ONLINE greeting card company Moonpig.com has confirmed it will be moving into the former Simco premises on the Braye Road Industrial Estate by the end of October.

It bought the 33,000sq. ft site for £2.375m. in May and had originally intended to move in by the middle of September, but interior renovations are taking longer than expected.

‘We are stripping the building out so we have just one large open space,’ said operations director Jeunene Bell.

The removal of some asbestos in the roof has taken up the past five weeks, while a new air conditioning system also has to be fitted.

Mrs Bell said getting in ahead of the Christmas build-up was crucial. ‘If it’s earlier than the end of October that would be great, but if we have to move in while the workmen are still around then we will have to live with that.’

She said the company had bought the property with a view to expansion. ‘If you move us in there now then we won’t fill it, but we have looked at what we expect our volumes to be in three to five years and we have planned for that space.’

Moonpig moved to Guernsey two-and-a-half years ago and currently occupies about 10,000sq. ft at Garenne Park.

Mrs Bell said the company was quickly running out of space.

‘When we moved here, we had one printing press. We now have four, as well as a lot of ancillary items.’

Investment had also been made into the automated fulfilment of cards by the recent purchase of two machines to carry the process out automatically.

‘That was a big investment and they take up quite a bit of space, but we are also looking to get more of these machines.’

However, investment in new machinery does not mean that the company would look to shed staff in future. It currently employs 35 permanent staff, while in the build-up to busy periods such as Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day the addition of temporary staff swells that to around 50.