Frozen Out? Barbie Sales Fall A Further 14%

Mattel (NasdaqGS: MAT - news) has reported a big jump in losses as its core brand continues to face stiff competition from merchandise linked to Disney's highest-grossing animated movie, Frozen.

The toy firm said Barbie sales plunged 14% in its first quarter to 31 March, with Mattel's loss before tax growing to $73.2m (£49.1m) from $9.4m (£6.3m) in the same period last year.

The doll, whose history dates back to 1959, and its accessories have faced numerous challenges to its popularity from cautious consumer spending worldwide to the growth of device gaming and other rival products including Lego.

Frozen has been a marketing phenomenon.

The movie, released in November 2013, drove a 22% jump in consumer product sales for Disney's first quarter to $1.4bn.

Olaf, Anna and Elsa toys, and other products, related to the film were also largely responsible for a 7% increase in the company's full-year consumer product sales last year.

A sequel has been announced as a result.

Mattel said worldwide gross sales for the Barbie brand were down 5% in constant currency.

Its chairman and chief executive, Christopher Sinclair, said: "While we still have a lot of work to do, we’re starting to see progress with our core brands like Barbie and Fisher-Price, and I am confident we are making the changes necessary to perform better in the future."

Mattel's shares, which have lost over a third of their value over the past 12 months, rose almost 7% in after-hours trading in New York as the decline in group sales was not as bad as many investors had feared.