i had a chance to catch up with the ceo niels christiansen. >> it was a difficult year.e had to say over time the toy market was okay and there have been good years. last year, as we say, was a difficult year. we, in the lego group managed to take a bit of market share. it brought us to dprgrowth and gained market share around the world. that was very satisfying. >> can we look specifically at the geography? you mentioned strong growth in the u.s. and eastern europe, but a decline in china due to the challenging economic environments. can you flush this all out for us? >> if i start on the u.s. side, i think we have strong progress. our brand and portfolio is really doing really, really well. we grew pretty well although the market in the u.s. was negative. we managed to grow in the u.s. the flip side of that being china where we declined. the market was difficult and driven by the general economic conditions in china that are hotter. we saw many consumers holding back a bit. maybe still buying the same amount of lego sets, but sometimes less expensive or lower price poi

lego boss niels christiansen told me new stores and a range of new products has helped the company keepaking market share. and we've taken market share very broadly globally in basically all different markets. we have a very strong brand. the brand stands really strong. we have a very well resonating portfolio of products. we increased it to 780 products, of which 50% were actually new. and that has, i think, done really well across. we've invested behind digitalization, we've opened new stores and we made good progress on sustainability. so all in all, i'm very satisfied. talk to me about opening new stores because you have more than, what, 500 in china, half of all your new openings were in china. you say that you've opened 147 new ones last year. why do you need your own stores? why can't you sell through other people? we are primarily selling through other people. i think that's the main kind of way of business. we need our own stores to build the brand. so typically, if we take china as an example, if we go out, i mean, there are lower tier cities in china with maybe a million or 2

niels christiansen is the chief executive of lego. it is good to have you.hat is the question, what is the secret? your sales were up by 4% as the overall market shrank by 7%. you are doing something right. we market shrank by 7%. you are doing something right.— something right. we are satisfied, and that comes _ something right. we are satisfied, and that comes from _ something right. we are satisfied, and that comes from taking - something right. we are satisfied, | and that comes from taking market share. _ and that comes from taking market share. and — and that comes from taking market share, and we have taken it broadly in all_ share, and we have taken it broadly in all different markets. we have a strong _ in all different markets. we have a strong brand stands, we had a well resonating — strong brand stands, we had a well resonating portfolio. we increase it to 780 _ resonating portfolio. we increase it to 780 products in which 50% when you and _ to 780 products in which 50% when you and that has done well. we have invested _ you and that has done wel

lego boss niels christiansen told me new stores and a range of new products has helped the company keephat comes from taking market share. and we've taken market share very broadly globally in basically all different markets. we have a very strong brand. the lego brand stands really strong. we have a very well resonating portfolio of products. we increased it to 780 products, of which 50% were actually new. and that has, i think, done really well. we've invested behind digitalisation, we've opened new stores and we made good progress on sustainability. so all in all, i'm very satisfied. talk to me about opening new stores because you have more than, what, 500 in china, half of all your new openings were in china. you say that you've opened 147 new ones last year. why do you need your own stores? why can't you sell through other people? we are primarily selling through other people. i think that's the main kind of way of business. we need our own stores to build the brand. so typically, if we take china as an example, if we go out, i mean, there are lower tier cities in china with maybe