Moonpig greets £11m profits

The two biggest shareholders in Moonpig, the online card retailer, have shared a dividend of nearly £5m after crafting a 67 per cent jump in the business's annual profits.

The internet specialist, which specialises in cards with personalised pictures and messages, delivered pre-tax profits of £11.2m for the year to April, up from £6.7m the previous financial year.

Founded in 1999, Moonpig has successfully captured the online zeitgeist: its sales last year jumped 50 per cent to £31.3m, as consumers sought a fun, inexpensive and less time-consuming way to send greetings cards than trips to the high street. Nick Jenkins, the retailer's founder and chairman, and Duncan Spence, who is an early investor, will split almost £5m from a total dividend of £7.3m.

The online retailer, which has operations in London and Guernsey, has expanded into flowers and personalised gifts and into the US. Mr Jenkins, a former sugar trader, has said that Moonpig's best-selling cards are spoof magazine covers. He added that US cardbuyers tends to be "less rude" than the British.