Yu Gi Oh, He-Man, SpongeBob Are Strong
Posted by ICv2 on October 16, 2002 @ 11:00 pm CT
Toymaker Mattel reported Q3 net earnings 40% higher than those in the same period last year. Of primary interest to pop culture retailers were events in its Entertainment category, where sales were up 21% worldwide. The sales increase was attributed to strong performance in its He-Man, Yu Gi Oh, and SpongeBob SquarePants lines. The company did say that it had about $75 to $100 million worth of toys stuck on the water due to the labor dispute in west coast ports, and that represented a challenge for Q4. Although President Bush's invocation of the Taft Hartley Act has forced port operators to end their lockout, it's going to take weeks to work through that backlog, which might cause some delays in shipments of holiday merchandise. The company did say that it was air freighting some goods in, and was taking steps to shorten delivery times once product arrives in the States.