By Noah Rothstein
In an attempt to get around supply chain bottlenecks caused by the pandemic, Hasbro has expanded its shipping operations and advanced its sourcing of products to ensure product availability for the holiday season.
With the vaccine rollout and the easing of restrictions, people have been itching to get out and return to everyday life. Hasbro hopes to cash in on demand for Nerf blasters and Marvel superhero action figures.
Hasbro shares rose 10% to their highest level in 17 months after the company beat quarterly results expectations on Monday, July 26.
“We may experience some shifts in delivery dates and timing of revenue, but we’re leveraging our global footprint and scale to meet demand,” Chief Financial Officer Deborah Thomas said.
Hasbro and many other global companies were forced to spend more on getting products to stores faster due to crippling shipping delays and port congestion, which means that Hasbro had to announce price increases for their toys in the third and fourth quarters.
The company is also leaning more on its TV and movie production business to generate revenue growth, after a year of pandemic-led shutdowns, with content deals for Netflix, Apple TV+, and Showtime later this year.
Entertainment segment revenue, including production studio Entertainment One and other movie businesses, jumped 47% in the second quarter. Revenue from the consumer products segment, including toy brands such as Nerf and Play-Doh, rose 33%.
