Business as usual for Birthday Trade

Retailer Clinton Cards has puts its subsidiary chain of 223 Birthdays stores into administration, putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk. The company said all of the Birthdays outlets would continue to trade while the administrators explored all options to secure their future. Clinton Cards said that in the current economic environment it could not sustain Birthdays' £7m annual losses. It bought the Birthdays chain in December 2004.

'Remain hopeful' "Despite today's announcement, I would like to reassure customers that it is business as usual for Birthdays and we will be continuing to trade while we explore all options for the business," said administrator Peter Saville of accountancy group Zolfo Cooper. "We remain hopeful of securing the future of the business despite the harsh trading environment being experienced by all retailers at present. "These stores have a strong brand identity and are predominantly situated in excellent retail locations and there are still plenty of opportunities to succeed on the High Street". Meanwhile Clinton Cards said that group-wide like-for-like sales - which pulls out the impact of new store openings - were flat in the 13 weeks to 3 May. The firm has 692 Clinton Cards outlets, and is the UK's largest specialist greeting card retailer.

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8060868.stm