What’s going on here?

Lego’s profit fell like a ton of, uh, colored cubes in the first half of the year, but the world’s biggest toymaker’s foundations are too strong to shake.

What does this mean?

Lego’s just the activity for cozy, laid-back evenings spent at home. So naturally, the Groundhog Day of nothingness that was the pandemic meant plastic bricks were strewn across floors all over the world. Even back then, the company’s CEO said that performance was unsustainable – and the first half of this year proved that to be right. Sales wrangled a 1% uptick versus the same time last year, but profit suffered its biggest fall in nearly two decades. Peel back the layers, though, and a lot of that loss was down to heavy investment in new factories and sustainability initiatives. Take stuff like that out of the equation, and operating profit was still almost double pre-pandemic levels.

Why should I care?

For markets: Life in plastic isn't always fantastic.

The wider toy industry is going through a less-than-joyful period, shrinking this year because companies lost their spark. That meant Lego’s small growth still bumped up its market share, but that’s nothing new: the toymaker’s been outgrowing the industry for a while now. For comparison, US-listed rivals Hasbro and Mattel revealed double-digit percentage dips in sales over the first half of the year. That was before “Barbie” hit cinemas, mind you – but hey, Lego has plenty of its own build-your-own Dreamhouses out on the shelves.

The bigger picture: Do what you love.

Lego’s building two new factories, presumably made of bright, visible brickwork, and expanding four of its five existing ones. Sights are set on Asia – currently the firm’s smallest region for sales – for its growth plans, with China at the top of the list despite its current economic holdbacks. Lego has faith that the long-term opportunity there is unrivaled, with the country’s middle-class population expected to double within five years. That explains why the toymaker’s planning to open around 100 new stores there this year alone.

What’s going on here?

Data out on Wednesday showed that more new cars hit Europe’s roads, but we might need to hit the mines stat if we want an electric future.

What does this mean?

Your European road trip may have been slightly busier this summer, since the region rolled 17% more cars onto its tarmac this July than the year before. That would usually signal stable demand and free-flowing cash in the economy. Thing is, carmakers are still playing catch-up with pandemic-stunted supply chains, so this bump is likely just a sign that they’re working through existing order books. But one stat stands out from the rest: drivers bought 62% more electric vehicles this July than last, and because European carmakers prioritized electrified sales during the pandemic, that could be the result of pure, future-focused demand.

Why should I care?

Zooming out: Mine the Earth to save the planet.

Demand for environmentally friendly cars is only useful if we can make enough of them. And right now, BMI – a Fitch research firm – predicts the world’s about to run low on lithium, a key battery metal. That’s no easy fix: it takes at least a decade to get a new lithium mine up and running. You don't need to be a mathematician, then, to cast a skeptical eye on forecasts of 30-million-a-year electric vehicle sales by 2030.

For markets: Ready, set, grow.

The race between carmakers is on, for sure, but Tesla and BYD are comfortably holding their lead. Research shows the pair had grips on nearly 40% of the global electric passenger car market in the first quarter of 2023, double their share from just two years ago. BYD can thank its Chinese fanbase for its success, while Tesla’s simply riding on its “OG” title.