Everyone's favourite building toy saw a big rise in sales last year.

Sales of Lego were up by more than £1 billion, an increase of 17%, as reported by The Times.

Net profits for the business were up 4%, despite inflationary pressures on materials, energy costs and transports costs.

Profits were boosted by store openings - with 155 new Lego shops taking the worldwide total to over 900.

Lego was forced to increase the price of some of its big-ticket building sets to offset the cost of making them.

Despite this, sales of bigger and more complicated sets also boosted profits, as Lego increasingly becomes a hobby for adults as well as children, building some of the more complex Star Wars and Harry Potter ranges.