Moonpig shares fall as swings to loss amid tough trading conditions

Tue, 10th Dec 2024 10:22

(Alliance News) - Moonpig Group PLC on Tuesday reported a swing to a half-year loss amid tough trading conditions for its Experiences arm, but online greeting card and gifting company said it continues to attract and retain customers.

London-based Moonpig also confirmed its annual guidance and declared a maiden dividend.

Moonpig shares were down 11% to 238.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

It reported a pretax loss of GBP33.3 million in the six months that ended October 31, swinging from profit of GBP18.9 million a year prior.

Revenue rose 3.8% to GBP158.0 million from GBP152.1 million.

Hurting its bottom line, however, Moonpig booked an impairment of goodwill worth GBP56.7 million, as it now predicts "a longer timeline for fully realising the revenue growth potential of Experiences".

Moonpig declared a first-ever interim dividend of 1.0 pence per share.

A share buyback programme of up to GBP25 million will run through the second half of its current financial year, ending April 30.

Looking ahead, Moonpig said: "Current trading remains in line with our expectations. Growth has been underpinned by consistent strong sales and orders at Moonpig and is supported by steady progression at Greetz. Given ongoing macro headwinds in gifting, trading remains challenging at Experiences and we remain focused on delivering our transformation plan. Accordingly, our expectations for full year revenue remain unchanged," Moonpig said.

"Our business is well positioned to deliver sustained growth in revenue, profit and free cash flow, driven by our continued focus on data and technology. With respect to the medium-term, we continue to target double digit percentage annual revenue growth."

The company said it launched an AI-driven feature ahead of Christmas called 'Your Personalised Handwriting', which allows customers to add their own handwriting to its cards.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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