Moo proving business etiquette still matters in digital age

By Eric Auchard

LONDON, Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 3 (Reuters) - London-based Moo is doubling its sales every three years and proving that there is a place for a premium-priced business card printer in a digital age.

On Tuesday, the decade-old member of the city's Silicon Roundabout tech scene posted 38 percent revenue growth for 2016 and a strengthened executive roster that includes a former chief financial officer for car-sharing pioneer ZipCar.

"In a society where our lives are becoming ever more connected online, the physical moments when we meet are becoming all the more precious," Richard Moross, Moo's founder and chief executive, said in an interview.

"Paper remains a very powerful marketing medium. It allows you to tell a story to people you meet."

Fuelling its growth were sales to more than 20,000 small and medium-sized businesses employing at least 10 people. That category grew 55 percent for it during 2016.

Moo business cards allow customers to design highly personalised cards using their own photos on heavy paper stock printed with saturated inks. They are priced between $20 to $35 for a box of 50.

Moo Print Ltd reported revenue for 2016 of 75.1 million pounds ($99.5 million), according to a regulatory filing with UK Companies House.

Adjusted core profit last year rose to 4 million pounds from a loss of 1.0 million pounds in 2015. At a pre-tax level, losses were cut by more than half to 1.7 million pounds from 4.0 million pounds previously, the filing said.

Eighty-five percent of revenue for the company came from outside Britain, with two-thirds of sales in North America, Moross said. France, Germany and Australia are other sizeable markets. Moo has 500 employees at two UK locations and four in the United States.

During 2017, the company has bolstered its executive team by naming veteran City of London (LSE: CIN.L - news) director Darren Shapland as chairman and Nick Ruotolo, the former European head of digital consumer printing leader VistaPrint, now a unit of Dutch company Cimpress, as chief operating officer.

This week, Moo named Ed Goldfinger, an experienced Boston tech executive as its new chief financial officer. He was previously CFO at security firm Veracode, Zipcar until it was acquired by Avis, and dot-com era web development firm Sapient. ($1 = 0.7549 pounds) (Reporting by Eric Auchard; Editing by Keith Weir)