LEGO is on track to open 74 new stores this year, and its sales are up 14% during the pandemic. Its CEO said 'more adults than ever' are building LEGO sets.

• LEGO remains on track to meet its target of opening 120 new stores this year, the toymaker said. It has already opened 46, it said in its interim financial results.
• While other retailers have struggled, LEGO's consumer sales in the first half of 2020 were 14% higher than last year, and operating profits had grown 11%.
• The majority of the planned openings are in China.

LEGO has seen sales and profits jump in 2020 and is on track to open 74 new stores this year, in contrast to the struggles of many retailers during the pandemic.

The Danish toymaker opened 46 retail stores between January and June, it said in its interim financial results, and expects to hit its target of 120 new outlets in 2020, with 80 in China.

Consumer sales from January to June were 14% higher than in the same period in 2019, and operating profits had grown 11%.

Worldwide retail sales are expected to fall by nearly 6% in the pandemic. The closure of stores during lockdown has caused headaches for many retailers — in the UK, for example, retail jobs have been cut faster that at any time since 2009.

With LEGO stores closed, visits to LEGO's sales website more than doubled year-on-year to 100 million in the first half of 2020. CEO Niels B. Christiansen said "more adults than ever before" are building LEGO sets during the pandemic. He credited this to the "enduring appeal" of the LEGO brand.

This growth in sales offset increased transport costs caused by temporary factory closures in Mexico and China. The company also invested in e-commerce and product innovation, it said, such as the launch of LEGO Super Mario, which combines online multiplayer games with its trademark plastic bricks.

Alongside an increase in product sales, LEGO reported that more customers were using its digital services. Downloads of LEGO digital building instructions doubled to 2 million in the first half, and its app LEGO Life now has more than 9 million users in 80 countries.

The company's top-selling ranges between January and June included Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Disney Princess.

The 30 LEGO outlets already opened this year in China include its new flagship store in Hangzhou, which opened in June. LEGO will open its fifth flagship store in the country by the end of the year, it said.