By Uday Sampath Kumar

(Reuters] -Mattel Inc increased its 2021 forecast on Thursday, stating that it will overcome shipping delays across the industry to bring about a holiday season dominated by Barbie and Hot Wheels. The increase sent its shares up 6% over extended trading.

According to Chief Executive Officer Ynon Kreiz, the company pulled ahead production and contracted additional ocean freight capacity. Additionally, it secured access to more ports in order to maintain supply at the crucial season for toymakers.

Although toys are in high demand, supply chain issues have caused severe shortages around the world. This could result in store shelves being empty for this holiday season. Suppliers and retailers will need to find ways to expedite product deliveries.

We’ve had to deal with supply chain disruptions. It’s not an ordinary year. Kreiz explained that even though there are disruptions in supply chain, they expect lots of toys to be under the Christmas tree this holiday.

As customers sought to keep their children entertained in this pandemic, they bought Hot Wheels cars as well as Barbie dolls to increase net sales by 8% to $1.76billion during the third quarter.

According to Refinitiv’s IBES data, analysts had predicted sales of $1.69 trillion.

Fisher Price, a maker of baby toys, also saw a 50 percent increase in the sales of action figures featuring characters from “Masters of the Universe” franchises.

Kreiz claimed that although the decision to raise prices in early this year was to combat rising commodity costs, it had not affected demand.

Mattel (NASDAQ) stated that it anticipates full year constant currency net sales growth of around 15%, as opposed to its previous forecast of a rise between 12% and 14%.

Net income for the third quarter rose 161% to $812.6 millions, or 2.29 per share. This was due in part to a $510,000,000 non-cash benefit that resulted from the release reserves of deferred taxes assets.