but could be worth at much as $17 billion if he had used the variables that was used to value Mattel.

With the strong push from 2012 to 2013, it doesn’t seem that LEGO will be slowing down anytime soon especially with some new themes such as The Lone Ranger releasing next month and the Man of Steel sets in the summer. As a fan, you can expect us to help with LEGO’s sales by purchasing the sets when they come out and hopefully The LEGO Group can keep it’s title of the world’s most valuable toy manufacturer.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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LEGO Ends Two-Year Promotional Partnership with The Sun

March 6, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

In some major news across the pond, LEGO announced today they have ended their two-year promotional partnership with The Sun. This comes after a parent took his anti-Page 3 campaign to LEGOLAND and Wapping. However, LEGO denies that ending the partnership was not linked to the online petition but the partnership naturally ended on it’s own.

Fiona Wright, Lego’s vice president and general manager in the UK and Ireland, told one anti-Page 3 supporter: “The recent promotion in the Sun was part of a two-year agreement which started in 2011 as part of our marketing strategy. This is our final promotion with the Sun.”

The Guardian notes that:

The Sun said the partnership officially ended in November 2012, and that the recent “Lucky Dip” promotion used stock from the previous agreement.

There’s no word as of now on how LEGO will handle their polybag promotions.

**Via Brickset**

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

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Britain Now Has Their First Regional LEGO User Group

March 4, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Our friends, Richard Lawson at Bricktrader and Richard Hayes from Brick Fanatics, have been hard at work to create the first regional LEGO User Group in Britain and today, they’ve officially launched their site. The new LUG is based across the pond in Yorkshire, UK and are looking for more 18+ AFOLs to join in the fun. If you’re interested in joining or want to learn more about the LUG, check out their site at Brickshire.org.uk for more information. Below is their official press release:

Announcing the launch of Brickshire.org.uk; the home of Brickshire: The Yorkshire LEGO® User Group (known more informally as Brickshire). Brickshire is the first LEGO® User Group in the United Kingdom to be set up at a regional level.

Brickshire is a group aimed at Adult Fans of LEGO® (AFOLs) based in and around Yorkshire, who would like to meet like-minded people, display their LEGO® creations locally and get involved in events across the region. Application is open to anyone over the age of 18 who would like to meet and attend events in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Richard Lawson, Chairman of the Brickshire said “We want to provide a friendly forum for our members and offer them regular opportunities to meet and display LEGO® models locally, with as much support from The LEGO® Group as possible, which is something that hasn’t been available until now.”

Richard Hayes, Brickshire’s LEGO® Ambassador and Secretary added “It’s important that we build a
strong and direct relationship with The LEGO® Group, and that’s where I

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March LEGO Deals on Shop@Home

March 1, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

LEGO Star Wars Republic Frigate Shop@Home

March is already upon us and there are some nice deals that will be going on at LEGO brick and mortar stores as well as on Shop@Home

From now until March 15th, there will FREE shipping for all orders $75 or more.
During the whole month of March, you will get a FREE LEGO Star Wars Republic Frigate polybag (30242) with a $50 purchase of LEGO Star Wars orders.
From March 25 – April 8, there will be a Double VIP event.

Also, the LEGO Creator Expert Palace Cinema (10232) is now available for purchase for everybody.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

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LEGO Had Strong Continued Growth in 2012

February 21, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Today, The LEGO Group released their annual report for 2012 and it was another successful year for the toy company. With the launch of the 2013 Toy of the Year Friends theme combined with the continued successful themes such as City, Star Wars, and Ninjago, LEGO increased their revenue by a staggering 25% to GBP 2,549 million. This amount almost triples the sales from 5 years ago in 2007 and is the fifth year in a row that the LEGO Group had a revenue growth over 15%.

Key facts from the LEGO Group’s annual report for 2012, which was published today:

• The year’s operating profit increased to GBP 866 million against GBP 660 million in 2011, an increase of 40%.
• The operating margin increased to 34% from 30% in 2011.
• The year’s net profit increased to GBP 611 million against GBP 484 million in 2011.
• The revenue increased by 25% to GBP 2,549 million against GBP 2,181 million in 2011. In local currency (i.e. excluding the impact of foreign exchange changes) revenue increased 20% year over year.
• The net cash generated from operating activities was GBP 680 million against GBP 430 million in 2011.
• In 2012 the Group paid GBP 208 million in corporate income taxes.
The LEGO Group reporting currency is DKK. Conversion from DKK to GBP is based on an annual average currency rate (however conversion of net cash generated from operating activities is based on year-end currency rate) in 2012 and 2011 respectively.

Looking forward to 2013, … Continue