The billionaire owners of the Lego empire reported a 5.9% rise in profits, helped by a turnaround in their investment portfolio.
The Kirkbi group’s net income rose to 11.3 billion kroner ($1.62 billion) in 2023, according to a statement Tuesday. The entity’s total assets declined 1.4% to about $23.5 billion after one of the family owners pulled out some of her funds for private investments.
Late last year, Sofie Kirk Kristiansen, the great-granddaughter of Lego’s founder, sold shares in Kirkbi for close to $1 billion, saying she would invest in nature conservation projects.
Kirkbi reported a profit in its investment activities of 3.66 billion kroner in 2023 from a 4.08-billion-kroner loss a year before. The portfolio includes stocks, bonds and real estate.
The return was “satisfactory, with especially the fixed income, quoted equity and the real estate portfolios showing relatively strong returns,” Kirkbi said. The fund’s main asset — a 75% stake in Lego, the maker of the colorful toy bricks — contributed less profit in 2023 than a year earlier.
Kirkbi is controlled by the fourth generation of the billionaire Kirk Kristiansen family, after Thomas Kirk Kristiansen took over as chairman from his father, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, last year. Thomas, Sofie and sister Agnete Kirk Thinggaard as well as their father, Kjeld, are worth more than a combined $24.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
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