Lego towers over Mattel in battle to become the biggest toymaker in the world due to summer movie success September 4, 2014 LEGO has become the world’s largest toy maker after the success of this year’s Lego Movie saw sales of related products soar sending profits up 12 per cent to 3.6bn Danish kroner (£386.5m). Revenues at the Danish firm rose 11 per cent during the first six months of the year to 11.5bn Danish kroner. The [...]
Cineworld lifted by Cinema City revenue growth August 14, 2014 CINEWORLD, the largest cinema operator in the UK, reported a 33 per cent bump in revenues during the first half of the year, after its £900m takeover of European chain Cinema City helped offset weaker UK ticket sales. The Lego Movie, The Wolf of Wall Street and Twelve Years a Slave helped UK revenues to [...]
Cineworld gets a box office kicking during 2014 World Cup July 3, 2014 The biggest player in the UK cinema market, Cineworld, has seen its UK box office revenues fall by 0.6 per cent in the first six months of the year. The cinema group said yesterday the slight fall in sales was largely due to the popularity of the World Cup, which began in early [...]
UK ramps up robot research with new funding July 1, 2014 The UK robotics industry has secured 150m of funding for the coming year, following yesterday's announcement the Technology Strategy Board is investing £400m in innovation programmes. In a speech today, science minister David Willetts emphasised that robots should not be viewed as a thing of the future. “Today's strategy launch emphasises the fact that they [...]
First Legoland in Japan set to open in 2017 June 30, 2014 Merlin Entertainment has announced an agreement to build a Legoland theme park in Japan. The plans represent an attempt to capitalise on Japan's status as the second biggest theme-park market in the world, worth around £4bn annually. The park will cost £185m, and will be built using Merlin's operated and leased framework, where the [...]
ICG backs fire extinguisher deal June 12, 2014 London listed debt manager ICG yesterday helped back the buyout of fire extinguisher producer Minimax Viking by Kirkbi, the investment vehicle of former Lego boss Kirk Kristiansen. The group has joined forces with Kristiansen’s Kirkbi investment vehicle to buy the heritage brand, which started making fire extinguishers in Germany in 1902. The deal has been [...]
Crowdsourcing can help SMEs expand May 21, 2014 Many of the prominent examples of businesses using crowdsourcing are large multinationals. Toy giant Lego, for example, encourages its vast fan base to pitch new product ideas through an online platform, while Procter & Gamble has used external “innovation tournaments” to find new ways of cutting corporate energy waste. But Allan Szymczyk, co-founder of London-based [...]
How open innovation will transform the humble quid March 20, 2014 FAREWELL to the pound coin’s familiar golden nugget design. Here comes the dough-decagon in its stead. The new 12-sided quid, modelled after the old threepenny bit, got plenty of attention this week. But the most interesting part of the design is what was left out. The flipside of the coin will be opened to a [...]
Lego sets out plans for world domination as it grabs market share February 27, 2014 LEGO yesterday laid out its plans to dominate the world toy market after revealing sales for last year that trumped the general market. The Danish maker of colourful toy bricks, already the world’s second largest toymaker after barbie-maker Mattel, said it expected to continue to grab market share. The popularity of its city range, which [...]
$50m Valentine’s weekend for Lego movie February 17, 2014 THE Lego Movie, based on the iconic figures from Danish toymaker The Lego Group, had a bumper Valentine’s with Warner Bros reporting US box office takings of $13.03m (£7.8m) on Friday. BoxOffice.com estimates that the movie will take $51m over the weekend, pushing it ahead of both the RoboCop remake ($20.5m) and About Last Night [...]