NEWS

Hasbro announces plan to grow profit 50% over next three years

Published on: 5th October 2022

Licensing is a key area of focus in Hasbro’s Blueprint 2.0, along with Games Leadership and Digital Growth.

Hasbro hosted its first investor day under the leadership of new chief executive officer, Chris Cocks. Senior leaders from across the business unveiled Hasbro’s new go-forward plan on Tuesday – the result of a nine-month strategic review that focused on creating near-term, meaningful change that is expected to deliver positive financial impact as early as the fourth quarter of this year. Through this review process, the company sought to identify opportunities to focus and scale the business, enhance operational excellence and drive accelerated growth and profit.

Hasbro provided an overview of its long-term outlook which included growing its operating profit by 50% over the next three years, with plans to further expand operating profit margin to 20% by 2027

Guided by a new Blueprint, the company will focus investment on its most valuable franchises across toys, games, entertainment and licensing. The company is implementing an Operational Excellence programme designed to deliver $250-$300m in run rate cost savings over the next three years, with $150m expected in run rate savings by year end 2023.

“Hasbro has many strengths: amazing brands that span generations, a gaming portfolio second to none, a history of play and entertainment innovation led by some of the best teams in the business, and unwavering corporate citizenship,” said Chris Cocks, chief executive officer, Hasbro.

“Building on these strengths, today we announced a new day for Hasbro with the introduction of Blueprint 2.0. This strategic approach is core to how we’ll continue to bring our strong brands to life for consumers of all ages, and how we’ll manage the business to monetise our intellectual property, drive investments, deliver profitable growth and create shareholder value.”

Licensing is set for a major expansion with new and recent partnerships announced with Basic Fun on Littlest Pet Shop and Lego on Transformers, and an expanded portfolio of content across Hasbro’s beloved 100-year IP vault. Hasbro announced Peppa Pig, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Transfomers, Play-Doh, Nerf, and iconic gaming brands such as Monopoly as key focus brands.

The company is investing in a Brand Insights Platform to enable data-based decisions, deliver superior consumer insights and speed innovation. This is a multi-year, $100m plus investment that will serve as a major competitive differentiator and empower the company to create the toys, games and experiences fans want.

Hasbro announced that Magic: The Gathering, which is on track to become its first billion-dollar brand, has exciting new collaborations with Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed and a new blockbuster 30th Anniversary Edition collectible series, inspired by Limited Edition Beta.

Dungeons & Dragons will be a major growth priority with a blockbuster feature film, D&D: Honor Among Thieves, a new AAA videogame, Baldur’s Gate III, and a host of new collectibles, toys and games paired with the movie event in 2023.

Hasbro’s Action Figure portfolio is on pace for a banner year in 2023 behind six blockbuster movie releases including Marvel Studios’ Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3, Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones.

The company expanded on its major new entertainment line-up for Transformers, including a new animated kids show, Transformers: EarthSpark, a new blockbuster film coming in June 2023, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and an upcoming CGI feature film in summer 2024.

Peppa Pig, Play-Doh and key collaborations including Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures will anchor planned pre-school growth — a $1b plus combined growth opportunity.

Expanding the Nerf franchise into new categories, the company also unveiled a first-of-its-kind sports league, Nerfball, with the first Nerfball tournament coming in summer 2023.

Direct to consumer and digital will also be a major investment focus for Hasbro, and the company’s direct platform, anchored by Hasbro Pulse and D&D Beyond, is poised to become a $1b digital and ecommerce direct business with over 50m accounts by 2027, up from 20m today, and will host new exclusives including the recently launched Hasbro Selfie Series, Has-Lab crowdfunded products, the return of the iconic sports collectible, Starting Lineup, and the relaunch of Avalon Hill’s HeroScape gaming system.

 

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