Expansion on the cards as group buys retailer

The Wakefield-based group, which was sold by founder Dean Hoyle for £350m in 2010, has bought GettingPersonal.co.uk, which was launched five years ago.

GettingPersonal.co.uk, based in Wythenshawe in Manchester, sells a range of personalised gifts and cards direct to consumers through its website. The firm employs more than 40 people and in the year to April 2011 it generated sales of £11.5m, an increase of 22 per cent on the previous year.

Andy Garbutt, corporate development director at Card Factory, told the Yorkshire Post: “We have been thinking about our online strategy for a while and thought that the personalised gift area was exciting and interesting and was growing rapidly. Getting Personal had a strong corporate cultural match with us.”

Mr Garbutt declined to disclose how much Card Factory paid for the company but said: “It was a reasonable sum for a company that has been profitable from day one.”

Card Factory has a portfolio of more than 570 retail stores and a turnover of £230m. For the last six years the company has opened at least one store every week.

Since February, it has opened 45 new stores, including one in Northern Ireland, creating more than 450 retail jobs.

In April last year, the firm was subject to a management buy-out led by chief executive Richard Hayes, with equity funding provided by Charterhouse Capital Partners.

Mr Garbutt said Card Factory’s long-term goal was to launch its own online operation but in the medium term it is focusing on its new acquisition. He added that although the company is not actively looking for further acquisitions, it would consider “interesting opportunities”.

He said: “We are committed to providing new jobs across the country and have created 450 new jobs this year in our shops. We are investing in high streets at a time when other people are turning their back on them.”

John Smith, managing director and founder of GettingPersonal.co.uk, added: “We have transformed the personalised gift market over the last five years with our gift ideas and have seen tremendous growth within a short space of time.”