Moo’s biggest market is the US, and the London-headquartered firm has reported in dollars since 2020.
In calendar year 2022 Moo’s turnover rose by 26% to $117.6m (£92.4m), on the back of rebounding global trade, the return to the office, a comeback for conferences, and the revival of in-person meetings.
The pre-pandemic high was $139.6m in 2019.
Chairman Darren Shapland said that adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin had reached record highs, at $13.5m and 11.48%.
“We also continued to pay down our term debt during 2022 and into the first half of 2023, and have subsequently refinanced this debt facility with our UK banking partners,” he said.
The pre-tax profit was just over $1m, compared with a $19.8m loss in 2021 when the figure was impacted by a $23.2m finance expense.
The North American market now accounts for 81% of Moo’s sales, and in its 16th year of trading the business also passed the $1bn lifetime revenues mark.
Branded merchandise, defined as a key growth opportunity for the business, added almost $1m in sales, growing to $2.3m. The range currently includes notebooks, water bottles and perpetual planners.
Moo CEO Richard Moross told Printweek that the merchandise focus was about “quality not quantity”.
He said: “We are starting with the expansion of our drinkware range, as well as additions to stationery, including new notebooks and writing instruments.
“We hope to launch more products in 2024 than we have in our history, though our ultimate goal is not thousands of branded merchandise products like many of our competitors,” he explained.
“Moo is developing a curated ecosystem, focused on quality (not quantity), that will all go beautifully together. Our aim is to help brands mix and match these customised products seamlessly, maintaining brand consistency, and helping them to create a sustainable impression with their customers and employees.
He said that Moo’s ultimate goal was that its branded and customised products would have “significant utility and lifespan through the design choices, materials, and support we give our customers”.
Investment plans also include rolling out a new technology platform for the business.
“Moo's existing platform is quite old now, and was designed with mostly flat, paper products in mind,” Moross said.
“We had initially intended to upgrade and develop the old platform, but ultimately decided to build something new alongside the old. We are starting with branded merchandise to flex our three dimensional customisation capabilities, before adding print, followed by the broader suite of digital services we currently offer customers.
“Beyond an expanded set of customisation tools, the new platform will also allow for rapid product introductions, more flexible merchandising, pricing, and internationalisation, and a host of modern ecommerce capabilities.”
Moross described Moo’s new mission as helping to bring brands to life in a sustainable way. Its Make It Simpler initiative has become Make it Sustainable, which he said was a “timely revision to support our sustainability goals”.
It also published a Sustainability Manifesto.
During the year Moo launched new flat pack packaging, in a move that has “vastly improved” its sustainability credentials and simplified its packaging SKUs.
The firm also found a more cost-effective way of delivering to its customers in the EU, post-Brexit.
“As a UK exporter with roughly 8% of our customers in the EU, we had been struggling with the post-Brexit arrangements,” Moross noted.
“Having both consumer and business customers in the EU, and with Moo’s average order sizes, we initially introduced a 'delivery duty paid' solution. This solved the problem of orders being delayed and eventually arriving with customs charges for customers, but with it came significant costs to Moo.
“Our new solution was rolled out in 2022, which reduced complexity, increased speed to customers, and reduced the costs to Moo.”
A new-look for the brand is also in the works.
“Our new platform will be available in the first half of 2024, with new products added throughout the year. We are also refreshing the Moo brand, to bring it up to speed with all the other changes we are making, this will also launch in the first half of the year,” Moross added.
The average number of employees during the period grew to 442 from 362.
