Moonpig shares fly on its stock market debut

Moonpig shares fly on its stock market debut: Internet greeting card firm brings home the bacon for investors

Shares in Moonpig soared on its stock market debut as bosses eyed a £55million bonanza.

As experts predicted a ‘golden year for UK tech’, the e-cards business’s shares rose as high as 450p in early trading, having listed at 350p. 

The stock later closed up 17.1 per cent, or 60p, at 410p – valuing it at £1.4billion.

Moonpig's listing handed a windfall of around £40m to chairman and retail industry grandee Kate Swann (pictured), chief exec Nickyl Raithatha and finance chief Andy MacKinnon

Moonpig’s listing handed a windfall of around £40m to chairman and retail industry grandee Kate Swann (pictured), chief exec Nickyl Raithatha and finance chief Andy MacKinnon

The listing handed a total windfall of around £40million to the top brass, chairman and retail industry grandee Kate Swann, chief executive Nickyl Raithatha and finance chief Andy MacKinnon.

They are in line for further pay and bonuses worth up to £15.5million.

With investors celebrating a spectacular stock market debut, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould quipped: ‘Apparently, pigs do fly. 

Well, Moonpig did at least.’ Stephen Kelly, chairman of industry lobbying group Tech Nation, said the float demonstrated the appeal of London to up-and-coming businesses.

‘This is yet another sign that we are entering a golden year for UK tech,’ Kelly said of the debut.

The City is this year preparing for several highly anticipated tech listings, including those of food delivery giant Deliveroo and cyber security provider Darktrace.

Founded by entrepreneur Nick Jenkins in 2000, Moonpig sells digital greetings cards, physical cards and flowers online.

Jenkins, who gave the business his nickname from school, sold the firm for £120million in 2011 and it was later bought by private equity company Exponent.

The company has emerged as one of the major winners of the pandemic – more than doubling its half-year revenues in 2020 – as the national lockdowns cut in-store sales of greeting cards and pushed customers online.

Moonpig says it is the market leader in digital greetings cards, with a 65 per cent share, and that there is still plenty of opportunity for growth. 

In the year to October 31, the company sent 46m cards and 7m gifts, generating £263million in revenues.

The float proved lucrative for Exponent, which sold £58million worth of shares and retained a 26.6 per cent stake valued at £372.4million last night.

Swann, Raithatha and MacKinnon were also toasting multi-million pound fortunes, newly published documents showed.

Former WH Smith boss Swann, 56, sold £3.4million of shares in the offering and held on to a stake worth £9.8million. She will be paid £230,000 per year in fees for serving as chairman.

Raithatha, 38, made £6million from selling shares and retains stock worth £16.4million.

On top of this, he can earn up to £2.6million in annual pay and could bag a one-off bonus worth £8.3million if the company reaches annual sales of £275million and underlying profits of £70million by 2023.

Former Late Rooms finance chief MacKinnon, 46, sold shares worth £950,000 and retains about £2.6million of stock. 

He can earn up to £1.5million per year and could receive another £2.8million under the same bonus scheme as his boss.

source: dailymail.co.uk