While Toy Fair New York is stuck on the sidelines for another year, Spin Master is continuing its tradition of releasing preliminary, unaudited sales and revenue numbers for the fourth quarter and the full year. The move comes as toy industry earnings season kicks off next week with Hasbro and Mattel reporting.
Since Spin Master’s formal reporting falls after Toy Fair was slated to take place, the company says that an early peek at its numbers “provide context for Spin Master’s performance in line with the timing of financial results for the broader industry.”
Quite simply, 2021 was a big year for the Toronto-based toy and entertainment company as gross product sales for toys spiked 20% for the year. Revenue hit $2.04 billion, a 30% increase that the company attributes to growth in toys, entertainment and licensing, and digital games.
“We delivered very strong revenue growth for the fourth quarter and full-year 2021, showcasing the power of our three creative centers: Toys, Entertainment, and Digital Games,” says Spin Master’s Global President and CEO Max Rangel. “Toys’ gross product sales grew more than 20% last year, driven by the global success of our new and innovative brands and enthusiastic fandom for our licensed toy properties. Our commercial team deftly navigated a complex supply chain environment in the fourth quarter to ensure we delivered products throughout the holiday season in a timely fashion, providing the foundation to grow our share in key markets. Our Entertainment creative center capitalized on momentum from our first-ever feature film for our leading preschool franchise, PAW Patrol, to grow revenue by more than 73%. Our Digital Games creative center generated impressive revenue growth of more than 127% in 2021, with Toca Life World being recognized as the App Store’s 2021 iPhone App of the Year.”
Revenue in Q4 grew 26.5% in total while toys spiked 24.8% during the last three months of the year.
For the full year, Spin Master says that big gains were seen in preschool and dolls and interactive with a 32.8% boom led by PAW Patrol, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Gabby’s Dollhouse, and Purse Pets. Outdoor products grew 31.1% led by gains in SwimWays and Aerobie. Wheels and action grew 14.6% led by DC Universe and Batman, Monster Jam R/C, and Tech Deck. The combined activities, games and puzzles, and plus categories grew 9.9% with strong sales in Kinetic Sand, Rubik’s, and GUND.
Unsurprisingly, declines were seen for brands including Hatchimals, Twisty Petz, Ninja Bots, DreamWorks Dragons. and the Games and Puzzles portfolio which was running up against tough comps from the games and puzzles boom of 2020.
Additionally, Spin Master reported a 100.4% gain in other revenue led by a 73.7% spike in entertainment and licensing driven by PAW Patrol: The Movie, and a 127.6% spike in its digital games center.
Fully audited results — which traditionally run very close, if not exact to preliminary numbers — will be revealed after the bell on Feb. 28, 2022.
