Zolfo Cooper update regarding Clinton Cards Plc and subsidiaries (In Administration)

Thursday, 7 June, 2012 - 13:36

Zolfo Cooper update regarding Clinton Cards Plc and subsidiaries (In Administration)

Peter Saville, Simon Freakley and Anne O’Keefe, Partners at Corporate Advisory and Restructuring specialists Zolfo Cooper were appointed Joint Administrators over Clinton Cards Plc and its subsidiaries, including Birthdays Retail Limited (together the Group), on 9 May 2012. At the time of appointment, the Group was the UK’s largest specialist retailer of greetings cards and related products with in excess of 750 stores and 2011 revenues of over £360 million across its two retail brands, Clinton Cards and Birthdays.

The strategy of the Joint Administrators since appointment has been to evaluate the Group’s business with a view to preserving both value and employment, whilst also recognising that the Group carried an unrealistic and financially unsustainable store footprint in the context of today’s highly competitive UK retail market. As a part of this exercise, the Joint Administrators took the decision to announce a nationwide store closure programme on 16 May 2012, creating a core estate of approximately 400 stores. This core estate supports a viable business and is significantly better placed to operate in today’s challenging market.

The Joint Administrators are pleased to announce that they have today concluded the sale of this business to Lakeshore Lending Limited, a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation. The sale comprises the brands and assets of Clinton Cards, including 397 stores contributing approximately £212 million in annual revenues, and will preserve approximately 4,500 jobs across the UK.

Commenting on the sale, Peter Saville, Joint Administrator and Partner at Zolfo Cooper said the following:

“We have always been of the view that despite an intensely competitive retail environment and what proved to be excessively ambitious expansion plans in recent years, there was a strong underlying business contained within Clinton Cards. The significant number of credible expressions of interest we received for the business we have sold today, from both trade and financial buyers alike, is testament to this fact. We would like to thank the staff for their dedication and patience throughout what has been an understandably difficult time for all concerned and we wish both them and the new owners of the business every success for the future.”

Having concluded the sale of the core Clinton Cards business, the Joint Administrators will now focus their efforts on the store portfolio identified as part of the closure programme announced on 16 May 2012. As a part of this exercise, the Joint Administrators continue to welcome expressions of interest for this part of the estate, as a whole or in part.

ENDS

About American Greetings Corporation

For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships to create happiness, laughter and love. The Company's major greeting card lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-packaging and boxed cards. American Greetings also has one of the largest collections of greetings on the Web, including greeting cards available at Cardstore.com and electronic greeting cards available at AmericanGreetings.com. In addition to its product lines, American Greetings creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide.

For more information on the Company, visit American Greetings

About Zolfo Cooper

This press release and ‘Zolfo Cooper’ refer to Zolfo Cooper LLP. Zolfo Cooper LLP is a leading international provider of corporate advisory and restructuring services. Headquartered in London, with offices throughout the UK and affiliations in North America, the Caribbean, Continental Europe, Asia and Australasia, we have extensive experience of assisting companies and their stakeholders across a wide range of situations from complex cross-border cases through to mid-market engagements.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Zolfo Cooper Press Office
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7332 5226
pressoffice@zolfocooper.eu