NEWS

Barbie, Jurassic World, and Masters of the Universe help drive Mattel Q2 2021 sales to $1.03bn

Published on: 28th July 2021

The global toy maker, Mattel has seen its Q2 2021 net sales increase 40 per cent on last year, with particular success across EMEA where the firm’s growth has exceeded the industry by 11 percentage points.

Mattel bosses have billed it ‘another exceptional quarter’ having witnessed ‘outstanding consumer demand for products,’ driving its net sales for the quarter to $1.03 billion. It’s according to the latest NPD figures that Matte’s point of sale growth outpaced the industry, with ‘strong consumer demand across the portfolio.’

Across the EMEA region, the toy maker was up 54 per cent, with POS increasing double digits.

“We believe we are in the strongest position we have been in many years to improve profitability and accelerate topline growth,” said Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and CEO of Mattel. “This is an exciting time for Mattel.”

The firm’s CEO stated that the company’s performance over the quarter is now adding momentum to its transformation strategy, establishing Mattel as an “IP-driven, high-performing toy company.”

Net sales for the firm for the first six months of the year are now up 43 per cent. Gross Billings in its North America segment increased 30 per cent, driven by growth in Vehicles, including Hot Wheels, Cars, and Matchbox; Dolls including Barbie, Spirit, and Polly Pocket; Action Figures, Building Sets, Games, and Other, including Jurassic World, Masters of the Universe, WWE, and MEGA.

Its Infant, Toddler, and Preschool segment, including Fisher-Price and Thomas and Friends also performed well.

Meanwhile, net sales in the international segment increased 57 per cent, while across EMEA, Mattel outpaced the industry in the first half of 2021, growing two times faster than the industry total.

According to NPD, in Q2 alone, Mattel was up five per cent while the industry declined.

International sales have been driven by growth across Mattel’s Dolls, Vehicles, Action Figures, Building Sets, Games, and Other, as well as Infant, Toddler, and Preschool.

Worldwide Gross Billings for Dolls were $395 million, up 51 per cent versus the prior year’s second quarter, while worldwide Gross Billings for Infant, Toddler, and Preschool were $229 million, up 15 per cent on last year. This was primarily driven by Fisher-Price and Thomas & Friends.

Worldwide Gross Billings for Vehicles were $266 million, up 68 per cent and driven by Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Cars, while worldwide Gorss Billings for Action Figures, Building Sets, Games, and Other were $258 million, up 32 per cent. This was driven primarily by growth in Jurassic World, Masters of the Universe, WWE, and MEGA. It was partially off-set by Games, including UNO.

Amid the second quarter success for the toy maker, however, Mattel has been making headlines this week as bosses at the global company indicate towards upcoming price increases, following a rise in costs of raw materials and the ongoing issues around shipping and the current ‘sky-high’ prices of containers.

“We will be looking at increasing prices in the second half of [the] year,” Mattel’s chief executive Ynon Kreiz told the BBC.

“We haven’t broken out [which products will be affected], but this is in response to some of the inflationary pressures. We’re not the only ones who did it, in our industry everyone did – and no-one is surprised by [price increases].”

Mattel encountered supply chain issues due to problems with shipping but had got around the worst of them due to the scale of the business.

“We were able to leverage our size and partnerships that we have with our vendors and retail partners and mitigate some of these issues, so we did not have any impact on our business in the second quarter,” he said.

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