Moonpig eyes bumper sales after Valentine’s Day drives ‘strongest week’

Online card retailer Moonpig has said it reported its “strongest ever week” last week as customers flocked to its site for Valentine’s Day.

The company said it now expects to deliver annual revenues which are approximately double the £173 million it secured in the previous full-year.

It comes weeks after Moonpig floated on the London Stock Exchange in a £1.2 billion listing.

The group said the increase in demand it saw during the first half of its financial year has continued into the third quarter.

Average order values have increased as “customers attached gifts to their orders”, the company said in an update on Thursday morning.

It said it has also increased its marketing efforts in recent months in order to pick up more customers.

It told shareholders it has also continued to invest significantly in order to meet the higher levels of customer orders.

“On top of higher marketing spend, we have incurred incremental costs and capital expenditure due to higher temporary staffing levels throughout our supply chain, and also by the partial shifting of our production mix to the UK following the Guernsey lockdown,” it said.

Moonpig predicted its underlying earnings margins for the year to April 30 will be in line with the previous full-year.

However, it said its guidance for the next full-year is “broadly unchanged”, with the easing of lockdown restrictions set to impact its performance.

The company said: “The higher levels of customer purchase frequency and elevated gift attach rates are both expected to moderate as lockdown restrictions ease.”