Moonpig Group PLC (LSE:MOON) shares tumbled 18% after it warned that trading had become “more challenging” through October and November.
The online greetings card group reported flat sales at £142.8mln and underlying earnings (EBITDA) of £34.6mln for the first half of the year, but said it now expects sales for the full year to be around £320mln compared to previous guidance of £350mln.
However, the FTSE 250-listed group said it had unchanged expectations for full-year EBITDA.
Chief executive Nickyl Raithatha said: “As the clear online leader in greetings cards, Moonpig Group is positioned to benefit as the market continues the long-term structural shift to online.”
He said the business model is “resilient” and “offers a powerful and unique combination of leading market positions, strong customer retention, high profitability and robust cash generation, giving us flexibility to manage through the economic cycle”.
The shares dropped almost 18% to 124.5p on Wednesday morning.
Broker Peel Hunt said: “Card volumes are OK, but there is trading down in gifting.
“There are mitigating actions that management can take on costs so there is no change to EBITDA absolute guidance today.
“The shares have been weak so there is a degree to which this sales weakness is priced in: any further weakness would be a buying opportunity, in our view, as this is a good business impacted by factors out of its control.”