Moonpig has swung to a half-year loss despite rise in sales

For the six months to October 31, 2024, Moonpig reported a loss before tax of £33.3m, down from a profit of £18.9m during the same period last year.

Despite this, adjusted EBITDA at the greetings card and gift retailer edged up slightly from £41.4m last year to £41.8m.

Revenue at Moongpig however grew by 3.8% year on year to £158m which it said was driven by double-digit growth at the retailer.

Moonpig noted an ongoing transformation plan for the experiences segment of the business, which includes partnerships with the likes of Slug and Lettuce, BrewDog and Beer52 among others, but with “longer timeline expectations”.

Despite a weaker performance within its experiences arm, Moonpig said total orders across Moonpig and Greetz grew by 4.7% during the period and the average order value was also up by 2.5%.

Internationally, revenue in the US, Australia and Ireland also increased at a combined total of 42.5% year on year.

Moonpig also highlighted its use of AI in a bid to bolster the personalised element of its customer experience by launching AI handwriting to enable shoppers to use their own handwriting as a font as well as AI-generated product descriptions to improve its search function.

In terms of outlook, Moonpig said current trading remains “in line with expectations”, and that its growth has been underpinned by “consistent” sales and orders.

Moonpig hailed the “steady progression” at Greetz, the Dutch online cards and gifting retailer which it acquired in 2018, and said revenue expectations for the full year remain unchanged as a result.

Moonpig has also increased its medium-term target for adjusted EBITDA to a new range of between 25% and 27%, having previously been pledged at between 25% and 26%.

Moonpig chief executive Nickyl Raithatha said: “We are pleased to report continued growth in revenue for the group, driven by double-digit revenue growth at the Moonpig brand. Moonpig’s performance has been underpinned by robust growth in order volumes, powered by our multi-year investments in technology and innovation and the structural market shift to online. Raising our medium-term profit margin target demonstrates our confidence in the outlook for the business.

“We continue to innovate to attract and retain our loyal customers. To date, over 17 million innovative card creativity features have been used to customise our cards, including audio and video messages, AI-generated text suggestions, stickers, flexible photos and digital gifting solutions.

“Ahead of Christmas, we are excited to have launched ‘Your Personalised Handwriting,’ an AI-driven feature that allows customers to add their own handwriting to our cards. By creating their handwriting as a font saved to their Moonpig account, customers can type a message and see their handwriting seamlessly appear within the card. This launch is a key step in our roadmap of innovative features, leveraging emerging AI technologies to enhance the card-giving experience.”