ONE IN 12 STAFF WILL BE LEGO

TOY giant Lego is slashing 1,400 jobs despite raking in sales of £1.8billion in the first half of this year. The cull equates to more than one in 12 of its 18,200-strong global workforce.

The Danish firm refused to say where the axe would fall. It employs 900 UK staff.

Lego, worth £11.3bn, said its structure had become “increasingly complex” which made it “harder to grow”.

Chairman Jørgen Vig Knudstorp said: “As a result, we have now pressed the reset button for the entire group.”

He added: “We are very sorry to make changes which may interfere with the lives of many of our colleagues.”

The cuts coincided with results showing half-year sales fell 5% to £1.84bn. That’s still more than My Little Pony maker Hasbro’s sales of £1.4bn and Mattel’s £1.3bn. Lego’s profits dropped 6% to £540million. The firm last month replaced British boss Bali Padda after just eight months in the job. Padda, 61, was the first non-Dane to run the toy firm.