Danish toymaker the Lego Group aims to stabilize the business and invest to get back into sustainable growth, Chief Financial Officer Marjorie Lao said on Tuesday, after the company suffered a 7 percent decline in revenue in 2017.
"2017 has indeed been a challenging year for us. In 2018, we are looking to stabilize the business and invest to get back to growth in the long term," Lao told CNBC's Dan Murphy at the innovfest unbound conference in Singapore.
In its 2017 financial statement, the company said that the decline in revenue was primarily driven by a clean-up of its inventories, which affected operating profits.
As for the future, Lego would further expand by integrating technology into its products, such as the Lego Boost — which teaches children to code and introduce them to robotics, Lao said. The company is also looking into enabling children to operate their Lego toys through an app, as well as an augmented reality app.
It is also expanding its partnership with Chinese tech giant Tencent. The toymaker recently launched a video channel with Tencent in China, and will launch a gaming channel next month. However, the physical Lego bricks will remain the core product for the company, she emphasized.
