Lego closes Russia business indefinitely, lays off 90 staff

Lego bricks emblem is found at a toy retail store in Bonn, Germany, September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

MOSCOW/LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) – Lego is closing its small business in Russia indefinitely and laying off its 90 Moscow-primarily based staff, owing to “comprehensive disruption” in the place, the Danish toymaker reported on Tuesday.

Lego has terminated its contract with franchisee Inventive Retail Team (IRG) which owned and operated 81 shops on Lego’s behalf.

IRG, which also operated retailers in Russia for Western manufacturers these as Nike and Samsung, explained previously on Tuesday that the contract with Lego experienced been terminated.

“LEGO Team has made the decision to indefinitely stop business functions in Russia given the ongoing in depth disruption in the functioning atmosphere,” a Lego spokesperson reported.

An IRG spokesperson claimed: “Our enterprise will keep on to work as an expert in the toy structure and improvement classification.”

Lego paused shipments to Russia in March and stated in June it was briefly freezing some retailers owing to source concerns. read through additional

The Russian version of Inc. Magazine reported before on Tuesday that Lego was halting industrial routines in Russia indefinitely and breaking off its deal with IRG.

Businesses which include Nike (NKE.N) and Cisco (CSCO.O) have introduced their departures from Russia in latest weeks as the tempo of Western companies leaving accelerates soon after Russia despatched troops into Ukraine in February in what it phrases a “unique operation”. read through much more

Reporting by Reuters and Richa Naidu in London Modifying by Jan Harvey and Bernadette Baum

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