Moonpig Group has made a £124 million swoop for a gift experiences platform.
The London-listed online greeting card firm is eyeing a £6 billion UK market with the deal for Smartbox Group UK, the company behind brands Buyagift and Red Letter Days.
The brands have a customer base of 3.3 million for a range of physical and experiential gifts delivered through more than 4,400 partners, built up over 20 years.
The 4,800 experiences include short stays, theatre and shows, dining out, afternoon tea and family days out.
Moonpig said the deal would see it leverage Smartbox Group’s dataset to drive highly relevant gift recommendations across thousands of new products.
The latter has delivered consistent double-digit revenue growth CAGR over the last 10 years. In FY22, the business reported revenue of £44m with an adjusted EBITDA margin rate of 31%.
“The proposed acquisition of Buyagift rapidly accelerates Moonpig Group’s journey to become the ultimate gifting companion,” said Moonpig Group CEO Nickyl Raithatha.
“There is strong strategic rationale for the transaction, and compelling financial benefits. Buyagift is profitable and highly cash generative, with a proven track record of strong growth and we are excited by the ways that we can further transform the business using the group’s proven playbook.
“We see significant potential for the cross-selling of gifting experiences to Moonpig Group’s loyal customers. We look forward to working with the Buyagift team to deliver an enhanced proposition for our customers and to create value for our shareholders.”