Moonpig revenue set to nearly double with COVID-19 demand
The firm reported its "strongest ever trading week" in its history as customers flocked to its site ahead of Valentine's Day.
Thursday 18 February 2021 13:51, UK
Online greeting card retailer Moonpig has said it expects full-year revenue to almost double, helped by robust demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The firm reported its "strongest ever trading week" in its history as customers stuck in coronavirus lockdown headed to its site in the run-up to Valentine's Day.
With all non-essential shops closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions, average order values had also risen as "customers attached gifts to their orders", the company said in an update.
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With "significant increased demand" continuing, the company said it expects revenue for the year ending 30 April to almost double from £173m it posted for the previous 12-month period.
It comes weeks after Moonpig floated on the London Stock Exchange in a £1.2bn listing.
The company said in a trading update: "The significant increase in demand seen in the first half of the year continued through the third quarter, and last week we saw the strongest ever trading week in the group's history ahead of Valentine's Day.
"Purchase frequency remains unusually elevated due to COVID-19 related restrictions, and we are now also seeing a temporary increase in average order values, as more customers attach gifts to their orders."
It told shareholders it had also increased its marketing efforts in recent months in order to pick up more customers and invested significantly in order to meet the higher levels of orders.
It said: "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."
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However, Moonpig said its guidance for the next full-year was "broadly unchanged", with the lifting of coronavirus curbs 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."
Meanwhile, the pandemic pet ownership boom and customers drinking more coffee at home helped drive Nestle to a hike in sales over the past year.
The world's largest food company revealed that sales pushed 3.6% higher in 2020 as it was particularly boosted by a robust performance from its Purina pet care arm.
Coffee was also in strong demand from lockdown shoppers, with positive sales of Nespresso, Nescafe and its Starbucks branded products.
Asda also saw like-for-like sales jump by 5.1% in the three months to the end of December, bolstered by strong Christmas sales.
The UK's third largest supermarket chain sales were up 6.9% in the eight weeks before Christmas Eve, compared to the same period last year.
Asda said growth was driven by shoppers spending more on higher-end products over the festive period to treat themselves after a difficult year.
The trading update comes after the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity backers TDR capital secured a £6.8bn deal to buy the UK retail giant, which is awaiting approval by the UK's competition regulator.